Wanderers temporarily stripped of international status

The Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg has been suspended as an international venue by Cricket South Africa as part of a dispute with the host association, the Gauteng Cricket Board (GCB). The GCB had leveled allegations of mismanagement of the 2009 IPL at CSA chief executive Gerald Majola, the BCCI and the tournament organisers soon after the league ended.

The ground's status will be restored after the GCB issues an apology, a CSA statement said. However, the Champions Trophy matches scheduled there in September will not be affected as it is an ICC event.

A meeting of the CSA's Members Forum, called to discuss issue, rejected the GCB's complaints and gave Majola a clean chit in the handling of the tournament.

The Wanderers hosted eight games in the IPL, including one semi-final, the final and the closing ceremony.

The GCB and CSA had several differences over the running of the IPL; the issues ranged from the sharing of VIP suites to the price of alcohol. At one point there was a doubt that the semi-finals and final would be held at the Wanderers as scheduled and after the tournament the GCB investigated the possibility of counterfeit tickets being sold at the final.

The IPL was shifted to South Africa at the last minute following the Indian government's advice to move it out of the country as it clashed with the general elections. CSA president Mtutuzeli Nyoka, in a statement today, stressed on the positive impact the IPL had made in South Africa, both monetarily and in boosting its image as a host of major sporting tournaments.

"The Forum has asked the GCB to unconditionally withdraw these allegations and apologise to CSA's president and CEO as well as to CSA as a whole and the BCCI," Nyoka said. "Until both the apology and the hosting conditions are submitted, there will be no international matches staged at the Wanderers Stadium under the auspices of CSA."