Lorgat among contenders for CSA CEO job

Former ICC boss Haroon Lorgat is one of three candidates who will be interviewed by CSA for the position of CEO next week. The body has been without a permanent replacement for Gerald Majola since he was sacked last October although its leadership position has been fluid for the last 16 months, since Majola was suspended in March 2012.

CSA has been through one acting boss, Jacques Faul, who is now in charge of the Titans franchise and are currently on their second. Naasei Appiah, the organisation's CFO has been heading it since March this year as the timeline for appointing a CEO continues to shift.

Initial talk out of CSA's offices was that it would appoint its new CEO by April this year. In May, it announced that the process was still "running on schedule," and the seat would be filled by the beginning of July. This has now been moved a third time.

ESPNcricinfo understands one of the reasons for the delay was caused by difficulties in drawing up a shortlist. Despite receiving over 200 applications, CSA's board was not satisfied with the overall calibre of the people who expressed interest in the job and extended the process to see if they could attract other candidates.

Some of the contenders who are up against Lorgat are believed to be Bheki Shongwe, MD of Kaizer Chiefs, South Africa's current football champions, university professor Denver Hendricks and head of Kagiso media Murphy Morobe. Previously Lorgat was understood to be competing with CSA's cricket operations manager Mike Gajjar, Border Cricket CEO Thema Lupuwana and CSA's transformation manager Max Jordaan and the concern was that the majority of candidates lacked significant business experience.

Now, Lorgat remains the favourite but for a different reason: he could be the only one with extensive cricketing knowledge. Lorgat has been involved with South African cricket in the past, as convenor of selectors, ran the ICC for four years and has been involved at consultancy levels with Sri Lanka and Pakistan in recent months.

The biggest obstacle to his challenge for the job appears to be from another cricketing country - India. The BCCI has made clear its preference that CSA does not appoint Lorgat because of the Indian board's acrimonious history with him. Lorgat is believed to have irked the BCCI in his time at the ICC. As a result, India threatened to pull out of the upcoming tour to South Africa if Lorgat was given the job, according to CSA's lead independent director Norman Arendse, who revealed the BCCI's stance in March.

CSA has since made public the fixtures for India's tour to South Africa between November and January, which includes seven ODIs, two T20s and three Tests. India have objected to the itinerary, saying CSA released the schedule without the BCCI's consent and that they would prefer fewer ODIs to give their players time off before they head to New Zealand.

While the BCCI claim to have notified CSA of its grievances, CSA say it has not received any formal complaint. The already tense relationship between the two boards, who were previously on excellent terms, may only escalate as Lorgat moves closer to the top job.