CSA going the right way on transformation

It may not seem like it but South Africa's cricket bosses can breathe a little easier. Although they received what seems a hefty punishment - being banned from bidding for or hosting major tournaments - for the slow progress of transformation, unlike their rugby counterparts they have both enough time and enough resources to ensure the sanction is lifted before it could make a real difference.

South Africa was not in line to host a senior ICC tournament until at least 2023 and has only been pencilled in to stage the Under-19 World Cup in 2020. The government's transformation targets are reviewed annually, which means that by next year, CSA could see the penalty reversed. But the board will need to make some changes and many are wondering what those have to be.

The curiosity begins in the question itself, because the terms of the memorandum of understanding five South African sports federations signed with the sports ministry have not been made public. At Monday's press conference, where sports minister Fikile Mbalula received the transformation reports and delivered his verdict, the barometer for measuring progress was set at 60%.

That means that in order to avoid sanctions, 60% of players in the national cricket, rugby, football, netball and athletics teams had to be players of colour, which refers to anyone of black African, mixed-race or Indian descent. Only football met this target.

Cricket was not that far off the mark, though, with a representation rate of 55%. Bridging the gap will be CSA's first task.

Using the 60% mark, South Africa would have to field seven players of colour in the national team, which would leave space for four white players. The significance of that ratio will not be lost on some. When transformation targets were first introduced in 1998, the quota was four players of colour in teams. The new requirements have essentially reversed that. They also require South African cricket to go where it has only gone three times before.

"I know what it was like to have to take three or four taxis from the township to the stadium for practice, not having a job but having pressure to earn a salary for a family"Lions coach Geoffrey Toyana

In 2013, in ODIs against Netherlands, Pakistan and India, South Africa fielded seven players of colour. On 17 other occasions - eight ODIs and nine T20s - South Africa teams have included six players of colour. The most they have ever had in a Test is five players of colour, in 17 matches. In the 2015-16 season, the South Africa XI typically consisted of between four and five players of colour. So where will the extra players come from?

The obvious answer is the domestic system, where at least 36 players of colour regularly ply their trade at franchise level, in line with the transformation targets of six players of colour per team. Should CSA want to put that in line with the international target, it may look at increasing that number to seven, as it considered doing last year.

It did try to implement a target in the second-tier system - the 13 provincial teams - of seven players of colour but backtracked after a legal threat from the South African Cricketers' Association, who said it was told too late about the proposed changes. Instead, CSA used last season to increase the black African quota from two to three.

This subsection of the target is also something the ministry of sport addressed, although there is no explicit target. Black African representation in South Africa's cricket team sits at just 9%, which translates to one player in an XI. Last season, most often, this player was Kagiso Rabada, although Eddie Leie, Temba Bavuma and Aaron Phangiso also featured. The ministry continues to monitor whether this number will go up.

The systems put in place at domestic level suggest that it has to. Even without increasing the franchise targets, there are 18 black African players in the franchise set-up and 18 other players of colour. Naturally, the next question will be whether any or all of them are good enough to make the step up or if the system is merely colouring by numbers.

Among the top five franchise performers in each format were: one batsman of colour in first-class cricket, Qaasim Adams, and two bowlers of colour, Dane Piedt and Tabraiz Shamsi; three batsmen of colour in the 50-over format, Alviro Petersen, Rudi Second and Justin Ontong, and four bowlers of colour - of which three were black African - Malusi Siboto, Wayne Parnell, Junior Dala and Tshepo Moreki. In the T20 tournament, there was one batsman of colour in the top five, Reeza Hendricks, and two bowlers of colour, both black African, Sisanda Magala and Phangiso.

This analysis, albeit brief, is proof that players are coming through but also evidence of a glaring problem. There is a lack of batsmen of colour, particularly black African batsmen, and a lack of first-class performers of colour. If CSA is to address the national team's transformation issues, these are the areas it needs to focus on, by ensuring the development of black African batsmen - for whom Test centurion Bavuma has become a role-model - and nurturing players of colour in the longer format.

The issue of mentoring these players is also a transformation issue, not least because the number of coaches forms part of the ministry's assessment. Willie Basson, a member of the group that puts together the transformation report and a former acting president of CSA, explained that the relationships between coaches of colour and players of colour are different because they often involve a level of understanding about background that can be absent in the relationship between a white coach and player of colour.

Lions' coach Geoffrey Toyana is a case point. Toyana is a former first-class cricketer from the storied Soweto township and has previously spoken of how he can relate to the socio-economic difficulties players of colour face as they try to make it as professional sportsmen. "I know what it was like to have to take three or four taxis from the township to the stadium for practice, not having a job but having pressure to earn a salary for a family and that kind of thing," Toyana said. It is seen as no accident that under Toyana's watch, Lions have become the team with the most black African players, including Test successes Rabada and Bavuma.

There is a lack of batsmen of colour, particularly black African batsmen, and a lack of first-class performers of colour. If CSA is to address the national team's transformation issues, these are the areas it needs to focus on

Toyana is one of two black African coaches at franchise level, along with Warriors' Malibongwe Maketa, and one of three coaches of colour - Paul Adams of Cobras is the third. That number could increase to four in the 2016-17 season, with Yashin Ebrahim and Roger Telemachus in line to succeed Lance Klusener as Dolphins' coach.

South Africa are also transforming their coaching of feeder sides for the national team. Lawrence Mahatlane, a black African who won trophies in charge of the Gauteng provincial team, is the Under-19s coach, while Shukri Conrad, a franchise trophy winner with Cobras and Lions, is the national academy coach. Vincent Barnes, a successful bowler who was denied the chance to play for South Africa in the apartheid years and a former national bowling coach, is CSA's high performance manager.

Administratively, South African cricket is also keeping up with transformation requirements. Three of the six franchise CEOs are people of colour, although none is black African. CSA's president, Chris Nenzani, is black African and the CEO, Haroon Lorgat, a person of colour.

All these things are taken into account when the transformation report is compiled, so it is not only about the composition of the national team but about wholesale change. Not everybody likes this way of looking at things - former allrounder Jacques Kallis even said it made him embarrassed to be South African - but it is clear that cricket is not far from meeting the requirements and having the sanction lifted, and thus being able to call itself a sport that represents all South Africans.