Rebuilding South African cricket, ball by ball
Neil Manthorp, in the Mail & Guardian , says it may seem counterintuitive to celebrate Cricket South Africa's slow but inevitable slide into a humiliating credibility void, but it is the prospect of what lies ahead that is so exciting
Nikita Bastian
25-Feb-2013
Neil Manthorp, in the Mail & Guardian, says it may seem counterintuitive to celebrate Cricket South Africa's slow but inevitable slide into a humiliating credibility void, but it is the prospect of what lies ahead that is so exciting. Haroon Lorgat or Dave Richardson, he says, would be the prime candidates to run cricket in the country after the clean-up.
Given cricket's messy politics and selfish personal agendas, there is a legitimate argument to be made for the appointment of an "outsider" with a strong background in business. But that argument is mightily outweighed by the desperate need for a working understanding of a game -- and industry -- that is close to unique in the world of sport.
South Africa's status in the global community has been maintained only by the performances of the national team for the past two years. It is a short-term situation that cannot last. The new man needs to have an empathy for the grassroots of the game as well as for its pinnacle. Richardson, a lawyer from the Eastern Cape with a long and distinguished international playing career and an equally successful administrative one, is almost too good to be true. If a CV of the ideal candidate was drawn up, it would be hard to believe his was real.
Nikita Bastian is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo