SA Minister of Sport tackles UCB over all-white team issue

Centurion: Meddling in team selection policy was out of order as it was not in keeping with the United Cricket Board transformation policy the Minister of Sport, Ngconde Balfour, has told the country cricket bosses in the city yesterday.

At a meeting between Balfour and the UCB delegation, Balfour accepted the UCB apologies, made by Ali Bacher, the UCB managing director and agreement that fielding an all-white side would not be allowed to take place again.

Under the UCB transformation policy a minimum of one player of colour has to play in teams representing provinces, but in the case of the combined Northerns/Gauteng XI, this rule was ignored and a row ensued over the selection of the all-white side which played the touring England XI at SuperSport Park in Centurion 12 days ago.

In a statement issued after a meeting lasting some 80 minutes Balfour said the UCB ``have admitted their mistake but such a thing cannot happen again."

Ray White, the UCB president, agreed his board had erred in allowing the selection of the whites-only side which led to emotive and critical comment for several sources which led to the inclusion of Gauteng fast bowler Walter Masimula the day before the game started. As it is opening batsman Geoffrey Toyana name appeared on the original team list, at which point White, among others expressed concern at the selectors overlooking nationally contracted players. What led to the furore of the team selected was the inclusion of Sven Koenig, which cut across the UCB transformation guidelines.

"After full and frank discussions we realised that the selection of an all-white team was quite clearly a mistake," White said.

Balfour declined to allow the media to ask questions, saying that the incident would not be repeated.

"There are two things that are non-negotiable in this ministry," he said. "One is transformation and the second is representivity and if federations cannot do it themselves, we have to step in and assist them."

What should be made clear, however, is that this particular meeting between the UCB and Balfour, had been on Balfour agenda for some weeks ago and postponed after initial dates clashed with his other engagements.

Others in the UCB delegation were Bacher, Khaya Majola, who heads the UCB amateur wing, Percy Sonn, the UCB vice-president along with Ray Mali and Ashwin Desai, who are part of the UCB Transformation Monitoring Committee.

What did not come out in the statement was comments from Bacher who said ``Minister Balfour was complimentary of what cricket has achieved in terms of transformation and that in many instances we are the front-runners.

"He did point out that the all-white team had caused a great deal of consternation around the country. It was never our intention to upset people and we apologised sincerely for any offence or hurt that was caused,'' Bacher said.

"We have still to decide whether we (UCB) are to continue with combined teams for matches against future touring teams. If we pursue with this policy such teams cannot be all-white, as it is policy that no all-white teams can play in provincial competitions," Bacher said.