Time frame main reason for putting review on hold - CSA

An inability to agree on the time frame was the chief reason Cricket South Africa provided for the postponement of the independent review of the performance of its national teams. That, however, was not the only bone of contention the review panel had with South Africa's cricket-governing body. ESPNcricinfo understands there were also disagreements over the scope, process and costs of the review.

The four-person panel was led by CSA's HR committee head Dawn Mokhobo, and included rugby World Cup-winning captain Francois Pienaar, former Test batsman Adam Bacher and sports physiologist Ross Tucker. The panel was appointed in April following first-round exits of the men's and women's teams from the World T20 in March. The group was also due to look into the failure of the Under-19s side to defend their World Cup title earlier this year.

"It is most unfortunate that this review needed to be placed on hold but I would rather not proceed in circumstances where the panel members and CSA are not comfortable," Haroon Lorgat, CSA's CEO, said.

"After speaking with Dawn Mokhobo, it became clear to me that we should not continue with this review if members of the panel were not confident that they could meet my expectations and those of the CSA Board. We need to be completely aligned on what we expect to achieve from such a review and in what time frame. I respect the fact that certain members of the review panel were not comfortable and would prefer to step down."

While announcing the formation of the panel in April, Lorgat had stressed that there was no specific time frame for the panel to abide by.

"While we plan to do this as soon as practically possible, we do not intend to place a deadline on this important piece of work as we presently have capable people and contracts in place," Lorgat said at the time.

The panel held preliminary meetings at the end of April to formulate a plan for the review. In an interview with journalists before their first meeting, Pienaar explained they would initially decide "where the key focus areas will be and how we divvy up the roles".

Later, Tucker confirmed that the panel had begun work but also encountered problems. "Ultimately we couldn't agree with CSA on issues related to scope, process, time and resources. We had an idea for what we should do and how," Tucker said. "But we then had to make a decision about whether to continue or not, and that decision was to step down from the process."

Tucker also expressed his disappointment at not being able to complete the review because he expected the outcomes to serve as "an example to other sports of high performance review and strategy", which could be applied to various sports.

The panel informed Lorgat of its decision to step down on May 25, the same day that the South Africa squad departed for the triangular ODI series in the Caribbean. CSA's Board was not informed of the news until it broke in the media, despite a teleconference held three days after the decision was made on May 28.

The breakdown of the review process was only made public on June 1, when Tucker, in conversation with a Twitter user, posted: "We never completed the review. Never even started. Couldn't agree terms, times and scope/process so it didn't begin. Pity."

In explaining CSA's reasons for postponing the review, Lorgat said he was "also concerned by the behaviour of certain panel members who were not respectful of the clear protocols that we had agreed upfront. Using media platforms to shape an exercise of this importance is not the way to work."

Apart from Tucker's tweets, Pienaar had also done some media interviews in which he spoke generally about the importance of understanding how high-performance structures obtain success. An insider in the panel contradicted CSA's statement and told ESPNcricinfo that all members of the panel had wanted to step down. Statements to the media from panel members were reportedly issued with the aim of maintaining transparency.

Despite the postponement of this review, Lorgat stressed that CSA will still look for a way to analyse last season's performances and may even engage with some of the panel members who did not want to be part of the initial review. "The board is still keen to conduct an independent review of the performances of our national teams with those panel members who are keen to continue," Lorgat said. "I remain impressed by what the review panel has started to consider in this regard as it could be a wonderful blueprint for South African sport."