Cricket South Africa faces a risk of being banned from international cricket by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The governing body is “deeply concerned” about what is happening at Cricket SA and the ICC board is pushing for developments at the governing body for the sport in SA to be discussed at its next meeting. The ICC has not officially commented on Cricket SA and the governance and administrative control failures that have beset the organisation over the past 18 months‚ but is “looking into all facts.” The ICC’s next board meeting has yet to be scheduled. Already the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) has “intervened” in the Cricket SA crisis by asking the Cricket SA board and executive management to step aside and cease daily operations while a task team takes charge and investigates the problems in the organisation. Cricket SA rejected the move and asked for dialogue with Sascoc, while the sports confederation committee denied its intervention was tantamount to putting Cricket SA under administration. Although the Sascoc is not a government body, but the ICC could view its “intervention” as political or government interference, forbidden by ICC rules. Zimbabwe Cricket was suspended by the ICC in July 2019 over a reported failure to keep the sport free from government interference. The ban was lifted a few months later.
Brian Sturgess
