Just four days before the England cricket team arrives to play a limited-overs series at home, the South African Cricket Association has expressed frustration over the board's administrative turmoil. Cricket South Africa's interim board chairman Justice Jack Jacobs had earlier warned that internal conflicts on the board could discourage foreign teams from visiting. However, a spokesman for the England Cricket Board said the tour was scheduled to take place.
Jacobs said, ‘The refusal of CSA members to approve the interim board could provoke a reaction. However, the council will be called to reconsider the decision. The members will be discouraged from coming to England if they do not make the right decision.
Earlier, South African Sports Minister Nathi Mathewa warned that the announcement by council members to sever ties with the Interim Board on Thursday could directly interfere. His intervention could affect the CSA's position with the ICC. England will arrive in Cape Town on Tuesday to play a three-match T20 and ODI series. The series will start from November 26.
The South African Cricketers' Association says it could review the CSA's position as an ICC member country due to the constraints of the member council and the intervention of the sports minister. This could put South African cricket in a difficult position. Under South African law, a member council needs to be formally appointed to make the interim board effective.
"We're back in one place," said Andrew Bretzke, chief executive of the Cricketers' Association. The administrative structure of the CSA is in crisis again. Personal interests and politics seem to be bigger than cricket.
Jacobs said the interim board has decided to work to resolve South African cricket's problems. The council has also been accused of breaching agreements with the interim board and the sports minister.