South Africans have always loved their cricket. We always have and we always will but it is starting to become a heartache. it is like dating a person that constantly cheating with you and hoping they will get better but deep down you know they won’t. We have experienced a lot of ups and downs with our national cricket team. Personally, cricket is the first sport I fell in love with back in the summer of 1998 when we white washed the West Indies 5 0 in the test series and then whipped them 6 1 in the ensuing ODI series. mind you that West Indies team had some of the greatest cricketers to ever play the game, guys like Brian Lara, Courtney Walsh, Curtley Ambrose and Shivnarine Chanderpaul just to mention a few. 

I was definite that in 1999 they we win the world cup and then Herschelle Gibbs dropped Steve Waugh and it is rumoured that Steve Waugh said to Gibbs “you just dropped the world cup son”  which turned out to be true because in the semi-finals we lost again to the same Aussies. Everyone remembers how Allan Donald managed to run himself out when we needed just one run to win that game and go on to play a beatable Pakistan in the final. I will always remember that semi-final vividly because we were standing on the couches and screaming “Zulu zulu zulu” for most of that game. We could not stop talking about it at school and all of sudden we were all aspirant cricketers. 

That time I was still staying in Sabie and they have wood in abundance in that area. We crafted our own cricket bats and used tennis balls as cricket balls. People were quick to name themselves Hansie Cronje or Lance Klusener. Initially we played in the streets but after a lot of broken windows and a number of spankings we had to improvise. We moved to a grass airstrip in the bushes and really got it going there. The only thing we had to be mindful of there was the owners of the airstrip but they were predictable and we could outrun them quite easily so we jolled there almost every day. The older guys would obviously only want to bat and we would have to field. They would hit the tennis ball so far sometimes it would get lost in the bushes and we would spend hours looking for it with no concern of snakes or any wild animals we might encounter in those bushes. We just wanted to play and some of us even had a desire and a wish to eventually play for the Proteas. We thought we were good enough but no one will ever know because no one ever came to watch us. We could not play at school because none of our parents c could afford to pay for school, boarding and still be able to buy the cricket kit at that time. Eventually the teams became smaller as we grew older and we were left with only one thing to do which is to be fans and just support our national team.

Things changed drastically when Hansie Cronje came on national television and admitted that he took money to intentionally lose games which was one of the lowest points in our cricket history as no one expected that from him. Hansie Cronje is one person that was born a leader, he was excellent in everything he did and even at school they always made examples using him when they were talking about leadership in sports. I’m sure in terms of leadership in sports he is rivaled only by John Smith, Lucas Radebe, Rassie Erasmus, and Siya Kolisi. A leader who gave everything to his country and was the best in his position. So, imagine the shock when this man we were idolizing confessed that he took money to throw away games, it was heart-breaking. I am a patriot and I watch sports passionately. I also get emotional about all the sporting disciplines I watch and it felt terrible knowing that we were losing because our captain just wanted a leather jacket and some extra money. The law played its part and Hansie was banned while other players were suspended and as hard as it was, we moved on from that scandal.

We hosted the next world cup in 2003 and taking into consideration how we fared the last world cup, everybody was certain that it was our time. It wasn’t to be as we got knocked out of the group stages. There were a lot of factors but the main one was because our present coach Mark Boucher didn’t receive communication that we needed one more run to advance to the next phase. I still have vivid images of Shaun Pollock sitting at Kingsmead which was ironically his home ground with the rain pouring down relentlessly. Kenya with less cricket resources and history even fared better that us and made it to the semi-finals.

I told myself then and there that I was done watching cricket but the appointment of Graeme Smith convinced me otherwise. Smith was only 22 years old but he spoke liked a seasoned veteran. From his first speech it was apparent that we would achieve greatness in the sport and he actually did deliver. Under his tenure we managed for the first-time post isolation to beat Australia in Australia and England in England. We became the number one test cricket team in the world which to me is the highest honour in cricket. Sure, we didn’t win the ODI world cup but at least we didn’t choke. We lost to a dominant Australia which had the best players in every position in the West Indies in 2007. The 2011 World cup in India was a different story where we lost to our bogey team in world cups which was New Zealand. That loss was not hard to handle as generally South African teams don’t do that great in the Subcontinent.

Graeme Smith retired and AB de Villiers took over as captain which to me was a mistake. Believe me you he is of the greatest cricketers to have played the game but a great captain he was not. The fastest cheetah in the jungle is not usually the smartest one. There are rumours that in the semi final against New Zealand he was forced to field Vernon Philander who was not fit over a firing Kyle Abbot. That decision absolutely had no bearing on that match and we lost. We had lost a lot of games in that world cup anyway so that excuse was null and void. 

Those were the good old days when we complained about not winning the world cup. Things have changed dramatically from then. We get constantly whipped by anyone who is anyone in world cricket. We finished 7^th out of 10 in the world cup 2019 in England. Imagine we got even whipped by Bangladesh. I know Bangladesh has been an associate member of the ICC for a long time now but losing to them is like the Springboks losing to Georgia or Bafana Bafana losing to the Seychelles . Its unheard of. To make matters worse Sri Lanka one of the weakest teams in test cricket had beaten us 2 0 in a test series here on our shores. Mind you that was first time we lost a test series against a sub-continent team in South Africa. If the past year or so is not enough to prove that our cricket has been going downward spiral for years then maybe God himself should come down and tell us.

At least there were casualties after the world cup where you had the board resigning , a new coach and some new faces but is it good enough ? so far it doesn’t seem that way . had the English players not been sick we would have been whipped 4 0 on our home soil in the recently completed test series. That’s something that doesn’t happen. Nature dictates that we must be better cricketers than the English. Cricket is a summer sport and its almost summer all year round in South Africa and they barely have 3 months of summer in England. The Aussies can even attest to that, that’s why their national sport is cricket because they have almost same conditions as us. In India its almost the same too.

You would think that things couldn’t get any worse right? Usually when things don’t go well in the present we look towards the future for better results. I personally looked into that future and what I found there was even scarier than the present. A few months ago, we hosted the under 19 World Cup and to say we were pathetic is an understatement. We lost to Afghanistan in the first match. I honestly thought the news had made a mistake only for the highlights to confirm it. The coaches made all sorts of excuses about how the boys were rusty and got overwhelmed by the occasion. That time we knew years in advance that we would be hosting a World Cup. We scrapped through to the quarter where we again got completely outplayed by another minnow from the subcontinent. Bangladesh whipping us on our own cricket ground is a bitter pill to swallow and it made me sick in my stomach. Like that was not enough we lost to Afghanistan again in the 7^th and 8^th playoff spot. The same Afghanistan the coaches made excuses about after the first game. This just put a rubber stamp on the fact that South African cricket is in a dark abyss. Congratulations are in order to Bangladesh for winning the under 19 cricket world cup. Funny enough we also won the same tournament in 2014 and from that team only 3 players have made it to the senior national team. Kagiso Rabada , Aiden Markram and Andile Phehlukwayo have managed to establish themselves and have performed admirably. 

So where is the problem and how does SA cricket stop this rot. Cricket enthusiast and observers will always blame transformation. In terms of SA cricket how is transformation defined?

SA cricket needs to start widening their pool of up and coming cricketers. Yes transformation is required but even with transformation you still don’t get players from disadvantaged communities. A simple example is the Springboks with Makazole Mampimpi who made his bones in the rural areas. The fact that he had the facilities albeit in rural areas propelled him to become a world cup winner and right now probably the best winger in world rugby. That is what transformation should be about and not just colouring the national teams with mediocre players. 

 Lungi Ngidi , Kagso Rabado, Andile Phehlukwayo and even Themba Bavuma are the current core of black players that are getting an extended run in the national team. Their selections are based on performances and they have produced adequate results most of the time. You will hear the top brasses at SA cricket talking about meeting their transformation quotas at almost every interview but I sincerely feel they are falling really short. Cricket until this day is still an exclusive sports because if you at the aforementioned players and their schooling backgrounds then it becomes apparent that there is still no transformation in cricket. These guys all went to schools where one has to pay thousands of Rands per year and had top coaches coaching them. Where is the Makazole Mampimi of our cricket that grinded in the rural areas to become one of the best? Until this day Makhaya Ntini remains on the few players that emerged from a rural area and became a world beater in cricket. The same program that unearthed a guy like Makhaya Ntini has to be implemented across every community in South Africa. The focus cannot be on certain schools only. Its high time that cricket is inclusive to all South Africans in every community. If you talk about a success in transformation then Makhaya Ntini and probably Mfuneko Ngam are the two players you can name with your chest out. I remember one Australian commentator even causing a lot of controversy by saying “Kagiso Rabada probably became a great bowler by bowling to the batsmen in his rural village “and people on twitter wanted his head and even went as far as showing him the prestigious school that KG went too. The Australian commentary might have been set straight but if you think of it clearly you can understand where he is coming from because every press conference there are talks of transformation. When the bosses of SA cricket go to press conferences and talk about how they have the transformation quota the world will believe that the some players are from the rural areas because that is what transformation is about.

A guy like Dale Steyn who also comes from a small town too had to sacrifice a lot travelling from Hoedspruit to Polokwane every weekend just to get recognition. Mpumalanga , North West Province and Limpopo are the few provinces that have summer all year round but not even one of them has a team in South African franchise cricket. 

Standard bank until recently, Momentum and Sunfoil invest millions of rands in SA cricket only for the board to focus on futile things instead of investing in all communities across South Africa.  The Pink day initiative has raised a lot of money for breast cancer victims and for that they must be commended. Surely, they can raise enough money to build nets or bats for all the rural areas in the country. no new cricket stadiums or pitches have been built across the country. In essence you have to be at a certain posh place to play cricket and statistics tell us that there only few of those in South Africa who can afford it. How expensive can it be to build nets and a pitches across every community in South Africa.In every corner of South there is someone who is unemployed and passionate about cricket, a person who is willing to coach the game. A person who will be willing to attend coaching seminars and learn to implement in his community. A guy like Inzaman UL Haq was discovered batting in the nets in his community in Pakistan and then nurtured, from there he became a great player and even became captain of their national side. How many Inzaman’s are lurking in these communities but won’t be discovered because they have no place to showcase their abilities? There are a lot of ex cricketers who are willing to be talent spotters or coaches if approached. The country is already broken down into municipalities and one team per municipality can suffice. Why not even build a cricket kit manufacturing plant in a place like Sabie even if its cheap bats? Coaches can see potential and potential should not be limited to specific teams. Transformation is not to be blamed but maladministration is to be blamed. 

I remember in my matric when I had to make a career choice, I looked for a career that had a bursary which came with a computer and allowance, the benefits outweighed me choosing what I really wanted to do. The same incentives must be made known to aspirant cricketers because now cricketers are becoming millionaires worldwide. Caribbean players are reaping the benefits of this because now you have the IPL, BPL, Nepal league, Big Bash, Pakistan 20/20 ,Caribbean premier and Kolkap contracts. These are opportunities where players can play cricket and earn millions. With the high unemployment rate in South Africa, this too could go a long way towards boosting the economy and creating jobs. SA cricket needs to start administrating cricket as an employment facility. They are the ones that must be the university that furnishes kids with the necessary skill to be employed worldwide