South African cricket facing more chaos

The members’ council of Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced it had broken off relations with an interim board which had been appointed to run the game’s affairs.

The appointment of that body followed a year of crisis during which CSA was locked in conflict with players, media and some major sponsors.

Retired judge Zak Yacoob, chairman of the interim board, responded to CSA's statement with a letter in which he said the reasons put forward by the council "appear to be self-serving, opportunistic, misleading and if we may say so, very short-sighted as far as the interests of cricket in South Africa is concerned."

The CSA board resigned last month and an interim board was appointed. Several board members remained on the members’ council, consisting of presidents of provincial cricket bodies, despite resigning from the board.

The members' council stated there was a breakdown in relations with the interim board following a meeting last Sunday between the two bodies and sports minister Nathi Mthethwa.

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It said it had written to Mthethwa to inform him that it was not prepared to endorse the interim board.

One of the issues raised was an alleged conflict of interest involving Haroon Lorgat, who was CSA chief executive until he left in acrimonious circumstances in 2017.

Judge Yacoob accused the members' council of pretending to cooperate but of making "every effort to obstruct our work". He said the interim board intended to continue to carry out its mandate to act in the interests of the game.

There was no immediate comment from the sports ministry.

The latest row is unlikely to affect England’s tour, which will include three one-day internationals and three T20 internationals, but the sports minister can, in theory at least, withdraw CSA’s status as the governing body of cricket in South Africa.