What a decisive, magnificent victory by the Proteas over the West Indies. It showed the strength of the team’s character, particularly after the Cricket SA board’s untimely entrance. That victory is testament to the Proteas’ strong leadership group and the team’s drive.
On Monday I had written the first draft of my article. The last paragraph is pertinent:
“The Proteas will need a little luck on their journey. They are underdogs and are playing in what is called the group of death. They also play with the enormous distractions of the SJN (Social Justice and Nations Building) Commission, an unsettled executive, a new Cricket SA board and a media storm over Mark Boucher and, for some ridiculous reason, Graeme Smith.”
All this would debilitate a team. The Proteas have gone into their own bubble no doubt with the strong stance of “we’ll show them”.
Administrators, fans and hangers-on must steer clear. The team needs to be undisturbed. Teams shudder when the convener of the selectors or any director enters their dressing room, as, however well intended their message or encouragement is, they disturb the team dynamic. They must be there by invitation only. This is the players’ time — their dressing room is their domain and they do not need any distractions during the tournament.
The timing of the directive that it is mandatory for all the Proteas to take the knee beggars belief. The board’s inability to understand the inner workings of a cricket team and to not have learnt from the past is disappointing. The last time a Cricket SA board did something similar was on the morning of the 2015 ICC World Cup semifinal.
The team management was told to select Vernon Philander instead of the in-form Kyle Abbott in the match against New Zealand. That match was lost ironically after a titanic innings by ex-South African Grant Elliott.
The Cricket SA board had time to manage the Black Lives Matter (BLM) issue well before the tournament. A proper interaction between the board and the team ending with a mutually agreed stance would have been ideal.
Temba Bavuma confirmed the timing of the directive was a mere five hours before the match was due to start. “Before getting on the bus to travel to Dubai, that message was passed on to the players,” Bavuma said. “During the two-hour trip to the Dubai stadium, Quinton [de Kock] made his decision. I found out when I got to the changing room. There wasn’t a great deal of time for us to thoroughly discuss this matter.”
The timing of the directive is unfathomable.
Many people believe the BLM movement, expressed by taking the knee, is window dressing. Some of my friends do not support the movement. They are not stupid or racist; they believe it is tokenism and that they should be judged by how they act and live their lives. That is their view.
I was one of the first people to support Lungi Ngidi’s stance on BLM. That is my view.
Redi Tlhabi, well-known journalist and author, wrote on social media on Tuesday castigating the Cricket SA board thus: “If a player is a racist and takes the knee, they stay in your good books? But if a player is antiracist, lives antiracism, BUT doesn’t believe taking the knee is a perfect expression of that, they are rogues? You like simple solutions to complex problems.”
It is disappointing that this issue has not been handled with thought and collaboration, just a directive. It has exposed SA cricket as discordant, yet again.
What De Kock feels, we do not know yet. His reasons will emerge. Knowing him as I do, it is highly unlikely that his reasons are racially motivated. He is a man of principle, admired and popular within the team, and could be merely objecting to the directive process.
To state the obvious, racism must be eradicated from SA, in every walk of life, including cricket. It is the way this has to be done that is at the centre of this debate.
To return to cricket. Sport hypes the fans’ emotions from ecstasy to despair in a flash, especially in the gladiator climate of T20 cricket. It is the same for the players. The pressure of playing for your country in an ICC event was never more evident when defending champions, the West Indies, collapsed for only 55 runs against England in the opening game.
The Proteas, like the West Indies, were caught like a rabbit in the headlights, initially. Their batting performance against the Australians revealed their apprehension. However, our bowling and fielding responded magnificently and almost pulled off an unlikely win against Australia. There was something reassuring about that.
We now hope for the underdogs to fire and create history.
The suits must stay away. The Proteas must be left unencumbered in their bubble, away from the swirling voices.
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