SA board and players’ body on collision course

JOHANNESBURG: A showdown is looming between Cricket South Africa (CSA) and South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA) over the former’s plans to revamp domestic cricket.CSA held meetings over the weekend and has announced that its board has approved plans to restructure domestic cricket as a response to a dire financial situation. But SACA has complained that it has been kept in the dark on the potential changes, which could cost 70 professional cricketers their jobs.CSA chief executive Thabang Moroe announced the planned austerity measures after two days of meetings to discuss the body’s financial standing. In October, loss projections stood at USD 47 million, according to a report CSA had submitted to a parliamentary sports portfolio committee, and Moroe said that the amount had come down to USD 25 million because of the proposed revamp.But SACA says that it has been offered no clarity on the details of CSA’s financial position. "A four-year deficit amounting to hundreds of millions of rands is unprecedented in South African cricket and is a serious concern to us as the representative of the players," SACA chief executive Tony Irish said."The future of the game is in the balance and as a critical stakeholder we believe the players have a right to know what the financial position actually is, how it is being dealt with, and how this is going to affect not only them but also all other cricket stakeholders."We have asked CSA for clarity and to date it has not provided this. SACA wishes to act responsibly but in order to do that CSA must play open cards with us and properly engage with us."CSA’s austerity measures have been approved at the board level, and changes would include expanding the six franchise teams to 12 provincial teams from May 2020. "Franchise cricket has been a huge burden to CSA’s coffers. We are pinning most of our work and commercial strategy on the Mzansi Super League (MSL) to be the programme that is actually going to fund domestic cricket," Moroe said. The T20 Challenge, one of three T20 competitions run by CSA alongside the Africa T20 and MSL, will also be scrapped after operating without a sponsor this season.

from The News International - Sports http://bit.ly/2WWNRO4