Cricket South Africa keeps batting for the game

Former South African cricket captain Graeme Smith, now Director of Cricket South Africa (CSA), called for building a culture that represents all of the country, to improve the future of the sport. He was speaking at this morning’s webinar in the Think Big series by PSG.

Smith’s responsibility at CSA extends to creating a high-performance environment for both men and women, encouraging youngsters to grow the game.

When Smith assumed the position of Director, he knew he had a challenge on his hands. “Although my job was more cricket focused at the time, it soon expanded into repairing a number of relationships, fixing TV rights deals, previous deals that weren’t paid for, and then trying to formulate a strategy to move forward. Before you know it, through trial and error you rebuild some things, and then COVID hits and you face a new set of challenges.”

The cost of COVID on cricket

“The medical perspective has always been a big part of our lives in sport, so we have extensive plans on return to play, return to training and have been dealing with the Ministry of Sport a lot. Cricket is an elaborate sport when you think of the challenges that come with the whole pipeline re-opening,” he adds.

“The future of cricket is reliant on SA’s borders being open for travel because broadcast rights and home tours are how we make a majority of our income, and at the moment that is all on hold, but we are working with government to see what the plans are.”

The common cricket bowlers’ practice of spitting on the ball to give it more grip and shine is a thing of the past, as health protocols have been tightened. “The ICC has allowed sweat in the game, but saliva is banned.”

“I think it’s great when the ball moves around [from player to player] but that really needs to be looked at moving forward,” Smith said. “This places pressure on medical protocols and how you look after players. Are they safe? Have they been tested? You are trying to stay on top of the situation all the time. These are all plans and costs that that weren’t in our game before.”

Wondering about a women’s tour?

There are plans to have the South African women’s cricket team fly to England in September.

Smith said they have been engaging with the England and Wales Cricket Board and it is an important event they want to get done. “There is a lot of money involved in this, which is a great indication of the level of the game. We are excited to encourage and support them.”

In his role as CSA Director Smith said, “one of my challenges is growing the women’s environment and making it even more successful. There is a lot of talent and how we give women access to a more professional environment is going to be a big part of the next two years.”

“The players and medical staff have maintained a good level of fitness and this has been helpful. The women will have two camps at the high-performance centre ahead of the London tour. The first one will be a medical test and getting them acquainted with new protocols, and then some skills-work. Fourteen days before they tour, they will be in a bubble training and preparing for that tour,” Smith said.

“The challenge we face is how to think differently. How many players need to go on tour? The quarantine periods need to be factored in too because they are longer now. We are trying to use science, debating and sharing information to make the best decisions and decide on the right way forward.”

Encouraging open conversations

“When our teams are playing well, there are good stories and money is made, and players are developed. Those are the stories you want in the headlines, but cricket gets in its own way sometimes in the form of bad decisions and scandals. It takes away from the beauty of our sport and takes away from youngsters looking up to players.”

The Black Lives Matter campaign has of course highlighted some challenges to the cricket arena and is a highly emotive space. “I think it’s important to have these conversations and we want to see the game representative of all people. We want to be successful and we want to see growth. I haven’t seen the team have such an honest conversation in many years, which is great,” Smith said.

“We want to start having the right voices come to the forefront and facilitate these discussions. We need to understand where players are coming from and the goal is to find a way to move in the right direction,” Smith said.

Brett Lambert, National Head of PSG Wealth distribution, who hosted the discussion, felt alignment with Smith’s message to have the right team in place, with the right focus.

“Becoming a champion is not that simple. A lot of factors impact the outcome from player selection to game strategy and team dynamics, among others. There are many ways the approach to cricket can be equated to approaching investing. A successful cricket team has expert support honing each player's discipline. Similarly, at PSG we have a team of experts in considering all the elements that make up the bigger picture when it comes to investing. It takes a team to reach the best outcome,” he concluded.