I never liked clowns and I never liked the circus, which could explain my disdain for Cricket South Africa’s administration and those imposters parading as a leadership, writes Mark Keohane.

Cricket South Africa’s administration, old and new, were and are an embarrassment.

Who has 18 months in which to discuss, debate and settle on a team ethos when it comes to a united front on the Black Lives Matter symbolism of taking a knee, and then orders the team to do so two hours before their most crucial T20 World Cup league match? Cricket South Africa’s leadership, that is who.

What a joke.

Quinton de Kock, South Africa’s most prolific T20 cricketer, refused the order to take a knee and withdrew from the match.

He was well within his rights to resist this, whatever one’s feelings about whether to take the knee or not goes greater than symbolism.

De Kock, a day later in a statement, said he could have taken a knee and not believed in why he was doing so and lied to the world. His objection was not as much the taking of the knee, but the manner in which Cricket South Africa broke with every labour law practice to instruct every player to take the knee or to suffer consequences.

De Kock was either praised or pilloried for his stance and those praising him were labelled racists and those who did the attacking were comforting themselves that they could never have any form of racial bias.

De Kock has never taken a knee. He has always maintained that he shows his respect for Black Lives Matter in the way he lives and for the first time, in this statement, spoke about a family integrated in race and values, with his sisters being coloured and his step mother being black.

Some questioned the need for him to mention this, but what option did he have when trying to explain his situation to the greater condemning world of social media opinion?

Unfortunately, he had to try and convince the social media mob that he was no racist because he didn’t take a knee. He also had to emphasise that his objection was not about the taking of the knee but the manner in which Cricket South Africa’s executive leadership had acted two hours before a game.

Cricket South Africa’s executive, in response to De Kock’s statement, showed just how indulged, self-absorbed and deluded they are in putting out a statement welcoming De Kock’s apology and explanation.

They should be ashamed of causing the situation and then patting themselves on the back for a job well done.

Cricket South Africa’s executives have been silent on the issue of Proteas coach Mark Boucher being among those who called former Proteas teammate Paul Adams ‘Brown S***’ by way of a nickname.

They have been silent on most things, when time has afforded them to be introspective, reasonable and responsible.

Then boom, comes the World Cup, with the Proteas fighting for survival after losing their opening game to Australia, and they drop the Black Lives Matter ‘kneeling’ bomb.

Last December, I wrote that the Proteas, as a collective, were divided on the Black Lives Matter kneeling as a symbolism. I also wrote that Cricket South Africa’s leadership didn’t care, otherwise there would have been resolution and a definite view from within the Proteas.

De Kock rightfully questioned why in 18 months, through a series of ‘culture awareness camps’, zoom calls and meetings, Cricket South Africa had never expressed the view they did two hours before the Proteas played the West Indies.

De Kock has apologized to his teammates, the West Indies and the South African public, but the only apology that we should be speaking about should have come from Cricket South Africa’s executive – and it should have come via a collective resignation.

Instead of bemoaning the situation of South African sports people excelling for other countries, we should be celebrating the quality of sporting individuals produced in South Africa, writes Mark Keohane.

When it comes to South Africans playing for other countries, there are two very different formative identities, one is that of South African-born and the other is that of South Africa-born and raised.

For example, former All Blacks flyhalf Andrew Mehrtens was born in Durban, of Kiwi parents, but spent only six months in the Republic before his parents returned to New Zealand, where he was raised. He is all Kiwi.

Ditto, the likes of BJ Watling, Glen Phillips and Colin Munro, who excelled in New Zealand cricket. All three left South Africa before the age of 10. They are all raised in the Kiwi sporting system.

The South African brigade I refer to are those who were born in this country, raised in this country, evolved their sporting talent in this country and then relocated to another country and on performance got selected to represent this country.

Some left because of the adventure of being in another country, some left because they felt they needed a sporting change and some left with the commitment to a new life in an adopted country.

The simplistic view every time a South African-born or a South African-born and raised individual excels, is to lament the South African sporting system and the tiresome ‘another one who got away’ line gets screamed on social media.

But it is seldom a case of ‘another one that got away’ and more accurately ‘another one who found form and fortune in a different environment’.

Very few of those South African-born and raised cricket and rugby players who have flourished under another country’s flag, were in the mix in South Africa and it is unlikely they would ever have played international cricket or rugby for the Proteas or Springboks.

Durban-born and raised Kevin Pietersen is the exception, but Pietersen also produced his best in England’s County Championship and his performances there were mighty compared to what he had done in his early provincial career in South Africa.

New Zealand’s Neil Wagner was always in the queue behind Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel and a change of scenery came packaged with a Test career of 200-plus wickets.

Devon Conway is the latest South African-born and raised cricketer thrilling global audiences. Conway is 30 years-old and left South Africa as a 26 year-old. By his own admission, he hadn’t scored enough runs to warrant a national call-up and he opted for a living and playing adventure in New Zealand. He has been sensational. Good on him.

Curtis Campher, the Irish all-rounder who took four wickets in four deliveries earlier this week at the T20 World Cup, was born and raised in South Africa. He has an Irish grandmother and qualified for an Irish passport. He is a former SA under 19 player, but he was also in a long queue when it came to the Proteas. He has found fame in another land.

Good on him.

CJ Stander played 50 Tests for Ireland and also played for the British & Irish Lions. He left South Africa with the intention to try and make it in Ireland – and he did.

There are so many examples, with former Free Stater Lappies Labuschagne captaining Japan against Australia in a rugby international this weekend. Good on him because he would never have played international rugby for the Springboks.

There are seven South African-born and raised coaches in charge of teams at the T20 World Cup, currently underway, several backroom staff and an entire team of South African-born and raised players not representing the Proteas.

It is a testament to the wonderful sporting talent produced in South Africa and not an indictment of any sporting system failure.

Someone with authority and influence in South Africa, please end the madness and get us back into our sports stadiums and the freedom to choose to go to matches, writes Mark Keohane.

Where are the legal challengers from within the South African professional sporting community to challenge the government’s insistence that spectators still cannot attend sporting events?

Where are the clever people in this country to make a nonsense of what is blatantly a nonsense ruling?

So much has been determined under the mask of Covid, but other agendas have been shown to be the driver behind so many decisions. One only has to think of the smoking ban, which is now never a topic of discussion.

And no, I am not a smoker, but the rationale behind shutting down the sale of cigarettes had no substance because if it did, the status quo would have remained.

Professional sport has taken a commercial beating in South Africa in the past 18 months and every time light should be cast on the situation, a door closes to keep everything dark and everyone in the dark.

I’ve written a few columns bemoaning a situation where thousands are allowed free-flow through shopping malls every day, with no restriction on social distancing, with no obvious control of who touches what, who gets sanitized and who may or may not be sneezing and coughing all over the place.

The restrictions of Level 1 allow for public gatherings of up to 2000 people and restaurant capacities have been improved, with most of these restaurants being indoor establishments.

But up until now there has been a blanket ban on sporting events – events that would be played outdoors and in what amounts to a space far healthier, safer and less risky than a crammed restaurant or pub.

I’ve seen people at pubs in the past month watching sports events that are elbow to elbow and squashed for movement.

What is risky about accommodating spectators at a 50 000-seat stadium, with reduced capacities that ensure social distancing and that accommodate blocked off sections? I’ve asked this question over and over but have yet to get a response.

More than three million people in the Western Cape have been vaccinated. Why is there still a ban on attending sporting events and why is there such a draconian attitude towards wanting to let fans back, with the PSL officials being told that when spectators return the initial number can’t exceed 1000. However, an outdoor gathering can have 2000.

Any sporting event gives the comfort of structure, both in control and environment.

Allow the vaccinated in and allow sports fans to start cheering and living again.

Allow the respective professional sporting codes to breathe again commercially and give their investors and sponsors equal comfort that everything being done is solution based and not a carry on of a Covid situation that started 18 months ago, yet is still being treated in the same light as it was 18 months ago.

It is a given that we all have to learn to live with Covid, but the operative word here is ‘live’.

Professional sports are bleeding and unless the bleeding is stopped, some may never recover.

This is not a time for Elastoplast. Professional sport has to be resuscitated and people have to be allowed to make the choice to attend sporting events.

These professional sports organizations and clubs will put in place all measures to ensure a safe experience, or as safe as possible in the current world we live in.

Speaking for myself, I will be way more comfortable going to the Cape Town Stadium to watch a soccer or rugby match, or Newlands to watch a cricket match than I ever feel when I am in one of the Western Cape’s many shopping malls.

From a qualifier winning the US Open women’s title, to the world’s greatest player getting stunned in the men’s final, to the high of Ronaldo’s sensational return to Old Trafford, only for the Young Boys to humble Manchester United and the King of Comebacks a few days later … The past week was a celebration of sport’s incredible ability to tell a story, writes Mark Keohane.

I started playing sports when I was five years old in my first year at school. I played for the u7 rugby team and by the time I was eight years old my weekly calendar was filled with every and any sporting option at my school and every game that was going on in my street and at the park.

It didn’t matter what it was, if the ball bounced, moved or could be kicked, caught or hit, I was there. Our garage door took a pounding on a daily basis as I won many a grand slam tennis title.

I started watching sport on television in 1976, as an eight year-old, and my first visits to Newlands rugby and cricket grounds also came as an eight year-old. It was a huge year because my favourite rugby player, Western Province flyhalf Robbie Blair kicked the winning conversion against another of my favourite teams, the All Blacks. I was at Newlands in the railway stand when the ball sailed over after he had missed eight penalties that day.

I also saw the All Blacks win against the Proteas at the Goodwood Showgrounds. My rugby world seemed complete in that season and my cricket world went to another level when Garth le Roux singled me out to sign my bat on his return from being the biggest star in the Kerry Packer World Series in Australia. Peter Kirsten also made my early mornings at Newlands Cricket Ground buzz because he always took time to sign my autograph bat and have a chat and then there was the bliss of knowing any day at Newlands cricket meant a ‘lolly to make you jolly and an ice-cream to make you dream’ from the most famous ice-cream seller Boeta Cassiem, who passed away this week. Back in the day, for me, he was Mr Cassiem.

Cape Town City was my soccer team and the memory of those cold nights at Hartleyvale still warms the heart.

Charlie Weir was my guy when it came to boxing and I was crushed when Joseph ‘King Kong Hali knocked him out at the Good Hope Centre and I experienced every range of emotion in the return fight when it looked like the Silver Assassin was going to be knocked out again, only for him to recover and win by a knockout.

My dad was an avid reader of newspapers, in particular the sports section and I was of that rare breed of eight-year-old who loved reading newspapers. I still do today. There is something so comforting about the smell of the paper, which takes me back to those formative years when I fell in love with the theatre of sport, the sense of euphoria when my team won, the heartache when they lost and the awe I felt when watching some of my idols perform; equally the frustration when these sporting giants stumbled on the odd occasion.

As I grew older and travelled internationally, I got introduced to some of the finest sports writing, especially from the United States, and got to meet many of these wonderful storytellers of sport’s delight and despair.

For me to have a career writing sport has meant that I have never felt like I had a job, but rather always felt like that eight year old looking for the next game to play, the next hero to be, the next villain to conquer and the next sporting story to tell.

This past week the eight year old in me buzzed with the return to Old Trafford of Ronaldo. A disclaimer. Liverpool is my team and Lionel Messi is the master when it comes to the Messi v Ronaldo debate.

But my personal preference was secondary to what would play out at the Theatre of Dreams. I wanted Ronaldo to score. I knew he would score and I watched the match with Manchester United fans. It was glorious. I envied those sports writers at Old Trafford who would get to tell the story of his two goals, his presence, United’s win and the occasion.

Ronaldo played as if he had never left Old Trafford. It was a fairytale. A few nights later, despite another Ronaldo goal, United lost in the Champions League. Once again, sport had proved a leveller, humbling of ego and crushing of expectation when consideration was not given to anything but victory.

I experienced that, as a fan and a writer, when Novak Djokovic lost in straight sets in the US Open final. Djokovic, a match away from a record-breaking 21^st Grand Slam, was in my mind never going to lose. I settled in at 22.00 on Sunday evening and a few hours later simply felt stunned. It was as if I had lived every losing point when the night before I had lived every winning point of the teenager Emma Raducanu who became the first qualifier to ever win a Grand Slam title.

What a contrast in winners at the US Open final. It was a story that no one would have scripted but it was the one that continues to make sport such compelling viewing.

Equally, when it came to the Springboks and last Sunday’s Rugby Championship match against Australia, who at kick-off were ranked 7^th in the world and had got hammered by the All Blacks in three successive Test matches.

I lost the plot momentarily, calling them wimps on the basis of their meek surrender and chumps because of a three from 12 record in the past 18 months. I claimed with confidence and arrogance that it was champ against chump and the scoreboard would reflect it.

It didn’t, but there was still the escape of a late rally from the Springboks and a one-point win when the world champions led by 26-25 on 79 minutes and 40 seconds.

I could still save some face and then Australia got a penalty and Quade Cooper stepped up to kick the winner. Bring on the humble pie and the social media abuse. I wanted Cooper to kick it; not because I wanted Australia to win but because I wanted Cooper’s fairytale sports story to be complete.

Cooper, who I had watched implode and disintegrate at Eden Park in Auckland at the 2011 World Cup semi-final defeat against the All Blacks, had not played Test rugby in five years.

Yet, here he was, having already kicked six penalties and a conversion from seven attempts, about to beat the world champions with the last kick of the game.

The storyteller in me willed his kick to go over, just as the storyteller in me travelled every metre of Morne Steyn’s series winning penalty kick against the British & Irish Lions.

Steyn’s kick in 2021, a repeat of his series winning kick in 2009, made for a remarkable comeback story. Cooper’s wasn’t quite at the same level in the context of a series, but no less remarkable for what he achieved as an individual.

It was sporting theatre at its best and as his kick went over, I felt the pain of every Lions supporter after Steyn’s kick.

The only difference is I potentially get to feel something different when the two teams meet again today, whereas Lions supporters have a 12 year wait for redemption. As it turns out I will have to wait another year, but at least it isn’t another 12.

Sport, beautiful and cruel, but always compelling theatre.

*This article is dedicated to the memory of the late Mr ‘Boeta’ Cassiem. The lolly always made this eight year old jolly and the ice cream always made me dream. Thank you

Dale Steyn was pace. He was swing. He was spirit. He was possibility. He was bluff. He was trance. He was – and is – life, reports Mark Keohane.

I absolutely loved Cricinfo’s Sidharth Monga’s tribute to the virtues of Dale Steyn’s bowling.

‘When you can’t catch a break in life, find footage of Steyn’s wicketless spells. They’ll inspire you and they tell you there is a wicket not far away, and that once you get one, you need to have a red-hot go at getting more,’ wrote Monga, referencing Steyn’s spirit in going wicketless for 69 overs against India in the 2013/14 series, but refusing to concede defeat.

Steyn, in a media interview, once said that when he visualized bowling as an 18 year-old he wanted to run in like Brett Lee, leap like Allan Donald, bowl as quick as Shoaib Akthar and be as accurate as Shaun Pollock.

Pakistan’s Shoaib is famous for saying that to be a fast bowler a player had to be crazy, and while Steyn certainly had those crazy eyes whenever given the ball, his career has been so much more than just that of a crazed fast bowler.

Steyn casually on Tuesday, 31sth August, 2021, announced his retirement from all formats of cricket.

Steyn is South Africa’s greatest fast bowler, one of the best to ever play the game internationally in all three formats and the fast bowler with the most potent strike rate in Test cricket’s history.

439 Test wickets at 42.3.

Ridiculous record 🙌#DaleSteynRetires pic.twitter.com/dlkKoorKOC

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) August 31, 2021

Steyn is of that rare modern breed of perfectionist that has conquered all in Test cricket, excelled in the 50 overs ODI version and has embraced all the nuances of T20.

To give context to Steyn’s cricket career, one has to continue to repeat his bowling statistics: 439 Test wickets, at an average of 22.95 and with a strike rate of 42.3 in 93 Tests. 125 ODIs: 196 wickets, at an average of 25.95, an economy rate of 4.87 and a strike rate of 31.9. And finally, 47 T20 internationals: 64 wickets, at an average of 15.8, an economy rate of 6.94 and a strike rate of 18.35.

Steyn finished with 699 international wickets in his international career, has sent down 25 879 balls. In his first-class career it exceeded 41 000 balls bowled.

From July 2009 to December 2013, Dale Steyn held the top spot in the ICC Test rankings for 231 consecutive weeks 🤯 pic.twitter.com/7POJMDha1W

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) August 31, 2021

Announcement. pic.twitter.com/ZvOoeFkp8w

— Dale Steyn (@DaleSteyn62) August 31, 2021

Watch SA Cricket Magazine’s celebration of Dale Steyn’s finest bowling

Gasant Abarder interviews Dale Steyn on the morning of his retirement from all cricket

How the cricket world reacted to Dale Steyn’s retirement

Cricket South Africa’s Lawson Naidoo and his Board should be shamed for not taking a stand against racial intolerance and against Proteas coach Mark Boucher, writes Mark Keohane.

Cricket South Africa’s new leadership were given an opportunity to action their words when it comes to their supposed fight against racial discrimination but chairperson Lawson Naidoo’s words are proving to be hollow and his silence in the wake of Mark Boucher’s admission earlier this week has been deafening.

Naidoo, a few months ago, was appointed as Cricket South Africa’s delegate to the ICC but any prospect that a change in leadership would bring about a change in attitude at Cricket South Africa was blown away this week with Naidoo’s voice nowhere to be heard, despite Proteas coach Boucher admitting in affidavits that he was part of the playing group that called coloured national teammate Paul Adams ‘Brown s**t’.

Boucher attempted to explain it all away by blaming Cricket South Africa for failing to provide white players with the tools to deal with an integrated squad post-apartheid.

Have you ever heard such a cop out or such nonsense?

Boucher was 20 years-old, educated at a fine school and should have had the common sense to know that what he was doing had everything to do with prejudice, racial intolerance and was offensive in every way. Even more so in the context of South Africa’s historical segregation under apartheid.

Naidoo hasn’t condemned Boucher and he hasn’t even offered a comment to the South African sporting public when it comes to why his Board has not acted on Boucher’s comments.

Boucher and the Proteas squad left for Sri Lanka this week, with Boucher displaying the strut of an untouchable, which he seems to be within South African cricket.

Boucher’s results as the Proteas coach have been poor, yet his status as head coach has not been challenged by Naidoo and the Board. Boucher’s racially offensive remarks as a player in an era where his attitude reinforced racial prejudice has also gone unchallenged.

Boucher should not have got a plane this week to Sri Lanka. The Board should have ensured this when Boucher refused to resign or show any meaningful understanding of his actions. His cop out was to have his legal teams use words like ‘alleged’ and ‘perceived truth’.

Boucher was the leader of the national white playing pack who dictated certain ways within in the squad and among the most vocal in opposing the views of non-white players who a decade ago wanted the white imbalance addressed and also wanted a voice within the squad.

Boucher, in his affidavit, implied that it was a challenge to go from segregation caused by apartheid to inclusivity. He, like his white teammates, just couldn’t rid themselves of this superior race and class complex.

Boucher wrote: ‘There was no guidance, no culture discussions, no open fora and no one appointed by CSA to deal with the awkwardness or questions or pressures that were being experienced by the players and, in particular, by the players of colour.’

What a smokescreen!

Boucher’s former provincial and national teammate Ashwell Prince, in his SJN testimony, stated that the players of colour in the team had tried to address the racially offensive issues.

They were shut down by a white majority who refused to enter into discussions. Boucher was among the most senior players in determining that these players of colour did not have a voice.

Boucher’s international career as a player must not be confused with his attitude when it comes to racial prejudice and it is an attitude that should have seen him fired as the Proteas coach with immediate effect.

Instead, it was Boucher’s assistant coach Enoch Nkwe who resigned with immediate effect because of Boucher’s leadership and the team culture.

Nkwe told the media he had been sidelined by Boucher and reduced to an afterthought in the coaching set-up.

Cricket South Africa, under Naidoo’s watch, accepted Nkwe’s resignation and expressed regret that the coach did not see out his contract until 2023.

Naidoo and his Board should be shamed for not taking a stand against racial intolerance and against Boucher.

They have given Boucher unconditional backing at a time when they should have shown him the backdoor and not a business class ticket to Sri Lanka to be the face of the Proteas and Cricket South Africa.

Mark Keohane articles on IOL

Also on www.keo.co.za

Mark Boucher should resign or be sacked as Proteas coach

Proteas coach Mark Boucher should not be in charge of the national cricket team. His admission to racially offensive behaviour during his Proteas playing days cannot go unchallenged, writes Mark Keohane.

The entitlement Boucher enjoyed as a player is once again evident in an affidavit that takes very little accountability for his action and wants no consequence for the admission that his actions were racially offensive to teammate Paul Adams.

Racially offensive behaviour does not necessarily equate to being a racist, so let me be clear on the distinction.

Boucher insists he is not a racist and his entire affidavit is built around denial of being a racist, but the relevance of being among those players who saw nothing offensive or wrong with calling Adams, a coloured player, ‘Brown sh*t’ isn’t as comfortably wished away as Boucher would want it from his sworn submission to the Social Justice and National Building (SNJ) hearings.

There has to be consequence and some form of sanction for Boucher, whose Proteas are due to depart for a tour of Sri Lanka in the next 48 hours.

SA Cricket Magazine columnist Ryan Vrede wrote: ‘Mark Boucher’s tenure as head coach of the Proteas must end in the wake of him lying about racism, failing to lead decisively on issues of race and Enoch Nkwe’s resignation for being undermined.

‘There were legitimate grounds to fire Boucher on the weakness of his performance as head coach alone. The Proteas have lost seven of 13 series (one tied) since taking charge in late 2019. Nine of those 13 have been played on home soil and one of them was contesting an injury-riddled Sri Lanka.

He was never going to suffer that fate. This, after all, was a man whose appointment adhered to none of Cricket South Africa’s recruitment or hiring protocols and one who his close friend, director of cricket Graeme Smith, handed to him with an unprecedented four-year contract.

‘There is also the significant issue of Enoch Nkwe’s resignation on Monday. TimesLive‘s Tiisetso Malepa reported the Proteas assistant coach “feels undermined, and that he has been reduced to being a ‘cones boy’ in a toxic working environment”.

‘Boucher simply can’t continue in his role. He has betrayed his duty to the nation and team. His time is up.’

Ryan Vrede’s column on why Boucher’s time is up

SA Cricket Magazine reports on Boucher’s affidavits

https://www.sacricketmag.com/boucher-opens-up-on-sjn-allegations-affidavit-apology-1/

Also on www.keo.co.za

Boucher’s silence on Adams is a problem for Proteas

Russell Domingo has found his cricket qualities celebrated as coach of the Bangladesh Tigers, just as Ashwell Prince did when he joined Lancashire as their star batsman. Now the duo will get to showcase these skills as a duo internationally, writes Mark Keohane.

Domingo’s Bangladesh recently hammered Australia 4-1 in an international T20 series. It wasn’t the first time Domingo had been at the helm of a routing of Australia. Several years ago, when he was the coach of the Proteas, the Australians were humiliated 5-0 in an ODI series in South Africa.

What Domingo will find different is that he is finally being observed, some would say judged, as a cricket coach. When in South Africa, he couldn’t escape the bigots, the racial prejudice and the second-guessing from those who believe white is right and anything not up to the standards of this Aryan whiteness is inferior and undeserving of any place in South African sport.

When Domingo’s Proteas whipped the Australians, Domingo had to reapply for his job; a job AfriForum’s manager of sport Ronald Peters declared Domingo was ill-equipped to do because of a view that Domingo did not have a celebrated international playing career.

Peters’s conviction in what he was saying defied all common sense, but this fool was insistent that Domingo was a political appointment and that his success as Warriors coach in South Africa’s domestic leagues had nothing to do with the coach and everything to do with the players.

The Warriors, under Domingo, won two domestic trophies and qualified for the prestigious Champions League. The latter tournament is no more, but the likes of Peters still roam South Africa at large.

‘For us to say a coach is successful or is the best at domestic level due to the fact he won competitions can’t be true. He is not winning the competitions; the players who are playing for him are doing so. To measure his abilities on winning trophies can’t be a true reflection.’

Domingo, who coached the Proteas between 2013 and 2017, had to consistently contend with the ignorance, arrogance and awfulness of people like Peters because his cricketing pedigree just could not be acknowledged.

It is telling that he goes to another country and all they see is a quality cricket coach.

Former Proteas batsman and Cape Cobras coach Ashwell Prince in the past week confirmed he would be joining Domingo as Bangladesh’s specialist batting coach. His appointment was lauded because of his pedigree, as a player and what he achieved as a coach in the Western Cape.

Prince was also in the news because of his damning testimony at the Social Justice and Nation Building hearings.

Prince said he was supposed to be living his dream playing for his country but that it was an absolute nightmare. He had played 66 Tests and 49 ODI’s for the Proteas but he had to live with constantly being called a quota player because he wasn’t classified white in South Africa.

He said white players in the Proteas felt that the black players, the coloured players, the Indian players and the non-white players, were the problem in South African cricket. He described playing for South Africa as a war against prejudice and it was a war to win for the oppressed people of South Africa.

Tellingly, he concluded: ‘As far as a team, there was no team.’

Prince spoke of his joy at playing for Lancashire in England, where he is revered because of his ability as a player.

Prince, in partnership with another former Proteas batsman Alviro Petersen, scored a Lancashire batting record of 501 and became only the 13^th pair in the history of First Class cricket to pass 500 runs in an innings. In South Africa, Prince and Petersen were referred to as quotas. In England, they were described as exceptional cricketers.

When Prince retired, having scored 2000 runs across all formats in his final season, and helped Lancashire win their first T20 trophy and promotion to the First Division, he was celebrated for his professionalism, his leadership, his mentorship and his run-scoring.

It is no wonder that Prince describes his time in England as the happiest of his career because he was finally acknowledged as a fine cricketer, who just happens to be South African. It was an acknowledgement he has never experienced in his own country.

Prince described his international career as ‘lonely’ and said ‘a person knows when a person is welcome and you know when you are not welcome.’

This week Prince was made to feel everything but lonely when Bangladesh confirmed his appointment to Domingo’s coaching team and the prose was in keeping with that from Lancashire coach and former England cricketer Ashley Giles when Prince retired.

‘Ashwell has been a great player throughout his career and has served Lancashire well during his spells with the club. Not only have his performances been exceptional but his experience has proved to be valuable for his team-mates within the dressing room.’

Prince said he always felt he belonged at Lancashire, and that It felt like home should feel.

Domingo has been praised for his contribution to Bangladesh cricket in a way he never was when at the Proteas.

Domingo and Prince, both from the Eastern Cape, coached and played for South Africa respectively, which should have been the pinnacle of their careers. Instead, it remains among their most painful memories and hopefully the next Domingo and Prince won’t have to travel to another country to experience the acceptance and respect that should be a given for anyone representing their country.

More Mark Keohane articles on IOL

Proteas coach Mark Boucher’s silence this past month on the matter of calling Paul Adams ‘Brown Sh*t’ during their international playing careers, would indicate he feels he has done nothing wrong. And that, Cricket South Africa, is a problem, writes Mark Keohane.

Among the most powerful and disturbing testimonies at the Social Justice and Nation Building Project (SJN) hearings was that of former Proteas cricketer Paul Adams, who revealed that he was racially discriminated against by former South African teammates, including the current coach Mark Boucher.

‘I was called brown s*** when I was playing. It often used to be a song when we won a game and we were in fines’ meetings. They would sing, ‘brown s*** in the ring, tra la la la laa,’” Adams said, adding that his wife (then his girlfriend), took issue with it and questioned him on why they couldn’t just call him by his name and also why he was not fighting back against the discrimination.

Adams said he continued to take it because he was a racial minority in the team and it was a means of acceptance and survival.

‘They wouldn’t call a white player, ‘white shit,’ or anything like that, it was ‘brown shit.’

Adams said it should never have happened and added that ‘maybe he (Boucher) should come and say sorry.’

This testimony was nearly a month ago and submissions for SJN ended on Thursday, 19^th August.

There have been media reports of individuals having approached the commission for an extension and my understanding is these are white individuals who have been named as being at the forefront of perpetuating the racial prejudice through their actions.

There has been very little else reported on Adams and there has been silence from those, like Boucher, who have publicly been named during player testimony.

The purpose of the SJN is about identification, awareness, reflection, introspection and hopefully healing.

To quote Adams: ‘It should never have happened. It is something that should not be brushed under the carpet. We should air it, if we want our teams within Cricket SA to have the right ethics, the right mentality, the right respect for one another, we should air these things.’

It was about education, said Adams, to ensure that all races were treated with respect. The SJN was about working towards a better future, but the silence, post Adams’s testimony, is as disturbing as his testimony.

Surely, Boucher, if the intent was there, could have made a greater effort to speak to Adams personally, to acknowledge his regret for causing Adams such hurt, to accept that he did cause Adams hurt and to address the SJN, as a matter of urgency, to publicly apologise to Adams and to South Africans for his actions.

The argument that Boucher did not mean it to be racially offensive has no substance. It is offensive.

Boucher is also not just a former teammate: He is the Proteas national coach and he has a responsibility towards much more himself.

I have been very surprised at how low-key the reporting has been on Boucher in the mainstream media. Equally at how conveniently a month has passed without any pressure being put on Boucher to respond.

The talk was Boucher had responded through his legal team. I sincerely hope that there isn’t accuracy to this because that would imply that attack will be Boucher’s defence, when there is no defence needed but just an acknowledgement and an apology.

CSA, on Wednesday, confirmed that the Office of the Transformation Ombudsman (OTO) had received requests from various parties to extend the deadline that has been set to allow for proper preparedness for responses.

That, in itself, isn’t encouraging, because this isn’t about trying to defend the indefensible. This is about listening, for once, to those players’ truth about how they experienced racial prejudice, so that the next generation doesn’t have to experience that hurt.

This isn’t about a defense to dispute what those players were feeling.

It is about listening to these players’ testimonies and saying sorry.

If the national cricket coach still thinks calling someone ‘brown sh*t’ wasn’t wrong, then why the hell is he still in charge of the national team?

If he appreciates that it was wrong, then why has he not made public his apology?

Mark Keohane articles on IOL

SA Cricket Magazine reports Paul Adams testimony

SA Cricket Magazine reports Ashwell Prince testimony 

England cricketer Ollie Robinson is as much a racist today as he was nine years ago when he tweeted the most offensive racist and sexist comments, writes Mark Keohane. His tweets were not a mistake but a manifestation .

These are some of Robinson’s tweets, which resurfaced on the day of his Test debut.

‘My new Muslim friend is the bomb’.

‘I wonder if Asian people put smileys like this¦) #racist’.

‘Guy next to me on the train definitely has Ebola’.

 ‘#wheeyyyyy; ‘Real n—– don’t let the microwave hit 0:00’.

‘Wash your fingers for the mingers #cuban’.

Robinson has been suspended from the England team pending an investigation.

The player, once the tweets were shared on social media, read a prepared statement, in which he said that he had made a mistake and was embarrassed and ashamed, but the question remains is he embarrassed and ashamed that the tweets have resurfaced or that he consciously made a decision to volunteer these disgusting thoughts to the world on social media?

The mistake he talks about: is it that of showing the world that he is a racist and sexist or is it by no means a mistake that he is a racist?

Robinson’s thoughts, based on conscious behaviour, are disgusting. He was 18 years-old at the time. There are five extreme examples of the extent of his prejudice and racism. He has attacked Muslim, Asian and Black on three different occasions.

This is not a mistake and it certainly is not a once-off example of his state of mind.

Robinson did not offer up a statement to say that when he was 18 years-old he tweeted things that he now knows to be racist, sexist and prejudice. He did not offer an insight into a nine year journey that made him realise the extent of his racism and prejudice. He did not say that it was engrained in his psyche that Muslim and bombs are a package, that any person who is black must have Ebola and that anyone who is Asian is to be abused on a public forum, be it in anger or through distasteful and inappropriate attempts at humour.

No, what Robinson offered when he read a statement, in which he bumbled through the words and certainly did not take stock of those words, was a public relations exercise in damage control.

The question is what is different to Ollie Robinson today, aside from the fact that he was forced into a public apology because his tweets resurfaced?

Does he look at Black, Asian, Muslim & Hispanic people and think ‘person, human being, equal’?

Robinson did not address what motivated his tweets. Were they because he is a product of a schooling system, a class system or because of prejudiced thinking in his upbringing?

Robinson’s response read: ‘I am embarrassed by the racist and sexist tweets that I posted over eight years ago, (sic) which have today become public. I want to make it clear that I’m not racist and I’m not sexist, and I deeply regret my actions, and I am ashamed of making such remarks.’

The simple question is that if he is not racist and not sexist, then why did he take it upon himself to create such tweets? A further question, if he is so embarrassed by the racists and sexist tweets, why did he publicly promote such racism and sexism on social media on several occasions?

The embarrassment Robinson is feeling is that the tweets are now in the media because of his profile, having just become an England international cricketer.

The issue is his racism and sexism and not the England Cricket Board suspending him, pending an investigation. The temporary suspension won’t change the fact that he is a racist and a sexist, based on his tweets.

I was appalled by the English prime minister Boris Johnson calling Robinson’s tweets the ‘mistakes of a teenager’. What?

What about the victims in those tweets, the Blacks, the Asians, the Hispanics and the Muslims?

Johnson showed more interest in a white England cricketer and more urgency in making excuses for this white England cricketer than he ever has for any Black, Asian or Muslim victim of racial abuse and prejudice in Britain.

Those queuing to defend Robinson’s actions as being the mere folly of a naïve 18 year-old seriously have to do some reflection, if all they are seeing is a white England cricketer whose sporting career could be compromised because of what they believe was a mistake.

Cape Town based cricket columnist Ryan Vrede described Johnson, the United Kingdom’s Sports Minister Oliver Dowden and media personality Piers Morgan’s defence of Robinson as the ‘absurdity of middle-aged, conservative white men weighing in on issues of racial, sexual or religious discrimination is very striking.’

Vrede concluded: ‘More perplexing is that their focus is how Robinson’s ban has affected/will affect the perpetrator of the acts of discrimination, rather than the effect Robinson’s words had on his targets.’

Amen, Mr Vrede.

Former England captain Nasser Hussain was another who defended Robinson on the basis of his tweets being the mistake of an 18 year-old.

‘I’ve read the tweets, I’ve seen the tweets, they are horrible,’ said Hussain, but I also think we are a cruel society if we don’t realise that an 18 year-old does make mistakes and he has made mistakes and he’s made it horribly wrong and he’s front up.’

Robinson hasn’t fronted up. He read a prepared statement, lacking in tone and in sincerity. Unlike his very deliberate tweets, Robinson was not the author of the statement telling the world he was not a racist and sexist.

Racism and sexism aren’t mistakes and Robinson did not make a mistake.

‘We can’t have an honest reckoning about race until we start to recognise all the ways in which privilege and prejudice creep into our lives,’ said author and digital strategist Luvvie Ajayi.

The words ‘honest reckoning’ are powerful because there has been no ‘honest reckoning’ in the case of Robinson.

There has been only the reinforcement of his privilege, and to quote Ajayi, being able to live without having to be defined by your skin colour is the hallmark of privilege.

Robinson is privileged and he has been treated with privilege.

Mark Keohane’s articles on IOL

Proteas veterans Faf du Plessis and AB de Villiers can’t be overlooked for the T20 World Cup – not if form and playing pedigree are the selection filters, writes Mark Keohane.

South Africa’s grand old daddies of the Indian Premier League, Imran Tahir, Du Plessis, De Villiers and the only ‘so old’ granddaddy, Chris Morris are making a compelling case for inclusion in the Proteas T20 World Cup squad for later this year.

The T20 World Cup is scheduled for October and November in India and all four veterans in the past two months have shown that age hasn’t dulled their appetite and it certainly isn’t hampering their performance. They have been South Africa’s most influential players in the tournament.

The Proteas T20 outfit, minus the IPL players, limped to a home series defeat against Pakistan. A youthful Proteas team also lost in Pakistan.

A World Cup is supposedly a representation of the best players in one’s country and this quartet of silver foxes are still the best at what they do, be it with a bat or a ball. Their fielding is also as good as it has ever been, queue Du Plessis’s sensational catch a few days ago.

Watch Du Plessis smashing the ball around in the IPL

Du Plessis has been on fire this season. He has scored four successive half centuries and was five runs short of a first IPL century in an unbeaten 95. He also finished one run short of his best in the IPL.

What makes Du Plessis’s numbers so impressive this tournament is that he is batting at a strike rate of 140.62, compared to a career strike rate of 130.35, that his unbeaten half centuries have come at the top of the order and he has improved his tournament average to 67.5, whereas his IPL career average is 34.5.

Du Plessis’s fielding remains a strength and his experience and leadership in this format of the game will be invaluable to the Proteas attempt to win the T20 World Cup.

Tahir, a teammate of Du Plessis’ at the Chennai Super Kings, is 42 years-old. He has played in one match out of a possible six and was superb, taking 2/16 in four overs, which gives him the leading economy and strike rate in the tournament. The only question is why he has not played in more matches? He could comfortably play in the World Cup and be a differentiator.

Morris, the highest paid player in this year’s IPL, has produced explosive match-winning cameos to justify the millions to Rajasthan Royals paid for his services. Morris, when called upon with the bat, has delivered at a strike rate of 154 and his 11 wickets in six matches have come at a strike rate of 17.72 and an economy rate of 8.86.

Morris turned 34 on the 30^th April but is another not slowed down by age.

T20 cricket is a numbers game. Strike rates rule for batsman and while strike rates are a bonus for bowlers, the most telling statistic for bowlers is the economy rate. In both aspects, South Africa’s Proteas quartet of granddads are thriving in the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League.

None has been more impressive than the global superstar of the IPL, our very own De Villiers.

De Villiers, in 2021, has scored 204 runs at an average of 68 and a strike rate of 174.35 for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. He has passed 5000 IPL career runs, doing so in his 175^th match and 161^st innings. He also struck his 406^th four and increased his sixes to 245.

He has now faced 3309 balls in the IPL and has an IPL career average of 40.01, a career strike rate of 152.70, 40 half centuries and three big hundreds.

Mark Boucher’s World Cup Proteas, sure to include Kagiso Rabada, Quinton de Kock and David Miller would certainly be contenders with the ageing quartet.

Currently, they are just youthful pretenders who got pummeled against Pakistan.

*This article appeared on IOL

Also on www.keo.co.za

AB de Villiers’s IPL numbers are ridiculous

There are stronger words to use, but I’ll settle on ‘disgust’ at how tone deaf every cricketer in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and every coach and management member have been.

This was a case for player power and for players to say ‘enough’.

It boggles the mind that any player can be oblivious to the Covid carnage that is ripping India apart, with 300 000 daily infections and thousands of daily deaths been confirmed.

The imagery of people dying in hospital queues, of people carrying their loved ones to a place of mass burial and of people so sick because of Covid has been broadcast globally.

I get that the greed and money obsessed Indian cricket bosses and those who dictate decisions within the Indian Premier League would want to gloss over anything that will curtail revenue and broadcasting income, but I don’t get how any player can with any form of consciousness continue to play in the IPL?

How?

They are all on social media. They are seeing exactly what you and I are seeing. It is disgusting that they are still playing and that the IPL bosses are justifying the cricket as being an escape for Indians from the reality of Covid.

The players, with the odd exception, are tone deaf. Some players have left, but they have done so out of a fear for their own health. I haven’t read of players who have said the tournament should be stopped, given the country’s current crisis.

I haven’t read or viewed player outpourings of social consciousness.

I have read a lot about players talking about their bio-bubble; how safe it is or how vulnerable they are because of a bubble not up to international standards.

These privileged elite have the gall to put cricket and themselves first when a nation’s people are being crippled.

ALSO READ:Scrap the IPL

To read of players, healthy, young and physically in pristine condition, jumping the queue to get vaccinated and then publicly talking about it is sickening.

How?

How?

How?

World renowned journalist, activist and author Arundhati Roy, in the Guardian Newspaper, wrote that India ‘was witnessing a crime against humanity.’

Roy’s prose was more a scream for help for her beloved India and her people.

‘It is hard to convert the full depth and range of the trauma, the chaos and the indignity that people are being subjected to,’ she wrote.

A country that is home to 18 percent of the world’s population is ravaged because of Covid.

Yet professional cricketers from around the world, including a handful of South Africans, continue to bat, bowl, field, groan at a missed catch and cheer at a catch, a wicket or a boundary.

It is indescribable that these cricketers are so numbed to the reality of what is going on in India and I don’t actually have a word to do justice to how I felt when listening to them describe why they should continue playing.

If I did, I can assure you it wouldn’t be fit for publication.

In Britain, Covid infections are at the lowest level for a year: just 757 people are getting ill with the disease each day.

The message from Britain is that the Covid crisis is not over and the debate continues about when crowds can return to sporting events and what sporting events should continue.

In India, 300 000 plus people are being infected a day and bio-bubbled cricketers refuse to look up from their huddles.

It screams ‘entitlement, arrogance and ignorance.’

India is recording as many deaths a day as there have been tournament runs scored.

Morally, it is just wrong that the IPL continues to be played.

Article appears in the Cape Times and IOL Sport, under ‘Keo’s Corner’

AB de Villiers is on fire in the 2021 Indian Premier League and his 40th IPL career half century also took him past 5000 tournament runs.

AB de Villiers, at 37 years of age, is batting with as much potency as he did when he first played in the IPL nearly 14 years ago. His Man of the Match display, an unbeaten 75 off 42 balls, was his second half century in five innings this tournament.

De Villiers has to be a certainty for the Proteas T20 World Cup.

He has indicated he has the desire to play for the Proteas and on form alone he has kicked down the selection door.

De Villiers’s innings ensured the Royal Challengers Bangalore sneaked a one run win against the Delhi Capitals. De Villiers, keeping wicket, also took three catches.

De Villiers is the first South African to score 5000 runs in the IPL and the second foreigner after Australia’s David Warner.

Warner immediately tweeted that De Villiers was his ‘idol’ and that the South African was a ‘RCB Legend’

Warner captains the SunRisers Hyderabad.

De Villiers, in 2021, has scored 204 runs at an average of 68 and a strike rate of 174.35. He played six matches, batted five times and hit 16x4s and 10x6s.

De Villiers, in going to 5053 runs on Tuesday, did so in his 175^th match and in his 161^st innings. He also went past 400 for fours hit (406) and increased his sixes to 245 with the five sixes in his unbeaten 75.

He has now faced 3309 balls in the IPL and has an IPL career average of 40.01, a career strike rate of 152.70 and has his unbeaten 75 was his 40^th half century, to go with three centuries.

Complete breakdown of AB de Villiers’s IPL numbers, year on year.

Cricinfo, before De Villiers’s heroics on Tuesday, picked six of his finest innings in the IPL.

Also, on www.keo.co.za

#AB stands for Absolutely Brilliant

AB de Villiers stood tall in the Indian Premier League and once again made a statement of his batting brilliance. Yet, still there are fools in South Africa who believe he shouldn’t play cricket for the T20 Proteas.

Admittedly, the bulk of those who voted on SA Cricket Magazine shared my view that it isn’t even a question. If AD de Villiers is available to play for Proteas in the T20 World Cup, then pick him. It was the 14 percent who ticked the ‘Definitely No’ box.

How?

How ever? But seriously, how at a time when the Proteas are the whipping boys in all formats of international cricket? I’d pick De Villiers, with one leg and one arm, to bat ahead of anyone used in positions three to six for the Proteas.

If I had to wheel him out, I’d still pick him. I wrote it on the eve of the IPL and I will continue to write it while AB walks to the crease.

He did things with the bat over the weekend for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) that those who failed for the Proteas against Pakistan have never done in their careers and never will do.

If you want an opinion on De Villiers, you only have to watch Virat Kohli’s facial expressions every time the cameras zoom in on him while De Villiers is batting.

De Villiers, having started his 14th successive IPL season with a blistering 48, was even better in RCB’s third match. He scored an unbeaten 76 off just 34 deliveries and did as he pleased in directing the ball to every corner of the field.

Watch AB smash his unbeaten 76.

De Villiers is a superstar and has always been one of the best of his generation in all formats of the game. He played 98 successive Tests for the Proteas, scored 149 off 31 balls against the West Indies at the Wanderers in a ODI and also the fastest 150 in ODIs in the history of the game.

In T20s, playing in an IPL team that endorses and supports him unconditionally, he has flourished.

His Proteas T20 stats are second to what he produces in the IPL, but they are still among the best ever produced by a Proteas batsman.

Pick him. Pick him. Pick him.

And for those fools who say ‘definitely no’, all 14 percent of them, here’s a few things to digest.

De Villiers, in 171 IPL matches, has been the top scorer on 40 occasions. He has hit 236 x 6s and 394 x 4s, averages 40.15 and has a strike/scoring rate of 151!

He is in form. He is one of the greatest, if not the greatest T20 batsman.

And he is South African.

Pick him.

Mark Keohane, for IOL, writes.

AB de Villiers is among an elite group of Indian Premier League (IPL) originals. He was there in 2008 and this weekend he will start his 14^th season in the IPL. (more…)