CSA not upset at losing out on ICC events

Officials at Cricket South Africa (CSA) do not believe the board’s recent problems with corporate governance had any bearing on them being left out of the ICC’s major tournament plans for the next decade. The problems began because of unauthorised bonuses paid to CSA staff after the 2009 IPL and Champions Trophy, which were held in South Africa, and resulted in the dismissal of chief executive Gerald Majola, for whom a permanent replacement has yet to be found.

CSA’s corporate governance was exposed as severely lacking in the aftermath of the affair and the board had to be restructured after ministerial intervention. While that process is now complete, CSA is yet to appoint a new boss and ESPNcricinfo has learned the revolving door of interim suits had led to a loss of stature for CSA at higher levels.

The current administration, however, denied that CSA’s state of flux had any effect on the ICC’s scheduling. “CSA enjoys a high standing with the ICC as our administration and organisation of major events has always been out of the top drawer,” Naasei Appiah, the acting chief executive, told ESPNcricinfo.

South Africa is not scheduled to host a major tournament for the next decade after profiting handsomely in the past ten years. The country staged the 2003 World Cup, the inaugural World T20 in 2007 and the 2009 Champions Trophy, but have not been penciled in for any such events until at least 2023.

The next two 50-over World Cups, after 2015, will be in England and India, with the two countries also due to host the Test championship in 2017 and 2021. The World T20s after Bangladesh next year will be held in India in 2016 and Australia in 2020, with South Africa hosting an Under-19 World Cup in 2020.

Instead of considering itself snubbed, CSA is taking it in its stride. “We would obviously like to host more events but we have to bear in mind that we hosted three events in the previous decade, not to mention the IPL and the Champions League twice,” Appiah said. “Australia have only hosted the Women’s World Cup and the U-19 World Cup since they last hosted the World Cup in 1992, so they went through two decades without the main events. We are confident we will get our turn again in the following decade.”

While CSA accepted the luck of the draw as the main reason for its exclusion, it also identified a few other reasons. Appiah mentioned the commercial interests in relation to the Test Championship, which some believed South Africa should have hosted given their sporting surfaces, turned the ICC to more established markets.

“It is disappointing not to host the Test Championship but it is understandable that the ICC opted for countries that are likely to draw big crowds,” he said. “It will also make it easier to get a major sponsor.”

Despite being left out of the elite club of hosts, South Africa will not lose out financially. Appiah confirmed the profit-sharing agreement with the ICC would leave CSA well-heeled as long as the ICC continued to make money. “Our share of ICC’s net profit from events is 7.5%. Thus if the ICC secures its events in countries where there are significant commercial values, CSA stands to benefit as the distributions increases.”