Cricket Australia's olive branch to Cricket South Africa?

Cricket Australia has attempted to offer its counterparts at Cricket South Africa a small olive branch of peace following their cancellation of the Test tour to the country by offering to repay CSA’s “out of pocket expenses” for the costs incurred in setting up the tour.

CA chairman, Earl Eddings, wrote to CSA’s Interim Board chairman, Dr.Stavros Nicolaou, saying: “We share your extreme disappointment that we are unable to tour at this time…” and that CA “…is very grateful for the significant amount of work undertaken by Cricket South Africa (CSA) in planning for the tour, as well as the work and support provided to CSA by the South African Government throughout the planning stages.”

Eddings reiterated that the decision to cancel the tour “was not made lightly” and said that CA recognised the “importance of continuing international cricket at this time” and insisted that CA valued its “broader relationship with CSA.”

The letter offers no apology and is understated throughout, never more so than when Eddings writes: “…we acknowledge that CSA sought to implement additional bio-security measures at the request of CA.”

Eddings did say that “a lack of detailed written procedures” had been a “cause for concern” in the establishment of CSA’s BSE (one for each team) but did not specify which procedures had not been adequately explained in writing. Back in Sydney, however, a spokesman much further down the chain of command told some journalists that CSA had “…not been able to tell us how the team would be transferred from the airport to the BSE.”

A reciprocally anonymous spokesman from CSA’s Operations Team said: “There’s a reason for that because we had two options. Either they were going through immigration at a private terminal at OR Tambo or we were trying to organise for the bus to drive right up alongside the plane on the tarmac and take them straight to the Irene Lodge, with a police security detail, where they could complete immigration details privately. We had a meeting with the relevant government ministries and ACSA to finalise those arrangements on the afternoon that they cancelled the tour,” the spokesman said.

“To imply they didn’t know how they would be traveling is disingenuous, at best. We already had the main driver and a reserve driver quarantining at Irene. CA even stipulated that they wanted four or five protective ‘layers’ between the players and the drivers, despite their 14-days quarantine. The drivers would have to wear an inner mask, an outer mask, a visor and there would have to be Perspex shields installed between the players and the driver. The bus would be cleaned and sanitised to the highest standard every day. CA knew all of this…”

Eddings continued: “Notwithstanding the additional measures that CSA sought to implement as discussions progressed, our medical experts determined that the residual risk of members of our touring party contracting Covid-19 remained at a level inconsistent with our duty of care, when taking into account the prevalence of Covid-19, the more contagious strain of Covid-19 first discovered in South Africa, restrictions relating to travel from and into Australia and the considerable challenges of repatriation to Australia of anyone who contracts Covid-19 while in South Africa (and their close contacts within the squad), including the requirement for all returning persons to present a negative Covid-19 test within 72 hours of departure.

“We acknowledge that CSA considers it disappointing that the tour was postponed relatively late in discussions, I assure you that our teams were under instruction to do whatever they could to make the tour happen, hence our continuing to work intensively and in good faith on plans and biosecurity protocols until recent days, when it eventually became clear that the residual risks were untenable.

“As soon as this became clear, we let you know immediately as we were conscious that CSA would shortly start to commit to costs such as hotel deposits. As discussed with your Interim CEO, we are willing to discuss contributing towards out-of-pocket expenses incurred in planning for the tour, noting that like you, we have invested many hours of work, including hiring leading medical experts in an attempt to make the tour happen.

“As you will be aware, approximately three weeks ago we made the offer to CSA to host the series in Australia given the relatively lower incidence of Covid-19 in Australia at this time. This would have ensured that the series could go ahead safely. We of course respect your decision not to take up this offer. We are again deeply sorry that we are unable to tour at this time, however, on the basis of the medical advice and our associated duty of care obligations as a Board, in the end we were left with no choice.

“We are conscious of the many unfortunate consequences of this decision, including for cricket fans in Australia, South Africa and around the world, who will for now miss the opportunity to watch what promised to be a terrific Test series. There is also great disappointment among our playing group and the Australian public.

“We send everyone at CSA and the people of South Africa our very best wishes for a successful rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine and a return to normality as soon as possible. We remain committed and look forward to rescheduling the tour when it is safe to do so.

If Eddings is genuine and sincere about restoring good relations between the cricket boards, he might consider putting an end to the coordinated whispering campaigns in which CA ‘spokesmen’ provide selected journalists with interesting facts that may, or may not be true. Like the ‘fact’ that CSA’s two-Test series against Sri Lanka may have been ‘incident-free’ but that SLC were not impressed with CSA’s organisation. The following sentence appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald, unattributed to anyone:

“Cricket Australia also pointed out that while CSA said the Sri Lanka tour went without incident, the Sri Lanka Cricket Board had a different story on how the two-Test tour unfolded.”

Head coach Mickey Arthur, who went to South Africa on a pre-tour reconnaissance trip, was also heavily involved in compiling SLC’s post-tour report: “That’s just not true,” he said. “We were satisfied with every aspect of the tour, from the accommodation to the transport, the Covid and safety protocols and the cricket side of things. We were really well looked after.”

If CA and CSA are to move on successfully, they really do need to be able to trust what the other is saying. And that an offer of compensation is genuine and not wrapped up in a blanket of complicated conditions.

If you enjoy my journalism, there are a couple of ways you can show your appreciation. I am entirely freelance but have no intention of going down the ‘paid subscription’ route.

You can Buy Me a Coffee. You can buy several coffees if you like (simply change the number of coffees to your preferred amount). Or, you can also donate here if you prefer not to use PayPal.

Alternatively, please encourage anyone you think may be interested to subscribe.

Of course, you are welcome to continue reading for free.