Jeering Wanderers

Perfect opportunity for Proteas to get back on the winning trail at altitude after Thursday's setback

Loved by many, hated by some, the Wanderers gets a rare chance to be the venue it deserves to be when it hosts the second Twenty20 international against Australia this afternoon.

The last T20 played on the ground was nearly two years ago, when the Proteas lost the first match of two by a run to England on the Duckworth-Lewis method. They went on to win at Centurion a day or two later, squaring the T20 series at 1-1, but the subsequent five-match ODI series was lost 2-1 in the rain and frustration of early summer, two games being rained out.

The statistics prove nothing, of course, but they do direct one's thoughts towards the necessity of early competitiveness. England won early on their tour here in 2009/10 and had the Proteas not won the third test - at the Wanderers in January 2010 - the test series would also have been lost.

It all suggests that the Proteas need to dust off their cobwebby performance at Newlands on Thursday night as quickly as possible. The Wanderers is as good a place as any to start winning. The air is thin, the ball flies far and Chris Scott's track will look as it usually does - a milky tea colour.

It being the Wanderers, the crowd will be at their hardcore best and boundary fielders in yellow will be subject to the usual torrent of abuse. Johannesburg is still a mining town and uppity claim jumpers with odd accents are not welcomed.

As is to be expected from Cricket SA's battery of spinners, they were keen to take credit for an international taking place at the Wanderers today when they sent out a press release on Friday, praising the Gauteng Cricket Board's (GCBs) transformation record. As usual, it was highly selective stuff, with CSA claiming that, in players like Temba Bavuma, the Lions' middle-order batsman, the province have unearthed a development gem.

That Bavuma was the product of an elite education at St David's, around the corner from the Wanderers, and has been brought along by Grant Morgan, his coach at the Strikers last season, is nowhere mentioned. Buvuma is a wonderful talent, to be sure. But claiming his rise is due to a transformed board is like claiming Barcelona's hegemony in European football is due to president Sandro Rosell's midfield wizardry.

"There has been a remarkable turn-around since the interim board took control," said Gerald Majola. "This has included substantial progress in restoring, upgrading and improving facilities in Lenasia, Soweto and Alexandra. We congratulate their team on the work they have achieved under interim administrator Ray Mali and CEO Cassim Docrat."

It might also be argued that Mali is wearing at least one too many hats. He was on the road earlier this week, arguing for the removal of Mtutuzeli Nyoka, CSA's president, at a meeting in Potchefstroom on Wednesday night.

It can't be right that Gauteng's interim administrator, in the pay of CSA, takes up anything but a neutral position with North West cricket, one of CSA's affiliates.

This is a conflict of interest, pure and simple. Nine clubs, most of them in the GCB's Premier League, disagree with Majola's "remarkable turnaround" assessment.

They sent a letter to Docrat on Friday, complaining that there wasn't sufficient consultation with the clubs before the GCB embarked on their support of yesterday's motion of no-confidence against Nyoka.

They allege further that three individuals on the GCB board - Mali, Docrat and Doc Moosajee, the Proteas team manager - have de facto links to CSA which compromise their independence. "A decision like this (the one to support the motion of no-confidence) has consequences," said a club chairman on condition of anonymity. "Half the board wasn't there to take it."