South African cricket has been plagued with boardroom drama for some time now, Naeemah Benjamin unpacks the issues and looks ahead, so fans can enjoy the beautiful game once again.

Rewind to December 2019 when member after member resigned and we thought it couldn’t get worse. Well, here we are. That kitchen is hot. Again. Despite no cricket being played due to the coronavirus pandemic, Proteas’ supporters have been thoroughly entertained. Well for those who like drama anyway.

August 2020 and both the president and interim CEO have announced their immediate resignation all this while the suspended CEO is still, well, suspended.

The Black Lives Matter movement has brought up painful and heart wrenching stories that former players endured while playing. These things are hardly surprising but the fact that it’s taken so long to get to this point to speak out and people are still uncomfortable about it, says it all.

Fans are divided and saddened by everything that has transpired and understandably so.

The end game, what is it?

At the end of the day. The game has suffered and it will continue to suffer unless honest, raw and uncomfortable conversations are had. But more than talk, it’s time to walk the walk now. Action is required. Time to fix the brokenness.

“Unpack, grow and get the game out to the masses and create the opportunity and pipeline for SA cricket to be the best in the world. We have a great opportunity to do it and I would hate for it to be missed” said former Proteas player Robbie Peterson to Cricket Fanatics Magazine.

He continued to say that he feels that SA cricket has only peeled back a few layers in terms of diversity in our cricket and that this is a great opportunity to rebirth our cricket again.

He reiterated the need to revive and resuscitate the game in the townships and emphasized that cricket is a game about facilities, opportunities to play and committed coaches and teachers in schools.

“The interest is there,” he said. And he’s absolutely right.

“You need a collaborative bottom up approach for transformation.

“That’s one of the main things that concerns me is that we are not creating a pipeline of opportunity for a kid from rural Eastern Cape to go all the way to play for the Proteas at Lord’s one day.

“If a kid like Makhaya can make it all the way to Lord’s and take a 10-for in Test match cricket.

“We need to get into a room and unpack what’s been happening recently. Relevant leaders and role players that shared a dressing room together.

“Ultimately there was a lot of hurt and pain that’s come out in the last couple of weeks.

“We need to get together and have a few uncomfortable conversations. Nothing grows in the comfort zone. The uncomfortable conversation needs to happen for us to grow as a cricket nation and as people.”

Amidst the boardroom shenanigans and injustices, the coronavirus has brought along its own issues with tours being called off for both The Proteas men and women’s team.

“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 the government to see what the plans are”, said Director of Cricket Graeme Smith at the PSG’s Think Big webinar.

“One of my challenges is growing the women’s environment and it is 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.

“I think it’s important to have these conversations and we want to see the game representative of all people. We want to see growth. I haven’t seen the team have such an honest conversation in many years which is great.

“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.”