Solidarity Cup opens the door for AB’s return

While the Solidarity Cup is a noble cause to raise funds, its relevance in the current cricketing climate remains a mystery but at least we know AB de Villiers’ return to the international fold is imminent, writes Alasdair Fraser.

So cricket is back. Or at least we hope it will be after a new date is set for the 3TC tournament. But what is this cricket? Did we really need a complicated format dreamed up by a banker? The timing is bizarre given CSA’s woes, which have been compounded by Clive Eksteen’s revelations and his application to the CCMA for unfair dismissal.

The current cricketing world already has three formats in which the game is played. Try explaining to a German tourist how cricket works. Not easy, right? Cricket is a complicated game, especially loved by stats gurus, accountants, and mathematicians. You can literally lose yourself in the numbers.

I will watch the match with a perverse fascination and Paul Harris the banker could be on to a winning formula. Personally, I have always loved the idea of a ‘Test’ two innings per team T20 shootout.

Is this strange three-team format worth it for just one day, though? It’s a bit like that tennis game I played as a youngster called American Doubles when you have just three players. To be honest, it wasn’t my favourite.

Regardless of the format, though, the focus must be of where our top players are in terms of performance, match fitness and their personal state. It may seem like a lifetime but cricket will resume and sooner than you think. I guess jazzing it up by killing ‘three’ birds with one cricket ball will suffice.

Which leads me to my main point: scan to the top of the three team-sheets and you will notice one of them is being led by AB de Villiers. This is not a publicity stunt. I have no doubt that De Villiers will be back in the colours of South Africa.

This ongoing soap opera has been running for over a year now. AB’s shelf life is shortening by the day and it would be an unpleasant blot on his international career for it to fizzle out like this. Our game has been broken for some time now and AB can help rebuild it.

Now is the time to come together and create a common goal that all our top players can buy into. And that includes AB de Villiers the Protea.

I have never doubted his service to the Protea badge and it’s time to forget the past and focus on the present, because our cricket was hurting before the pandemic broke. It needs to be fixed and thankfully we witnessed some shining lights against Australia in February.

Since then, the South African cricketing public have been starved of any action and content around the game – be it internationally and locally. It may be rugby season, but up on the Highveld it’s perfect for cricket.

The window of opportunity for CSA to show they are doing something about the COVID-19 pandemic is now and they should be applauded for being proactive by trying something completely different. They have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

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