The South African cricket team’s World Cup exit has been overshadowed by allegations that there was high-level inteference in the hours leading up to the match to have Vernon Philander, a player of colour, brought back into the starting line-up ahead of the in-form Kyle Abbott, a white player.
The allegations have been strenuously denied by Cricket South Africa (CSA) and team management who said Philander was picked after being declared fit despite the fact that up until then he had had a very average tournament while Abbott had been one of the star performers for the Proteas.
CSA released a statement on Saturday night in which it said it had commissioned an examination of the team selection process for the match against the Black Caps which found that there had not been inteference, including to deny the explosive allegation that a SMS had been sent by CSA chief executive Haroon Lorgat to coach Russel Domingo to insist on Philander’s inclusion.
But the DA said a parliamentary inquiry was the best intervention to “clear the dark cloud hanging over this matter which has serious implications for the true independence of national sports teams”.
“External interference in technical matters of sports team is a serious violation of local and international sports practices” DA spokesperson on sport, Solly Malatsi, said. “While the leadership of Cricket South Africa (CSA) has flatly denied external interference in the selection of the team, allegations of political interference of this magnitude should be investigated by Parliament.
