SA board chief loses selection veto

	Graeme Smith steps back from the selection of South Africa teams, but will still be consulted © Getty Images

Cricket South Africa has implemented major changes to its selection policy following the recent controversies regarding quotas involving Andre Nel and Charl Langeveldt. The CSA president - Norman Arendse is the incumbent - no longer has the power of veto over selection, while the captain and coach have been removed from the selection panel, although will still be consulted.

The key change involves divesting the board president of his veto power. "The present system in terms of which the president has the right to veto the selected team should be abolished," a CSA statement said.

"The president and board of CSA should continue to be the custodians of the transformation policy insofar as the national team is concerned," it added. "In this regard, [they] should continue to monitor the progress in achieving acceptable levels of representivity that will eventually reflect the demographic make-up of the country, but there should be a change of process whereby the CEO and convenor of selectors are required to manage the process and report regularly to the CSA president/board as the ultimate oversight and policy body."

"In selecting the national squad, the selectors shall consult with and have regard to the input of both the coach and the captain," the statement said. "The coach and convenor shall be responsible for the selection of the final eleven players to take the field. The captain takes charge once the playing eleven have been selected."

The issue of quotas, whereby every 15-man South African touring squad should include seven coloured players, has long been a thorny issue, but it came to a head before the tour of India in March. Nel was left out of the squad, in favour of Langeveldt, who later pulled out himself saying he was uncomfortable with the selection policy. In the end, Monde Zondeki was drafted in although didn't play on the tour.

Langeveldt has since signed a Kolpak deal with Derbyshire, effectively ending his international career, although Nel has resisted the temptation and has been named in the touring team for England.

The South African board set up a committee to review the transformation policy, and all 12 of the recommendations were approved at a recent meeting.

"The board also decided that the committee should continue its mandate and make further recommendations on how to increase black African representivity in South African cricket at all levels and focus on other areas of transformation," said Arendse.

The changes are a significant erosion of Arendse's powers and there is also a shift in emphasis to transformation needing to start at grass roots level and move up, rather than beginning with the international team.

"CSA must focus on lobbying the state and other stakeholders to make possible the main thrust of the transformation policy which is to provide facilities, resources and access in previously disadvantaged communities, with particular emphasis to black African areas, as no sport has the resources to achieve these goals on its own."

Another recommendation was to ensure the selectors have "the necessary experience, expertise and knowledge of the game and, additionally, are trusted to ensure that the team is representative and reflects the broad ethos of democratic South Africa and the principles of CSA's transformation policy."