South Africa’s part in tour downfall

While commentators and ex-players lash out at Cricket Australia, mistakes from a disorganised host are being ignored.

South Africa's T20 captain Heinrich Klaasen suffered from a severe bout of the coronavirus Picture: AFP

South Africa’s T20 captain has recovered from a serious battle with the coronavirus, but his experience is a chilling example of the dangers cricket faced in that country.

Australia announced last week it would not tour South Africa for a Test series next month on medical grounds, but had gone to great lengths to organise the tour and paid a great cost with its cancellation.

Australian was ready to pay around $1m to cover the cost of charter flights to and from South Africa and play the three Tests in March.

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The team has lost control of its destiny in the inaugural the World Test Championship final by the decision and now must rely on the result of the India-England series to see if it qualifies.

Cricket Australia said it was the potential danger to players and staff and not the financial cost which proved too much and saw the tour cancelled.

The decision has been widely criticised in South Africa with even former England players joining the pile-on.

The financial consequences are frightening for the South Africa which is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.

Heinrich Klaasen returned this week to captain the South African T20 side after he was one of three players who tested positive to the virus in the England series which was abandoned over health concerns.

“The first 16 or 17 days I couldn‘t really do much. I was very ill,“ Klaasen said.

“The problem came with the fact that I could not start exercising. Or I could start exercising again, but I could not run 20-30 metres, or do anything for two or three minutes without my heart rate going up too high.

“There are protocols that one has to follow to be able to rebuild your workload but I could not stick to that program.

“It is a very simple program where you exercise for 10-15 minutes a day and (do exercises) like walking 200 metres. It took me a long time to just get my heart rate under control so that I could exercise at least a little bit without getting past the phase where it is too dangerous.”

Klaasen reported mental health struggles saying “the mind take you to deep and dark places in times like this”.

An excoriating attack on Australia’s decision to postpone their tour on health grounds by well-connected South African cricket journalist Neil Manthorp gave an insight into the thinking of Cricket South Africa.

At the heart of the complaint was a suggestion Australia was always looking for an excuse to cancel the tour and constantly moved the goal posts when the host tried to meet its demands.

This has been rejected in the strongest terms by Australia who struggled with a disorganised host in the lead up to the series.

South African cricket is in a state of chaos at board and administrative levels.

On Monday Kugandrie Govender reassumed her job as acting chief executive following her suspension last year.

She held the post for a few hours before the interim board reimposed her suspension.

Govendor had fallen out with the acting chairman Justice Zak Yacoob who was forced to stand down from that position on January 27 over an abusive phone call with a journalist.

Australia is adamant the representation of the circumstances leading to the cancellation of the tour has been misrepresented.

South Africa say it offered a private airport to ease its visitor’s minds, but the Australians say they did not request it and when the two companies they were negotiating charter flights with said it was too small all they asked was a clear passage through OR Tambo airport in Johannesburg.

The flight was understood to have cost $1m which would normally be picked up by the host but Australia offered to pay - as England had - because of CSA’s financial problems.

They asked for special treatment at the airport because Sri Lanka reported difficulties getting through the public areas of the airport - a breach of quarantine - at a time when South Africa was reporting 20,000 new cases a day.

The country has done a remarkable job staring down the outbreak caused by a variant of the virus that has proved more infectious and new cases are now down to around 1500 a day.

South African cricket constantly made soothing noises about Australia’s requirements but apparently failed to provide documentation or meet deadlines. When they missed the last in late January Cricket Australia called an emergency meeting and eventually withdrew.

One of the major remaining issues was repatriating anybody who got sick, when this was pointed out former Test star Dale Steyn he made a valid point about the position Australian cricket now finds itself in.

“We have teams touring all over the world and joining secure bubbles to ensure players health and safety,” he said. “If this is your argument, then Australia shouldn’t leave Aussie soil until world is vaccinated.”

Australian cricket is notoriously risk averse but did visit the UK last winter. Players will attend the IPL but it is an individual decision and most are comfortable with the arrangements they experienced in the series earlier this year.

The players say they were not part of the decision to cancel the tour.