Breaking news: South African selection panel sacked

A day after Mickey Arthur quit as national coach, South Africa's selection panel has also been sacked by the board. Mike Procter, the chairman of selectors, confirmed the development on a local radio station in Johannesburg.

Procter told Talk Radio 702 that Cricket South Africa had fired the entire selection panel, which included Craig Matthews, Winky Ximiya and Mustapha Khan, and an interim one would be appointed to serve until February 19. "It came as a huge shock to us all," Procter said. He added that only CSA would be able to confirm if the developments were linked to the transformation issue.

"Had a call yesterday evening from Gerald Majola informing me, and the rest of the selectors, that we would not be required for any future services by South African cricket," Procter told a South African news channel. "I was pretty surprised, because everyone was told that we were going to give presentations, there was going to be a talk after the England series, there wasn't a witch hunt or anything, and I thought we did pretty well."

The selection panel was appointed in October 2008 and its tenure was until the 2011 World Cup, the same as Arthur's contract.

More to follow …

tac wrote:Saffies falling apart just when we need them to bang a few subi heads . . . .

skully wrote:Fark, if only the heading had Australian instead of South African in it.

Red wrote:I notice the transformation issue seems to have reared its ugly head again. When will this get sorted out? It seems the dropping of Ntini wasn't popular. Their domestic teams have eleven places available for non-whites, a restricted number for whites. Obviously a set number of non-whites have to be in the test team and this by and large seems to be adhered to. A lot of money gets poured into non-white development.

What more do the politicians etc. expect? Surely they have to wait for sufficient talent to emerge. If they don't pick the best (or near the best teams) and they suffer losses, surely this will impact upon crowds and therein sponsors etc.

You would have to be a fool to take this job because there are too many agendas you seem to have to work through.

mynah wrote:Will post details when available, but apparently Mike Procter said on radio that it came as a huge shock.

Dello wrote:

mynah wrote:Will post details when available, but apparently Mike Procter said on radio that it came as a huge shock.

Is it really that embarrassing to only draw with England?

brisk wrote:so basically there was no disagreement between Arhur and Smith.

mynah wrote:

brisk wrote:so basically there was no disagreement between Arhur and Smith.

Both have denied it.

Latest rumours are that the black players in the team were not black enough...

Shoeshine wrote:

mynah wrote:

brisk wrote:so basically there was no disagreement between Arhur and Smith.

Both have denied it.

Latest rumours are that the black players in the team were not black enough...

Got to say Smith and Arthur didn't exactly look like they were at each other's throats in the press conference. Smith looked upset.

skully wrote:Farkin tragic for Saffie cricket, just as they attempt to wrestle to top spot from the BanIndians.

What is going on?

brisk wrote:so basically there was no disagreement between Arhur and Smith.

mynah wrote:

skully wrote:Farkin tragic for Saffie cricket, just as they attempt to wrestle to top spot from the BanIndians.

What is going on?

Those who make these decisions don't give a fark how we do, as long as the colour coding is right. And there I'd started to think cricket was the one sport in South Africa that was ridding itself of mickymousing officialdom...