The cricket teams of South Africa will have to fulfill new guidelines in terms of team selection from 2022. As per new guidelines, every team should have at least seven players of colour by the start of the 2022/23 season. The remaining four players will be white players.
The previous guidelines that came into the picture in 2015 meant that six players of colour and at least two of them should be black players. In terms of percentages, teams had to satisfy this guideline over the season rather than a game to game basis.
Nathi Mthetwa, Sports Minister of South Africa, confirmed that the number of players of colour by the start of 2022/23 will be 63 %. The current value is 58%, while the black players are going to increase from 25% to 33% by the start of the 2022/23 season.
Mark Boucher, head coach of the South African cricket team, said, “The only thing I can say is that I was in a transformation meeting and we were given a whole outline of what the rules and regulations were and that’s what we’ve got to abide by.”
It remains to be seen how these guidelines will affect the national team in the longer run. Cricket South Africa has been facing a lot of problems lately as board members had to resign after the government had found irregularities in the functioning of the cricket body.
The turmoil and uncertainty surrounding CSA were somewhat stopped when the Member’s Council of Cricket South Africa (CSA) appointed an interim board in November.