The coffin has been lowered and the undertaker asks all of those who cared for the departed beloved to pick up a shovel and fill the hole up with sand.
Daar le Cricket South Africa (CSA) nou.
Morsdood and not even a widow or widower by the graveside after interim CEO Jacques Faul and president Chris Nenzani dropped the coffin just before reaching the hole.
Good idea, run - head for the hills.
Kerels, if ever an organisation was broken it is CSA in 2020 and good luck to interim president Beresford Williams and acting CEO Kugandrie Govender in trying to turn things around. Both of them must really be loving a challenge to have said yes to even touching the organisation - albeit only for a short period of time.
Anyway, with Faul and Nenzani out, the “last man standing” is director of cricket Graeme Smith.
En het die man nou nie vir jou ‘n harde tyd nie?
Earlier this week, the former Proteas captain revealed that he was the victim of abuse and even death threats during the fallout of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Smith was not only criticised for taking the knee in support of the movement during the Solidarity Cup match last month, but was also singled out by Thami Tsolekile for the role he played, as captain at the time, in the ex-wicketkeeper not getting a proper chance at international level after Mark Boucher got injured.
So benoud het Smith geraak that he was quoted as saying: “It has shocked me how heated things have got.
“I get that in South Africa we’ve got so many issues and in some ways its felt like we are bearing the brunt for government not having delivered on a number of things over the years and the frustration of that.
“You pick up the paper or you click online and you see all the negativity and the disappointment and the frustration in people’s lives and livelihoods being affected, so it’s been a tough period post that game.”
In a separate quote, he added: “It’s been a really challenging experience.
“All of us have found ourselves in a really heated space.
“We’ve taken an immense amount of abuse, death threats. It’s been an eye-opening experience.”
Sjoe, Smith must be a strong human being for remaining in his position after all of this and good luck to him going forward.
As for the unhappy former players, Alviro Petersen summed up the latest best in one of his latest tweets: “I have noted that @OfficialCSA talk about a ‘reparation scheme’ - I want to make it categorically clear that I will not participate in that, I don’t want money I haven’t worked for! Furthermore, money is not the answer to your failures. Fix systemic racism within cricket!”
I have noted that @OfficialCSA talk about a 'reparation scheme' - I want to make it categorically clear that I will not participate in that, I don't want money I haven't worked for!! Furthermore, money is not the answer to your failures. Fix systemic racism within cricket!!
— Alviro Petersen (@AlviroPetersen) August 18, 2020
And that finally brings me to the culture camp the Proteas are currently on - probably the best thing to come out of cricket in 2020 and hopefully the saviour of the game in our country.
The squad is in Skukuza - I believe it’s somewhere in Mpumalanga - where they are working on their identity as a unit.
If this is the first time in the history of the team that they have this sort of thing - and I would be really surprised if it is - then we might see a mean machine emerging from this camp.
If we can build a true sense of brotherhood among the players, that might lead to the national team finally winning major international trophies.
That’s wishful thinking, I know - but we can only hope that after they’ve buried the old way of doing things, a new, better Proteas will emerge.
Furthermore, I believe that whoever emerges from the camp as captain of the Test team, will prove to be a true leader.
For someone to step up amid the current drama, he has to be a strong person.
And with strong on-field leadership and unity on the pitch, we can only hope that this new Proteas fire then starts to burn at boardroom level also.
Vader weet alleen, it’s either that or like a fellow sports journalist tweeted the other day, they are preparing for the return of suspended CEO Thabang Moroe.
Vroulief! Het ons nog genoeg popcorn in die huis?
dudley.carstens@inl.co.za