It’s a debate that has been bubbling beneath the success of South African cricket ever since the gates opened after Apartheid. It’s a debate that has already started raising heat after the team’s loss in the first Test yesterday. Does South Africa have a quota for coloured players? Is it at the cost of better white players? One side points to the inclusion of an Asian-origin player like Hashim Amla and or a coloured player like Ashwell Prince in the Test team at the expense of experienced white cricketers like Boeta Dippenaar and Nicky Boje, who quit world cricket last week in disgust. They highlight the fact that franchise squads like the local Highveld Lions in Johannesburg, which play in the domestic circuit, still have to have the race of cricketers mentioned against their names on team lists to showcase the representative spirit. Haroon Lorgat, convenor of South Africa’s national cricket selection committee, who has his roots in Gujarat, has the official story, exclusively for The Indian Express: THE absolute truth is we have got a legacy. We come from a history, and we have got lots of talent in Black communities, the Asians, the Coloureds, the Africans, but with limited opportunities. So the Board (Cricket South Africa) has rightfully done a strategy, to make it more representative in the team. But the objective over time is not at the expense of people deserving to be there. So whenever we select a player, be it of colour or a white player, they deserve to be there. So nobody doubts the fact that, say AB de Villiers, deserves to be there. It’s not for the sake of picking up a player of colour. So the Board is saying clearly in its policies that, over time, we must transform the team, we must get more players of colour represented in the team. Because the country at large is the reverse of what’s in the team. We’ve got 80-90% people of colour and we have got 80-90% of white people in the team. That is the history. What we set ourselves two or three years back is to have a target of seven players of colour in the World Cup squad. That was the target, that was the brief given to us. We had workshops, we had huge plans, strategies, development programmes, all of that to get these people to come in the squad. Now, we could even have eight or nine because those players are there. So you must understand that there is a very big difference between a quota and a target. We have got a target. It’s like a company saying we have got to do sales of 100 million. It’s not a quota which says ‘come what may, we are going to have so many in the team’. So we’ve got a target and we trying to work towards it. A lot of people, for whatever reason, might say that’s what we want to do, and we do it at all costs. We don’t do that because it’s a responsible thing. You can’t mess around with a team, it’s an international team. And nor can you mess around with an individual. If somebody is not ready, the person is not ready. You can’t put a person in there, you will do more damage. We are trying to become more representative, but properly. We will do it properly and I am very proud of the enormous success we have had already. You look at any of these players of colour we are talking about, you tell me whether they wouldn’t make the India team. They will make your Indian first team. But for me, the sad thing is many people don’t understand, and don’t see the spirit of what we are trying to do. It’s a very important thing. Our country has to transform, it has to give opportunity for people who were disadvantaged in the past. Because they are very talented, but have just not had the exposure, and the opportunity to do it. And I am very confident that we will not put people there who don’t deserve to be there, and we will do our best to make people reach their full potential, and then get them into the team. (As told to AJAY S SHANKAR)
