|
 |
 | | | You are in: Cricket |
|
| | Tuesday, 9 July, 2002, 07:18 GMT 08:18 UK Minister calls quota talks South Africa have high hopes for paceman Mfuneko Ngam South African Sports Minister Ngconde Balfour has requested a meeting with the country's United Cricket Board following the scrapping of the racial quota system for senior cricket. The minister is set to meet UCB chief executive Gerald Majola and president Percy Sonn in Pretoria on Wednesday, but has yet to make public comment on the decision. South Africa's national team and senior provincial sides will be picked entirely on merit from now on, although quotas will still be applied at provincial B team level and in junior representative games. "We have seen enough real change to be confident that these sides can be selected on merit and that we have enough real quality players of colour that their presence in these senior teams no longer needs to be dictated by a quota system," Sonn explained. It is only six months, however, since batsman Jacques Rudolph was denied the chance of a Test debut against Australia in Melbourne, when Sonn intervened and insisted that his place go to Justin Ontong. That decision was supported by the Sports Minister, who announced in February that he was considering legislation to ensure that all sports speeded up the process of transformation.
He claimed that sport had lagged behind the rest of South African society in eliminating the legacy of white minority rule. But Omar Henry, the first non-white to play Test cricket for South Africa and now chairman of selectors, has backed the decision to abandon quotas. "What we have done is taken on board two extremely important qualities - honesty and trust," he has been quoted as saying. "If everyone does their job properly, more and more black players will come through the ranks." Quotas, meanwhile, continue to provoke fierce debate within South African rugby. Current rules state that every team must have at least two black players on the field during Super 12 matches and the country's rugby board president wants nine black players in their squad for next year's World Cup. | |
See also:  08 Jul 02 | Cricket 08 Jul 02 | Cricket 29 Jun 02 | Cricket 02 Apr 02 | Australia v South Africa 27 Dec 01 | Australia v South Africa 07 Dec 00 | Cricket Internet links: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top Cricket stories now: Links to more Cricket stories are at the foot of the page. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|  | | | | | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |
|  E-mail this story to a friend |
| |
| Links to more Cricket stories |
| | | ||
 | ||||
 | | Back to top
| ||
| ------------------------------------------------------------ BBC News >> | BBC Weather >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © MMIII | News Sources | Privacy |
