Aussie legends 'lambast' Proteas of dumb cricket
Watch: Marnus Labuschagne takes stunning catch to dismiss Zondo
They will try to make it fair now: Khaya Zondo on Australian pitches
I knew I wouldn't have a normal career, says Khaya Zondo recalling 2015 incident vs IND
South African cricketer Khaya Zondo, who testified during the Social Justice and Nation Building hearings saying AB de Villiers stopped him from playing last year, has come forward and stated that the incident even made him think about quitting the game.
SA vs BAN | South Africa becomes the 1st team to use COVID-19 substitutes in international cricket
In a first, the South African cricket team replaced Sarel Erwee and Wiaan Mulder with Khaya Zondo and Glenton Stuurman in their playing XI on Monday to become the first side to use COVID-19 substitutes in international cricket. It happened ahead of what turned out to be the final day of the two-match Test series against Bangladesh when two members of the Proteas' playing XI- Sarel Erwee and Wiaan Mulder- tested positive for COVID-19. Confirming the development, Cricket South Africa (CSA) released an official statement that read: "Khaya Zondo will make his Test debut on Day 4 of the 2nd #BetwayTest against Bangladesh after Sarel Erwee and Wiaan Mulder tested positive for Covid-19. The pair replaced with Zondo and Glenton Stuurman." Speaking on the development, CSA's chief medical officer Dr. Shuaib Manjira described it as an unfortunate but expected situation given the series was being played in a managed environment where the movement of players was allowed and not in a strict bio-bubble. "This is an unfortunate situation, but not unexpected after the decision was made to have this tour under the Managed Event Environment (MEE) protocol, rather than the strict Bio-safe Environment (BSE) Protocol as was previously the case," Manjira said. "This is in line with the country's policy in revoking the Disaster Management Act concerning the pandemic and the huge mental strain that a bubble environment induces," he added. Also, this is the first-ever instance of a side opting for Covid-19 substitutes in international cricket. The proliferation of COVID-19 in the South African camp and the subsequent Covid replacements did not have any bearing on the match as the Proteas thumped a hapless Bangladesh unit by a whopping 332 runs. Bangladesh's second innings proved to be an exact carbon copy of the Durban Test, where they were rolled over by the spin-duo of Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer. A similar sort of thing happened at Port Elizabeth on the 4th day as Maharaj once again claimed a seven-wicket-haul, with Harmer wiping out the rest. Maharaj finished with figures of 7/40 in 12 overs as Bangladesh were shot out for a mere 80 in just 23.3 overs. Thanks to a commanding win in PE, South Africa wrapped a successful summer of Test cricket, which saw them beat India 2-1 and Bangladesh 2-0 at home and eke out a draw 1-1 in New Zealand.
SA vs BAN | Proteas without IPL-bound players for Bangladesh Test series
Zondo has been absolutely magnificent for the Dolphins in South Africa’s 4-day domestic tournament in the last couple of seasons as he has amassed 786 runs in 13 games at a stupendous average of 52.40.
AB de Villiers defends his decision as SA captain after SJN terms them prejudicial and discriminatory
The Social Justice and Nation-Building (SJN) commission published and haded over its 235-page report after six months of questioning and investigation in matters of racial discrimination in South African cricket. The report claimed that AB de Villiers, one of the pioneering figures in recent South African cricket history was prejudicial and discriminatory towards players of colour in his team selection as captain. However, the 38-year-old cricketer refused to be identified as such and tweeted a clarification immediately after the publication of the report. Writing on his personal Twitter handle, de Villiers said, “I support the aims of CSA’s Social Justice and Nation Building process, to ensure equal opportunities in cricket.” “However, in my career, I expressed honest cricketing opinions only ever based on what I believed was best for the team, never based on anyone’s race. That’s the fact,” his tweet added. The SJN ombudsman Dumisa Ntsebeza though in his finding said that de Villiers flouted the National Selection policy during the ODI series against India in 2015. The report said that by not selecting an already available batter Khaya Zondo and asking the then CSA CEO Haroon Logart to fly in Dean Elgar, a prominently long format batter to replace an all-rounder JP Duminy who got injured on the tour. The report also says that AB was wrong in bypassing the convenor of national selectors Linda Zondi and talking directly to the CEO to receive favourable results in favour of his decision. The report says that AB did so, "just to ensure that a black player was not placed in a position which he deemed as requiring greater experience. The only reasonable conclusion is that Mr de Villiers unfairly discriminated against Mr Zondo on racial grounds." In this very report, the SJN has also levelled serious charges of discrimination and racial biasedness against the current coach of the national outfit Mark Boucher and the current director of cricket, CSA, Graeme Smith. In relation to former bowling all-rounder, Andre Adams testifying against Boucher saying that he was instrumental in nicknaming the former as "b**** s***" by his national team-mates, the ombudsman called the national coach a person that lacked "sensitivity and understanding of the racist undertones.” This comes after Boucher attempted to excuse racism in his apology saying that white players were unprepared for the realities of post-Apartheid team dynamics. In the case of Smith, who threatened to quit cricket if Thami Tsolekile replaced Mark Boucher after the latter was injured during South Africa’s tour of England in 2012, the report says that Smith’s decision making showed clear signs of systemic racism. "The decision of the panel was totally irrational. CSA, Mr Graeme Smith and some selectors at the time really failed Mr Tsolekile and many black players of this time in many ways," read the report. Tsolekile was set to replace injured wicketkeeper Boucher, but instead, de Villiers who was in the team purely as a batter was played in the role of the wicket-keeper shattering the then 32-year-old Tsolekile’s hopes of making a return to the national side post his Test debut in 2004.
CSA Provincial T20 | Knights crowned inaugural champions, beat Dolphins in thrilling finale
It was a thrilling finish to the Cricket South Africa’s Provincial T20 Knockout tournament, which started out as the first tournament of the revamped domestic structure of South African cricket. Knights, a well established domestic giants beat another giant in Dolphins by seven runs to be crowned as champions of the season’s first and only tournament where division 1 and division two teams played side by side. Set a target of 177 to win for the Dolphins, the team from Durban were not able to recover from the early blows and by the time they did, it was almost too late to wake up. Dolphins lost two big wickets of Keegan Petersen and skipper Marques Ackerman early on the chase and then the re-build was started by two other senior pros in Khaya Zondo and Sarel Erwee. The two added 51 for the third wicket before Alfred Mothoa removed Erwee. Though Bryce Parsons tried to build a partnership with Zondo and the duo did add did 26 for the fourth wicket, Zondo’s dismissal off the bowling of Nealan van Heerden was a big blow to Dolphins’ hopes. However, not leaving the battle till it was done with, Parsons partnered Jason Smith and the duo added 52 runs in just 37 balls to bring Dolphins as close as the fact that only 33 runs were needed in the last two overs to win. But with Migael Pretorius picking two wickets in two balls including that of Parsons, Smith was left with too much to do alone. Although the 27-year-old did take strike on all the remaining 10 balls in the innings, Smith could only manage to get 25 out of the required 33 as his team lost the game by seven runs. Earlier in the day, after being asked to bat first, Knights, with the help of opener Patrick Krugerskipper’s 61, Pite van Biljon’s 42 and quickfire 28 and 29* respectively from experienced pros Rilee Rossouw and Farhaan Behardien, managed to get to 176-5 in their 20 overs. Pretorius for his figures of 3-30 and especially for picking two match-changing wickets was awarded Man of the Match.
Black Proteas player Khaya Zondo reveals how AB de Villiers sidelined him to play Dean Elgar
Part of South Africa’s squad on India tour in 2015, Khaya Zondo was primed to get his chance having performed well in the previous domestic season at home. However, when JP Duminy eventually got injured and there was to be a replacement, the Black player was ignored and sidelined by the management and then skipper AB de Villiers in favour of playing a Test specialist like Dean Elgar in an ODI game ahead of him. "I switched off mentally for the rest of the day and I detached myself from the team because it was clear I was not wanted," Zondo said, recalling his feelings on the day of the fifth ODI. “The hardest part was watching the players who were selected ahead of me playing and having the opportunity to shine for South Africa on a world stage, in India and having a chance to play and potentially impress and get future IPL opportunities,” added the 31-year-old Dolphins player. In a hearing in a special court in South Africa, it was revealed that what the team did was wrong and discriminatory towards Zondo. The enquiry on the issue began way back in 2015 after Zondo and other Black players submitted a letter to Cricket South Africa after returning from the India tour. However, instead of getting some respite for showcasing the courage of speaking out that he did, the then 25-year-old was mocked by the domestic players and teased as ‘Postman’ for writing the letter. Recalling an incident from a domestic game, Zondo said, "We were playing a game in Potchefstroom against the Lions and I was batting. I remember walking up to the guy who was bowling and I lost it. I was pointing my bat in his face. I had just been through the hardest thing any player can go through and they had no understanding of what it was like to be in that position and were making fun of it. Instead of these guys not having something to say, they saw fit to comment and belittle and ridicule. They saw it as a joke." Zondo also praised two of his fellow Black players for standing by him during tough times and also expected that other players would speak up as well. "They were the only two willing to stand by me. I hope other black players stand up for each other as they stood up for me. We would be a lot further along as black people in cricket if we stood up for each other and we didn't waver in our beliefs," said the right-handed batter who has represented South Africa in five ODIs. Zondo, who has been representing his domestic side Dolphins as a teenager since 2007 in all competitions also thanked his coach at that time and former South Africa player Lance Klusener for his support. "If I had a weaker coach who had not experienced the harsh things that happen to players, the outcome might have been different. Lance said to me (in isiZulu): 'Khaya, you need to be tough, you need to be strong, you need to toughen up. When this is over, you will be a better man for it,’,” Zondo said. Lastly, the man with more than 10,000 domestic runs across all formats in more than 14 years of career asked cricketers of all races to speak against indiscrimination in the game. "I would like all players to come out and speak and give their opinion or if they have had any experience, to talk about it,” he said. “Privilege often makes equality seem like oppression. For equality to come into place, people need to strip themselves of privilege so they can see other people's experiences,” added Zondo.