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Arrangements for India’s scheduled tour of South Africa will remain in limbo until after the Indian board’s annual meeting on September 29, according to Cricket South Africa chief executive Haroon Lorgat. |
Lorgat met Sanjay Patel, his counterpart from the Board of Control for Cricket in India, in Dubai on Monday night in an attempt to resolve concerns about the tour, scheduled to start on November 18.
Although due to include three Test matches, seven one-day internationals and two Twenty20 internationals, doubts have been raised about the tour, with India having made arrangements for an incoming tour by the West Indies and a tour of New Zealand which clash with the beginning and end of the fixtures.
While thanking Patel for a “constructive” meeting, Lorgat said: “After listening to Sanjay, it is clear that we will now have to wait for the BCCI’s AGM to be completed before any tour schedule can be confirmed. It is key for all of us to make sure that the good relationship between our respective boards is maintained and, in fact, strengthened and that we also honour the proud history between our two countries.”
Lorgat added that there had been discussions between the presidents of the two boards. “We will now arrange for them to meet soon after the BCCI AGM,” he said.
The appointment of Lorgat is believed to have upset key members of the BCCI because of differences which arose while Lorgat was chief executive of the International Cricket Council. The CSA statement said no further comments would be made about the tour until after the BCCI meeting.
India were the first country to host South Africa after the formation of a racially unified board in 1991, ending 21 years of isolation caused by the South African government’s apartheid policy. India were also the first country to make a Test tour of South Africa in the post-unity era.
India had been in the forefront of nations that imposed sanctions on the apartheid government, and the two countries had never played cricket against each other.
But when South Africa’s new United Cricket Board (UCB) put its case for membership of the ICC in July 1991—more than two years before the country’s first fully democratic elections—it was India that proposed a motion in favour of admission, opening the way for the longtime pariahs to return to the international game.
CSA announced the original itinerary in July. The number of matches was in accordance with the ICC’s Future Tours Programme (FTP). The Indians, however, complained that they had not agreed to the itinerary—although South African officials claim they have correspondence proving that there were negotiations about the fixtures.