At a time when off the field controversies have hit South African cricket hard and forced a change in its administration, it seems Cricket South Africa (CSA) is preparing to face another risk by not following its highly sensitive quota policy.
Reportedly, South Africa will replace Temba Bavuna, who withdrew from the first Test against England due to a hip injury, with Dwaine Pretorious.
The Proteas are meant to pick a black cricketer in place of Bavuna to follow their quota policy of having at least two black Africans and six players of colour in all for every international outing.
However, according to a report of the Daily Mail, the new regime under Smith is all geared up to disobey the policy by picking up Pretorious.
‘We don’t want to pick a player just to tick a box,’ a source close to the team was quoted as saying in the report.
South Africa, who have a new cricket coach in the form of Mark Boucher and batting coach in the Jacques Kallis, have had a rough year on the field with one after another disappointing performance.
In a bid to regain the lost glory in international cricket after the retirement of veteran cricketers like AB De Villiers, Hashim Amla and Dale Steyn, South Africa are desperate to win the home series against England.
As a first step to tackle a superior English team, the Proteas are planning to increase the amount of pressure on opposition captain Joe Root, who is also under a pressure to win a Test series following a drawn Ashes at home and a defeat in New Zealand.
Kallis said, “We’ll certainly try to keep the pressure on him but he’s a world-class player and he’ll want to turn things around.”