Rediff

Cape Town, Jun 19: South Africa's Cricket Board president lost his veto power as the administrators made a complete overhaul of their selection policy in the wake of its controversial transformation policy.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) accepted most of the recommendations made by the Transformation Review Committee and accordingly board president Norman Arendse will no longer enjoy the veto power.

Insisting that the job of picking up the national team should be entrusted to the panel of selectors, the committee said, "The present system in terms of which the president has the right to veto the selected team should be abolished."

Andre Nel urged to be patient

"The president and Board of CSA should continue to be the custodians of the transformation policy so far as the national team is concerned and, in this regard, should continue to monitor the progress in achieving acceptable levels of representativity that will eventually reflect the demographic makeup of the country..." it added.

The issue of quota has created quite a bad blood within the team. Under the this policy, a 15-member South African squad should include seven coloured players and going by that, the selectors dropped Andre Nel [Images] and named Charl Langeveldt for the India tour earlier this year even though Langeveldt eventually pulled out saying he was uncomfortable with the policy.

Meanwhile, Arendse said the recommendations were accepted unanimously at Wednesday's CSA meeting.

"The Board also decided that the committee should continue its mandate and make further recommendations on how to increase Black African representativity in South African cricket at all levels and focus on other areas of transformation," he said in a statement.

Regarding the role of the coach and the captain, the committee said, "In selecting the national squad, the selectors shall consult with and have regard to the input of both the coach and the captain. The coach and convenor shall be responsible for the selection of the final eleven players to take the field. The captain takes charge once the playing eleven have been selected."

The committee also advised CSA to be careful while appointing selectors.

"CSA should, as soon as possible, implement a process which will ensure that selectors are appointed on the basis of a rigorous selection procedures to ensure that they possess the necessary experience, expertise and knowledge of the game and, additionally, are trusted to ensure that the team is representative and reflects the broad ethos of democratic South Africa and the principles of CSAs transformation policy," it said.

In order to promote the principles of CSA's transformation policy, the selection panel should include black Africans, it added.