The announcement by Cricket SA CEO Thabang Moroe that there will be no racial “targets” in the selection of the national squad for the Cricket World Cup in England later in 2019 is to be welcomed.
It is likely that without any sort of racial target at least half the squad would be made up of “players of colour” in any case. Kagiso Rabada, Imran Tahir and Andile Phehlukwayo, among others, will be among the first names on any selector’s team sheet for an SA one-day international XI.
While initiatives to promote inclusivity have their place at lower levels of the sport, targets or quotas have no place in the professional game, and certainly not when selecting an international side.
This is the way most South Africans want their national teams to be selected. A new Institute of Race Relations poll, to be released later in 2019 , shows that 83% of South Africans (and 82% of black South Africans) believe the only criteria for selecting national sports teams should be merit.
When it comes down to it, most South Africans probably would not care if the playing XI was made up solely of whites, blacks, or three-headed Martians, as long as they won their games and finally brought home that elusive Cricket World Cup trophy.
Marius Roodt
Institute of Race Relations
https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/opinion/letters/2019-04-05-letter-no-quotas-at-top-level/
