The Leading Edge: The unpalatable truth about cricket

Before last week, many South Africans had never heard of Siphe Mzaidume. He is among legions of his compatriots quietly playing as professionals in English club cricket. More unusually, he also plays grade cricket in Australia.

After Mzaidume hit the headlines last Friday, more of us knew who he was. In some he evoked empathy. Others were inspired to know that their dreams of following a path similar to his were not over. In others, irritation rose to irrational levels.

Mzaidume said things black South Africans are, apparently, not supposed to say - that the system is set up for black cricketers to fail; that black cricketers would do better to leave SA and its insidious racism behind.

Not once in our interview did Mzaidume say he was good enough to play at a high level. He did say he and others of his race are denied opportunities in this country because they are black.

Cue the hitting of many nerves within the unbearable whiteness of SA cricket. The shrill torrent of reactionary outrage was stuck in one of two gears - "Mzaidume isn't good enough to play international cricket" or "black South Africans don't play cricket in large numbers".

The first is a denial of a claim that was never made, a clumsy attempt to avoid the elephant in the dressing room and thus irrelevant to the debate.

Besides, how would anyone know if Mzaidume or any black player is good enough when the people who should be key figures in their advancement do not understand that the game's racial imbalance is a problem.

" ... it [transformation] must be in all sports - soccer?" a former Border cricket selector who served during Mzaidume's time in the province, said on social media. Told that soccer did not need racial transformation, he replied, "So why cricket? If they are not good enough then they don't play. It has to work both ways."

With apologies to Vernon Philander, sometimes stats do lie. Who knows how much black talent goes unnoticed because players do not get a fair shake from selectors who can't or won't see what's wrong with SA cricket's pale picture at higher levels?

It is also patent nonsense that blacks do not take a significant interest in cricket. Last February, SA had 767 registered cricket clubs. As many as 167 - 22.77% - were classified as black African. Cricket was played in 28.5% of black African schools. What are all the black South Africans locked into those numbers doing if they aren't playing cricket?

The real question is where those players go. The system suggests they disappear into real life. Mzaidume tells us they are still there, but are ignored by a system that is determined to look past, around and through them. Then they lose interest and disappear in order to pay the bills.

Much of the reaction to what Mzaidume said last week was handed down with the kind of eye-rolling that becomes knowing winking in conversations between those who share the same prejudices.

Apologists for cricket's failure to represent most South Africans at franchise and international level couldn't stop their knees from jerking. Others branded Mzaidume as "dangerous".

And all this because one person dared to say that the emperor was marching down main street stark naked.

How hard can it be to understand that SA cricket is not nearly black enough? Why can't we talk about why that is without resorting to rubbishing people, even when we think they are talking rubbish?

Mzaidume generated a lot of noise. It was the sound of guilt.