SA cricketers running out of patience with the sport's administrators

South Africa’s cricketers are running out of patience with the sport's administrators.

And it’s the players who hold the balance of power in a game that cannot exist without them.

The South African Cricketers’ Association’s (SACA) memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Cricket South Africa (CSA) expires at the end of the month — six working days from Thursday — and CSA have‚ according to SACA‚ been dragging their heels on negotiating a new agreement.

Should April 30 come and go without finality on the document that is the cornerstone of the how the board deals with the players‚ the latter would be free to pursue their interests in cricket outside of South Africa and could be lost to the game in this country.

CSA issued a release on Wednesday that said they had “outlined plans to conclude a new MOU with SACA as a matter of urgency”.

Plan A would seem to be to beg SACA to mark more time than they already have in a process that has dragged on‚ with little noticeable progress and no stated aggression from the player body‚ for three months.

“In the event of negotiations concerning the new MOU not being completed by April 30 CSA has indicated its willingness to extend the existing contracts for a further period with the intention of having the new agreement in place by July this year‚” CSA’s release said.

But a SACA release on Thursday indicated that the players — who represent cricket’s only viable source of revenue — have had enough of the suits’ bungling.

“We are both surprised and disappointed that CSA has seen fit to make a public statement announcing plans relating to the MOU without giving us any proper opportunity to respond to‚ or to deal with‚ these first‚” the release quoted SACA chief executive Tony Irish as saying.

“The suggested plans have caused consternation among players and they require a response from SACA.

"The indication of further possible delays and the unworkability of certain aspects of what is being suggested are particular matters of concern to us.

“The suggestion also that there have actually been negotiations conducted by SACA officials with CSA on the MOU to date is also not correct. Negotiations on the key elements have yet to start.

“SACA has been doing everything possible from its side for approximately three months to engage with CSA on the MOU and to deal with the key elements to enable player contracts to be finalised well in advance of April 30.

“In past MOUs the key elements have always been agreed by the end of February at the latest to ensure a proper player contracting process can take place well in advance of expiry dates.

“Unfortunately our attempts to date have been met with very little response from CSA and much of our correspondence has gone unanswered.

“The delays have created an environment of uncertainty for players‚ and also for franchises who wish to secure their players.

“This comes at a time when South African cricket needs to do whatever it can to retain its players in the face of competing opportunities afforded to players in the emerging T20 leagues market and also in the UK.”

Of CSA’s offer to extend existing contracts‚ Irish was quoted as saying: “This has caused confusion because it doesn’t cater for what is actually happening on the ground for many players.

“Some players have already been told that they will no longer be contracted‚ some will be moving between national and franchise contracts‚ some will be moving between franchises and some will be first time franchise players.

“Extensions of contract are simply unworkable for all of these players.”

Irish pointed out the irony of CSA’s belated recognition of the “urgency” of a sorry situation they are at least partly guilty of creating.

“Although CSA now acknowledges in its media statement that concluding the MOU has become a matter of urgency it goes on to suggest that a new agreement may only be finalised in July.

“We do not understand why such a long further delay may be necessary. We believe that the new MOU is likely to be substantially similar to the existing one in most respects.”

Irish warned CSA against making more unilateral statements on the matter.

“Should an interim arrangement be necessary because finalisation of all the key elements can’t now be done by April 30‚ then we believe that this needs to be agreed with SACA‚ before any further media statements are made‚ to ensure that it is workable and that it aligns with‚ and feeds into‚ the MOU once finalised.”

And all the while the clock is ticking inexorably towards May 1‚ when cricket in South Africa could change irrevocably.