SA Cricketers' Association threaten protest ahead of England series

Cricket South Africa has been facing turmoil for the last few weeks first with Graeme Smith “unfortunate withdraw” of interest for the role of CSA’s Director of Cricket and now sudden withdrawal of media accreditation of five leading journalists. 

Former Test captain Graeme Smith announced on November 14 that he had withdrawn his interest in taking the job because he was not sure that he would have the freedom to act in the way he wanted and he stated that despite his reiteration of his concerns, those were not corrected.

CSA will hold a special board meeting on Saturday following a week of drama and controversy sparked by the withdrawal of media accreditation of five leading journalists. 

The withdrawal of accreditation of the journalists was reversed the same day by CSA chief executive Thabang Moroe, who has reportedly been granted wide powers by the board. He has stated the withdrawal as “erroneous”.

SACA claims that there is unlawful use of players' names and images in a fantasy game based on the ongoing Mzansi Super League Twenty20 competition.

Following series of dispute between CSA and SACA, executive of SACA Tony Irish commented, “CSA has flagrantly disregarded our agreements”.

Irish said agenda of Saturday’s meeting will be  “likely to include the possibility of the players taking some industrial, or protest, action.” He said strike action had always been considered an option of last resort, “but things have reached a stage where we must ask what SACA and the players are expected to do when the leadership of CSA continues to ignore our legitimate concerns.”