Cricket now about corporate governance, not bat and ball: Ali

Johannesburg: Former South African cricket supremo Ali Bacher feels corporate governance has now taken precedence over bat and ball in international cricket.

"It`s no more about bat and ball. It`s about corporate governance, marketing, people who have experience in investment and evaluations and people who have had international business dealings," Bacher told a daily. Bacher was commenting on how the embattled Cricket South Africa (CSA) could be changed in the wake of the current investigation into its financial affairs ordered by sports minister Fikile Mbalula. The committee headed by retired judge Chris Nicholson is expected to have its report ready by the end of next month. Bacher was one of the many people who had testified at the inquiry into the financial irregularities sparked off by chief executive Gerald Majola paying himself and other CSA staff huge bonuses for IPL 2 which was hosted in South Africa in 2009 due to security concerns in India. Bacher believes the principles of the sweeping changes that are about to be introduced by Cricket Australia (CA) could also be used by CSA. The biggest change in Australia is the reduction of the current 14 board members to just nine, not necessarily representative of all state cricket unions but rather directors with business acumen. PTI