Cape Town – The South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA) on Wednesday filed an application in the High Court in Johannesburg calling on Cricket South Africa (CSA) to show cause why its decision to restructure domestic cricket in South Africa should not be reviewed and set aside.  

“SACA’s application to court follows numerous, unsuccessful attempts by us to get CSA to address our concerns relating to the financial situation in cricket. It also follows clear breaches by CSA of SACA/CSA agreements in taking the decision to restructure domestic cricket, said SACA president Omphile Ramela said via a press statement.

“The restructuring decision will have serious implications for the players and for the game in South Africa. The lack of proper engagement with SACA before making this decision has left us with no alternative but to approach the court to challenge that decision.”

CSA recently confirmed that, as of 2021, South African cricket will scrap the franchise system in favour a provincial model that will see 12 sides compete domestically.

SACA CEO Tony Irish also commented: “SACA’s application has been filed in the South Gauteng local division of the High Court under case number 18985/2019.

“It also calls on CSA to deliver to the court, and to SACA, documents and records which CSA relied upon in making the decision to restructure domestic cricket.

“CSA will now need to decide on whether or not to oppose our court application and if it opposes, it will need to file answering papers and SACA will have the right to reply to those. We expect that the legal process, which culminates in the hearing of our application in court, will take about three to four months,” concluded Irish.