Feud derailing South Africa’s World Cup hopes

SYDNEY - Cricket South Africa has plunged into a new crisis with the government intervening in an effort to resolve a long-standing dispute within the cricket controlling body.

South Africa’s Sports Minister has asked the country’s two leading cricket administrators to end a public row that has involved Proteas captain Graeme Smith and threatens to undermine the team’s World Cup campaign.

Minister of Sport and Recreation Fikile Mbalula met the board of CSA in Centurion on Sunday to discuss various matters, including the IPL Cup bonus issue that has divided the sport.

Mbalula said the sport had been “thrown into disarray” ahead of the World Cup by a feud between Cricket South Africa chief executive Gerald Majola and president Mtutuzeli Nyoka.

Majola is reportedly behind a vote of no confidence against Nyoka, who has accused Majola of hiding bonuses paid to CSA following the 2009 IPL in South Africa, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Mbalula said Smith shouldn’t get involved in “administrative issues” after the skipper was quoted in a CSA statement praising Majola.

“We should not de-focus our team when on a towering mission like the ICC World Cup in few weeks’ time,” Mbalula said. (ANI)