Former South Africa fast bowler Lonwabo Tsotsobe has alleged that former Proteas captain and current Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) Director of Cricket, Graeme Smith, threatened to retire if the wicket-keeper Thami Tsolekile was selected during a tour of England in 2012.
During the 2012 tour of England, Thami was named in the Proteas squad as reserve keeper to Mark Boucher, but he wasn’t given the responsibility after a freak injury to the current head coach, as the former skipper AB de Villiers took the gloves on that tour.
Well now, Tsotsobe accused Smith of racism, saying former South African captain blocked Tsolekile’s entry into the national side because of racial bias, by threatening he would retire with immediate effect if the former Proteas wicketkeeper was selected in the playing XI.
Tsotsobe made the allegations against Smith in a seven-page submission last month as Social Justice and Nation Building transformation ombudsman Dumisa Ntsebeza started receiving submissions. It is being said that CSA had postponed the Social Justice and Nation Building (SJN) public hearings, with the Transformation Ombud and interim board seeking “clarity regarding the process”.
According to TimesLive, Tsotsobe stated: “Tsolekile was destined to replace Boucher‚ but suddenly AB de Villiers was made the keeper. The wicketkeeper is a specialist position that needed a specialist of which De Villiers is not. The idea of assigning keeping duties to De Villiers was to block the selection of a black player in the fold of Tsolekile.”
The former pacer further added, “This was confirmed by Smith who categorically stated that if Tsolekile was selected he would retire with immediate effect.”
Smith, who captained South Africa team from 2003 until his retirement in 2014‚ was reportedly asked through the CSA’s communications office to confirm or deny the allegations of racial discrimination made by Tsotsobe, but he did not respond in any way.
Noteworthy, Thami is currently serving a 12-year ban from the game for his role in South Africa's 2015 match-fixing scandal. He played only three Test matches for South Africa in 2004.
