Radio and cricket is an eternal partnership – Aslam Khota.

My earliest recollections of radio was my late dad tuning in at odd hours of the night to listen to cricket commentary and hear the dulcet tones of Allen McGillivray on Australia’s ABC, Chakrapani and Devaj Puni in Hindi on All India Radio (AIR) and in Urdu with Ifthikaar Ahmed and others from Pakistan Radio.

Dad would react loudly at the fall of a wicket or a missed chance. With a cup of tea in one hand and the dreaded cigarette in the other, he enjoyed a wise-crack or comment from the commentary box. This was much to our annoyance of course and we turned under the duvet, begging to get in a few more minutes of sleep! My father sat with his ears close to the radio because the coverage on short-wave would ‘wax and wane’. He would turn up the volume only for the sound to suddenly return and blast us out of our slumber – again!

Before television, cricket was transmitted around the world by the miracle of the wireless. It was an unhurried and romantic period when traditions and conventions were respected and sportsmanship, not gamesmanship was the byword in the middle.

My two brothers and I slept in the same room that had the old Pilot Radio that was bought in downtown Jo’burg. It was a huge radio, the size of today’s bigger Microwave oven and although powered by electricity, the half-a-dozen valves needed to warm-up enough so that we could then tune in to the world. The radio was bought specifically to listen to cricket, the Hindi movie songs and ‘Listeners choice’ and ‘Geet Mala’ on Tuesday nights on AIR with the inimitable Amin Sayani. For my parent’s and sisters, it was many hours of unbridled entertainment! All this via short-wave! BBC World Service for its news and Sports Roundup were preferred to the propaganda fuelled SABC radio.

When teams toured South Africa, it was the descriptive and timeless voice of Charles Fortune that kept us all enthralled and entertained. On BBC it was John Arlott that gave poetry to cricket and painted pictures with words! Brian Johnstone brought an air of joy and wit to his commentary.

Saturday afternoons was great fun on BBC, the superb and best sports host on radio was the irrepressible Paddy Feeny and he would take a listener to all corners of the globe to bring fans as close to sport as one could get. These voices brought joy and beauty to sport on radio. They fired my passion and imagination and my mind was set for broadcasting.

My late brother Mohamed Naseer (Nas) was a brilliant impersonator and he mimicked Charles Fortune to perfection. Team mates used to ask him to commentate during matches and soon I was doing the same. Radio was a great source of entertainment and I always desired to become a cricket commentator. It was a wishful dream until democracy dawned. I made various attempts to get on radio via a few auditions. It won’t surprise you to know that three demo tapes went missing over a period of 2 years! I was disillusioned but always knew that my time would come.

Radio was an elusive dream so I attended an audition for TV with the SABC. I beat seven candidates but with a few racist bosses still in control, they rejected to view the demo videotape even though the recommendation was made by their own production company! I was still disillusioned and felt that nothing had changed in the new South Africa.

Imtiaz Patel took up a position at Supersport and my request to commentate was accepted with open arms. Whilst doing commentary at the stadiums, I offered my services free of charge to Radio2000 and the producer having noted the manner in which I took to radio, soon offered me a contract. I enjoyed seven glorious years at Supersport and much of my grooming was due to that professional environment.  Some six years later many retirees from the international scene arrived at Supersport and I was getting fewer shifts. In 2005 Radio2000 sent me to the West Indies. I never looked back as radio offered me the opportunities to travel the world and visit countries and grounds that I only dreamed about. I have met and broadcasted with commentators I had admired over the years. I made my vocation my avocation! In the end my persistence and determination paved the way to live my dream.

I returned to the West Indies for the 2007 World Cup, been to India for Talk Radio702, covered the record breaking series in Australia in 2008/09 and continue to travel the length and breadth of South Africa with the Radio2000 team. I have shared the commentary box with, Clive Lloyd, Wasim Akram, Ian Chappell, Sunny Gavaskar, Kepler Wessels, all former captains as well as Simon Doull, Ian Bishop, Herschel Gibbs, Jonty Rhodes, Peter Kirsten, Barry Richards, Geoff Lawson, Justin Langer, Damien Fleming, Peter Roebuck, Roger Harper and Wayne Daniel among others.

I started as a writer way back in 1979 to report on non-racial provincial matches in the Howa and Booley Bowl. I learnt the rudiments under the late Yusuf Nazeer at the Lenasia Times and later with Ameen Akhalwaya at The Indicator. My articles have been published in the Sunday Times, The Star, The Weekly Mail, The Cricketer in Pakistan, India Today, a magazine published in India and the South African edition of The Wisden and in Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) official cricket tour brochures.

In 2002 the Gauteng Cricket Board commissioned me to write the history of non-racial cricket in the Transvaal before democracy. ‘Across the great divide – Transvaal crickets joys, struggles and triumphs’ was published on the eve of the 2003 World Cup in South Africa.

 I have indeed been blessed and privileged to have worked with many great commentators. Many have been there for over 30 and even 40 years I have shared the mike with Jonathan Agnew of the  BBC, Fazeer Mahomed and Simon Crosskill on the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC), with Jim Maxwell the famed voice on Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Prakash Wakankar of India. They are all masterful on radio!

My work on Radio and television prompted former Proteas coach Mickey Arthur to recruit me to join a panel of ex-cricketers to help plot a path for the team’s campaign at the 2007 World Cup. That came to an abrupt halt in the semi-finals. I have also served on CSA’s panel of judges for the annual cricket awards for the past ten years.

It is no doubt that radio is the only medium that allows the commentator to give full description to the event, to elaborate on the subtle sideshows to bring that special touch to the game, such as what made Fortune loved by so many.

Finally, that Pilot Radio has been refurbished and still has a special place in my sister’s house! She refuses to part with it!! It is 60 years old and still works!

World T20 failure forces scrutiny of CSA’s structures.

This was definitely the summer of our discontent. For South African cricket followers expectancy was high. In Test matches the Proteas were on the verge of history, defending their number one position in the world, much was expected even after a tight semi-final exit in New Zealand in the 50 overs World Cup last year and a World Twenty20 world cup campaign looming.

The plan was straight forward, or so it seemed.  First it was about consolidating a Test match winning formula and building on the reputation in one-day competitions as a prelude to peaking in India for the WorldTwenty20. But all the best laid plans went sour when India resorted to old tricks in preparing dry lifeless spin-friendly pitches.

That three nil Test series defeat was possibly South Africa’s worst since –re-introduction. If ever a team were battle scarred in recent memory, it was the South Africans after that loss. The repercussions and scarring was more devastating and evident when they lost the Test series to England at home. It wasn’t helped by Hashim Amlas drop in form and leadership credentials coming into question and the subsequent relinquishing of the captaincy. The early exit from the World Twenty20 by the men and women’s teams as well as the national under-19 team’s failure to defend their World Cup title encapsulated a dismal season.

To analyse the failure of the men’s senior team in India in the recent T2 World Cup would boil down to a few selection conundrums and decisions in team selection and discipline.

Most teams selected two front-line spinners with a few more options yet South Africa didn’t. The team instead banked on lower-order all-rounders because the lack of form in the batting remained their main concern. They plumbed for an extra all-rounder by Including David Wiese at the expense of Morne Morkel. Morkel has six seasons of experience in the IPL where he has performed very well. 

Selecting Dale Steyn without any games under his belt and on the basis of his class and experience was a huge gamble. So it proved to be. The selectors reverted to the rigid South African style of selection by stacking the team with seaming all-rounders. It needed specialist and horses for courses selection. The omission of left-arm spinner Aaron Phangiso from most of the games was most perplexing especially given how other teams were so cunning in using their spinners.

The Proteas fell short when A B De Villiers and a few others lacked application and the lower-orders failure to accelerate in the closing overs. The bowling unit inexplicably delivered very few yorkers and slower deliveries. They invariably ended conceding more than average extras which in the final analysis were crucial. But do we focus on the failures or look to remedy the malaise?

So is there a quick fix? No. Quick fixes are short term solutions. Having said that; CSA have the ingredients in place for a long time. The academy structures are second to none. The high performance centre is a trendsetter for innovation. The international team travel and consult with leading psychologists. Players have the benefit of the best technology with a TV analyst on hand 24 hours. The question is then what’s lacking? An international coach with his own team of specialists? CSA have been reluctant to employ one due to the weakness of the Rand.

So how do you correct, analyse or for that matter instil discipline in an international team with players that are at the top of their craft? Did the bowlers panic in those tight situations? If so, then are they lacking enough exposure and experience in domestic competitions?

Is the domestic structured competition fulfilling the needs to the requirements at international level? On the evidence of the Proteas record in bilateral series, the answer is an emphatic yes. It’s certainly not the case when they compete for world cups.

Where does the solution lie? Management and understanding of the formats at international level are crucial in finding and manipulating ways in which to win a game or for that matter a major competition. It is here a coach of international repute is necessary.

On a broader level, the domestic Ram Slam must now take on the hype and magnitude of the Australian Big Bash League (BBL) and the IPL. Franchises with the help of Cricket South Africa (CSA) and sponsors must recruit big stars for the tournament. CSA are planning to have the Proteas players appear for most matches for their franchises. The board should instead consider re-introducing the original provincial board teams and this will add to the hype and more importantly give exposure to a bigger pool of players in this format. 

The idea of compressing the tournament by staging matches on Monday and Friday nights and weekends with double-headers is worth testing and then even taking matches to the far reaches of the country will give budding boys and girls a chance to see stars up close and thereby promote the game in those neglected areas. The fruits of the exercise will become evident quicker than we think. Just look at India as a perfect example.

The other area that needs attention is to increase the franchises from six to eight and still maintain a solid strength versus strength structure in the Sunfoil Series. This will alleviate the need for six teams to adhere to the strict but necessary transformation policy. CSA and its franchises must contract recently retired players to play out their careers for a season or two in a format of their choice to ensure there is internationally experienced players in the midst. Finally, they must sign a few experienced foreigners to franchises to increase the standard of the game at domestic level. 

CSA and the games stakeholders must address the short-comings soon and not leave it in abeyance as the West Indies did after their record breaking run in the 1970’s to the early 1990’s. The careers of the likes of Steyn, Amla, De Villiers and Vernon Philander are soon to come to an end. Do we have adequate replacements? On an encouraging note; Quinton De Kock is a rising star, Kagiso Rabada looks like he can lead the attack for a long time and Temba Bavuma has the ability to lift the spirits of his team and the nation. All is not lost yet, but the time to act is now.