More turmoil in South Africa cricket as acting board president resigns

Beresford Williams and four other board members leave as government threatens to intervene

England are set to tour South Africa in November. Reuters

Embattled Cricket South Africa (CSA) acting president Beresford Williams has resigned along with four other board members, the organisation revealed on Sunday.

The board has been plagued by claims of mismanagement with a damning internal report providing a long list of concerns about the actions of various staff members.

Sports minister Nathi Mthethwa had told the International Cricket Council (ICC) that he intended to intervene in the running of the board unless it committed to governance reforms by October 27.

"Acting President of CSA Beresford Williams has handed in his resignation with immediate effect," the CSA said on its Twitter feed.

The CSA members' council met on Thursday to discuss strategies to solve the crisis following the sports minister's ultimatum.

"One of these approaches was that if the Board would need to step down for the best interest of CSA and cricket as a whole, the Board would then do so," CSA said.

Board members Angelo Carolissen, Tebogo Siko, John Mogodi and Donavan May also resigned on Sunday.

Rihan Richards had been appointed acting president of the Members' Council, the CSA subsequently said in a statement.

"CSA thanks them for their dedication, commitment and service to CSA and wishes them well in their future endeavours," Richards said of the departing members.

It means England's limited-overs tour of South Africa will go ahead despite the administrative chaos.

The England and Wales Cricket Board has said on Wednesday that three Twenty20s and three ODIs will take place behind closed doors in Cape Town and Paarl starting in November.

The future of the tour was in question when South Africa's sports minister threatened to intervene directly in the affairs of CSA following concerns over a lack of unrestricted access to a forensic report which led to the dismissal of chief executive Thabang Moroe in August.

But that issue has not impacted the tour, with the South African government granting exemptions for inbound travel for the England players and management earlier this week.

The three T20s start on November 27 at Newlands, Cape Town. The second match of the series will be played at Boland Park, Paarl on November 29 before the teams return to Newlands on December 1.

The three-match ODI series, part of the ICC Cricket World Cup Super League, starts at Newlands on December 4.