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Lorgat’s appointment has already angered the BCCI

Former International Cricket Council (ICC) CEO Haroon Lorgat has been named as Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) new chief executive after the position became vacant in October last year.

The position opened up after Gerald Majola was fired for being the mastermind behind the bonus-payments scandal.

“Mr Lorgat’s appointment follows a thorough and rigorous process to fill this important position,” CSA president Chris Nenzani said. “The quality of the candidates was exceptional and I would like to express my appreciation to the sub-committee of the board as well as my colleagues on the board who have brought this matter to a highly satisfactory conclusion.”

Although CSA refused to name who their other top candidates were, it was reported that they were former football head Bheki Shongwe, Murphy Morobe, who is in charge of Kagiso media and Denver Hendricks, who is a director at the University of Pretoria.

Out of all candidates, Lorgat was the only one with any cricket experience.

Before going on to become the ICC CEO, Lorgat was CSA’s treasurer and convenor of selectors.

However, Lorgat’s appointment as chief executive has already struck a nerve with the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) as they have had heated disputes with Lorgat during his time with the ICC over the Future Tours Programme, the Decision Review System (DRS) and an ICC independent governance review.

The BCCI first expressed their anger towards Lorgat’s possible appointment in March and the lead independent director on CSA’s board, Norman Arendse, confirmed this.

“We said to them we had embarked on a process and that it would be a premature to discuss him or the outcome of that process because we are waiting for it to be concluded,” Arendse said.

It was also reported that the BCCI would consider pulling out of the upcoming tour of South Africa in December if Lorgat were to be appointed.