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Cape Town - The South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA) announced on Thursday that the Cape Cobras players’ dispute against their coach Paul Adams has not been resolved.
There is tension in the Cobras camp as several players feel Adams is not fit for his role as head coach.
SACA then referred the players’ grievances to the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), which was held on October 18 and then gave a 14-day waiting period for the situation to hopefully resolve.
However, SACA released a statement saying that they were disappointed that the Western Cape Cricket (WCC) board did not respond to their proposal and have made no attempt at resolving the issue.
"We had proposed a process for an independent cricket person to monitor and assess the coach’s situation on the ground within the team over a three-week period and thereafter to make a recommendation as to what should happen with the coaching situation," said Tony Irish, chief executive of SACA.
"His recommendation would be accepted by all, and binding on the players, SACA and the franchise, and it would dispose of the current dispute.
"The franchise has however rejected the proposal out of hand without proposing any alternative, despite having indicated to us that they were in favour of some form of monitoring."
In order to fix matters, the WCC appointed Ashwell Prince as Adams’ assistant, with Alan Dawson hired as convenor of the selection committee for the Cobras.
However, earlier this week, Dawson handed in his resignation with immediate effect saying that he could not "make any difference to the performance of the team".
Prince is currently not with the team and will miss the T20 Challenge, as he has to fulfil TV commitments for SuperSport, but will return at the completion of the Australian Test tour. Faiek Davids, coach of Western Province, will stand-in as assistant coach.
"It is very obvious that the franchise team is in disarray and the Cobras are currently rooted to the bottom of the Sunfoil Series log," added Irish.
"The most frustrating aspect is that it appears that the board of the franchise simply refuses to acknowledge that there is actually a problem at all, despite everything that has happened, and is now happening, around it."
Irish emphasised that protesting or striking will be the last resort for the team and that they will seek help from Cricket South Africa (CSA) to arbitrate the situation.
"The players have been asking the franchise to properly address this issue for many months, but to no avail, and have exhausted every constructive process available to them with the franchise. We will now seek CSA’s assistance and intervention before considering what further steps to take," said Irish.
"Any kind of industrial action is always a very last resort for players and we hope it doesn’t come to that," ended Irish.
The Cape Cobras are currently sitting at the bottom of the Sunfoil Series log, having lost three of their four games.
The Cobras are currently playing the Dolphins at Boland Park for their final Sunfoil Series game of the year, and will be without skipper Omphile Ramela, who was suspended for two four-day games after being found guilty of inappropriate behaviour.
