Patrick Moroney knows cricket. He lives it, breathes it, and has spent years working within its structures. He’s not the problem. The issue is who appointed him—and what that says about the decision-makers at Cricket South Africa (CSA).
CSA just announced Moroney as the new “convenor selector for the Proteas men’s team.” The title’s clunky, but the role is straightforward. Starting August 1, he’ll be the main man picking the players for South Africa’s men’s side. It’s a full-time gig, and he’s signed on for three years.
Now, Moroney himself has done the work. From being a school director of sport to working in CSA’s youth pathways, he’s been in the trenches. He’s helped shape the next generation, he’s served as a selector at various levels, and he even sat on the last national selection panel before it was dissolved in January 2023.
So what’s the problem? It’s not the man. It’s the model.
A Step Backward Disguised as Structure
For the past 18 months, South African teams have been picked by their coaches—no committees, no panels, just clear accountability. And you know what? It worked.
Under this setup, South Africa reached the 2024 T20 World Cup final—their first ever in any senior men’s format. That team was chosen solely by then-white ball coach Rob Walter. No interference, no politics, just cricket sense.
And it wasn’t a fluke.
Shukri Conrad, who had sole authority over team selection for the Test squad, guided South Africa to a World Test Championship (WTC) title, defeating Australia at Lord’s just last month. That wasn’t luck—that was clarity of process and responsibility.
So why mess with that?
CSA’s board has decided to bring back selectors, a system that’s failed more times than it’s succeeded. You don’t need to be a cricketing genius to see that giving more cooks access to the kitchen usually ends in a burnt mess.
Who Really Benefits from This?
That’s the million-dollar question. Appointing Moroney may seem like a move toward professionalism. But in reality, it’s the board flexing its control—installing someone who’ll report to them, not just to the cricketing minds who’ve made recent success possible.
Moroney is expected to report to Enoch Nkwe, CSA’s director of national teams and high performance. Nkwe is a respected figure, no doubt. His structure has produced results. But there’s a quiet fear that even he won’t be able to stop the board from pulling strings behind the scenes.
Let’s call it what it is: this feels like a power play from board members—many of whom are provincial presidents with little understanding of modern cricket operations.
These aren’t forward-thinkers. These are the same tired voices who’ve held back transformation, delayed professionalisation, and run CSA into crisis after crisis.
They’re not trying to fix something that’s broken—they’re trying to break something that was finally working.
When Coaches Had Control, South Africa Rose
There’s a reason why South Africa’s recent success has come after selectors were sidelined. It allowed coaches to own their plans, back their players, and build a culture of accountability.
Walter’s white-ball team came within a single strike of winning the World Cup. Conrad’s red-ball side out-thought and outplayed Australia in the WTC final. That doesn’t happen if you’ve got committees second-guessing every choice.
Bringing in a selector now muddies the water. Who’s responsible if things go wrong? The coach? The selector? The board?
This kind of ambiguity is exactly what held South African cricket back for years. It took a pandemic, administrative collapse, and player revolts for CSA to finally clean house. So why would they now go back to the same stale systems?
Moroney Might Be a Victim of Circumstance
This isn’t to say Moroney can’t do the job. He probably can. But if the idea is to bring clarity and trust to selections, this move does the opposite. It invites politics, opens the door for backroom deals, and reduces the authority of the coach.
Moroney has spent decades earning his place in cricket. But his success will be judged by a system designed to protect the board’s influence, not the team’s results.
And frankly, that’s not fair to him either.
CSA’s Board: The Real Weak Link
Here’s the thing. You can have a top-notch selector, a visionary coach, and talented players. But if the system around them is rigged, none of it matters.
CSA’s board has a long history of stepping in when they should be stepping back. They’ve been the single biggest obstacle to reform, transparency, and performance. And this decision smells a lot like old habits returning.
The worst part? They’ll never face the music when it all goes sideways. That blame will fall on the people in the arena—on Moroney, on Nkwe, on Conrad.
What South African cricket needs is freedom—freedom for coaches to coach, players to play, and administrators to support, not control.
The Verdict
Bringing Moroney back might seem like a professional move, but it’s a mask for deeper dysfunction. If the board truly cared about building on recent success, they’d double down on what’s working—not force in a structure that’s already proven broken.
Selectors aren’t the answer. Clear leadership is. And right now, it’s the CSA board that needs the biggest shake-up.
Until that happens, any good move—even one like hiring Moroney—feels like it’s just rearranging deck chairs on a sinking ship.
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