JOHANNESBURG, July 30: South Africa’s United Cricket Board (UCB), with a turnover of Rand 247 million in 2004-05, is facing loss of R48 million in current financial year. Quite how the UCB got itself into this mess was to be subject of a financial indaba on Friday. The indaba has been postponed, but will take place in near future.

“If we don’t create a new, sustainable platform, we have 18 months before we go out of business - maximum,” UCB treasurer Haroon Lorgat warned the last general council meeting. UCB is in such straits that it recently agreed to a request from ex-BCCI chief Jagmohan Dalmiya by taking part in a series of ill-considered and meaningless matches between Asian and African elevens.

Dalmiya announced that matches will have official ODI status and staged in Centurion on Aug 17 and Durban on Aug 20 and 21. With a R70-million carrot from TV dangled in front of it, UCB looks set to ignore the fact that several players will be overseas. Playing on winter pitches could destroy players for rest of season.—Agencies