JOHANNESBURG, July 11: South Africa’s United Cricket Board (UCB) appears to have reversed — in part at least — its decision to abandon quotas at international level, announcing Wednesday its commitment to have a minimum of five black players in its 14-man squad for the 2003 World Cup.

A high-powered and seemingly tense meeting between government and cricket officials outside Pretoria was convened at the request of Sports Minister Ngconde Balfour.

It followed the UCB’s decision Sunday to abandon its racial quota system for provincial and national teams involving a mandatory four coloured players.

Balfour made little secret of his concern that quotas had not yet served their purpose while the African National Congress (ANC) Youth League threatened to disrupt the World Cup, due to start in under nine months, if quotas were not maintained.

A lengthy statement from the UCB following the meeting with Balfour and other senior politicians reaffirmed the board’s commitment to “the transformation of South African cricket into a truly national sport representative of all the people of South Africa.”

But the statement also said “an expectation exists in South Africa that the team that takes the field during the World Cup will have at least five players of colour.”

The statement confirmed that “the UCB committed itself to ensuring that a minimum of five black players would be in the South African national squad for the event.”

Ironically, black international players had earlier voiced their support for Sunday’s decision to scrap race quotas.

Justin Ontong and Ashwell Prince, who were capped by South Africa last season, said they supported the thinking.

Ontong said quotas had been useful in exposing black players to the higher levels of the game, but he felt the value had been overshadowed by the system’s negative aspects.

Top-order batsman Prince said: “If I get selected for a team, I’ll be happy to know that I’m part of the best available eleven and that the best available eleven is playing.”

Meanwhile, the United Cricket Board of South Africa has defended its decision to lift the race quota for the selection of national and senior provincial teams.

The UCB was responding to threats by the ruling African National Congress ANC youth organisation to wreck next year’s World Cricket Cup tournament in South Africa if sufficient black African players are not included in the national team.

The Youth League said in a statement: “It is a sad and shameful reflection that merely eight years into our democratic transformation we still have only two African players who are not even regulars in the national team, and the UCB decides to unceremoniously close the chapter in the transformation of cricket.”—Reuters