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Mickey Arthur, South Africa’s coach, has filed a counter-charge against board president Norman Arendse after a heated exchange between the two and in response to disciplinary charges filed against him with regard to a selection dispute over the squad for the tour to Bangladesh.

“Yes, there is animosity between us,” Arthur told Supersport. “I told him he was power-crazy and egotistical but I never swore at him.

“I’ve taken him on about this team. The transformation policy that Arendse wants to be applied does not exist. He is out of bounds. I told him he was not a selector and should keep his nose out of team selections. I can say now that he regularly sends back teams,” Arthur said, while not elaborating when such incidents took place.

“Unfortunately I felt I had no choice but to do likewise [file a counter-charge],” Arthur told Reuters. “The president accused me of all sorts of things apart from failing, or even refusing to implement CSA’s (Cricket South Africa’s) transformation policies. That is simply untrue.”

Arthur’s comments come in the wake of his argument with Arendse in a second teleconference yesterday to sort out the team’s selection. Arendse, in the first discussion on Tuesday, reportedly refused to approve the the squad chosen by the six-man selection committee, of which Arthur is a member, as it contained less than seven coloured players.

“What’s his problem? We have a good, established team and with the exception of one match we have fielded four black players in every Test this season,” said Arthur. “I don’t know where he gets the idea that there should be seven black players in the touring team.”

Arendse alleged that Arthur had behaved in a “disrespectful” and “abusive” manner in the meeting, and had laid disciplinary charges against him and indicated that CSA policy about team selection was not followed. “If a coach says, ‘There’s no transformation policy’ [among selectors], if he says, ‘Sorry, I’m not prepared to implement CSA’s policies’, then his position is untenable.”

Arthur, however, had a different take on it. “The president’s implication would appear to be that I prefer to select white players over black players, which is deeply insulting and hurtful,” he said. “[Coloured players like] Hashim Amla, Charl Langeveldt and JP Duminy have all established themselves in the national squad in my time as coach while Ashwell Prince became the country’s first black captain.”

Arthur also said he had received an “insulting” email from Arendse, over which he had obtained legal advice.

Meanwhile, Gerald Majola, the CSA chief executive, said the dispute between the two would be handled internally as per the board’s human resources procedures. “CSA has formal HR procedures, and this matter will be dealt with in this forum and a statement will be issued at the appropriate time.

“It is regretted that these disputes have been aired in the public domain, particularly on the eve of an important touring season for the Proteas.”

Source:Cricket News

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