Last Updated on 5 years by Charbel Coorey

Already engrossed in administrative turmoil, Cricket South Africa (CSA) will see their ODI sponsor Momentum part ways with the board as their contract concludes on April 2021. Though the company is breaking all possible ties with the men’s cricket team, they will continue to finance the women’s side until 2023.

In addition to ODIs, they are pulling out their association with the franchise one-day cup and the national club championships. The company’s role in development programs like Momentum Friendship Games, eKasi challenge and the U-13, U-15 and U-17 school’s weeks will cease to exist too.

Carel Bosman is the head of sponsorships at Momentum. In an ESPNCricinfo report, he mentions, “We will continue our dialogue with CSA to keep them accountable to do the right thing. We all want to see a governing body that is run professionally and ethically, and one that considers all stakeholders to the game.”

After the revelations of financial mishandlings dating back to last December that the CSA decided against making public, Momentum had issued a half six-condition ultimatum to the cricket board. They had asked the association to organize a forensic audit into its functioning. It had also vouched for the appointment of an independent lead auditor for the proceedings. Furthermore, the president Chris Nenzani and vice-president Beresford Williams had been instructed to step down from their respective roles in accordance with this final proposition.

Earlier, Standard Bank had decided against sponsoring the Test team of the country in the light of these events. Last week, the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) had ordered CSA and its staff to step aside. This has effectively created a vacuum with respect to cricket administration in the country. South African cricket is already undergoing tumultuous times on the financial front. CSA had apparently evaluated a deficit of US$39.77 million in the previous year, and hence the departure from Momentum is arguably going to make things even more complicated for now.

Written by Anjali Jha. Follow Anjali on Twitter today.