Lonwabo Tsotsobe Alleges Former South African Skipper Graeme Smith Of Racial Discrimination

Former South Africa seamer Lonwabo Tsotsobe and placed a scathing remark on his erstwhile captain and Cricket South Africa (CSA) director, Graeme Smith. Lonwabo Tsotsobe had a promising career ahead of him before facing suspension due to his involvement in the corruption relating to the matches in the 2015-16 Ram Slam T20 Challenge. The former left-arm seamer accused Graeme Smith of using his leadership powers for racial discrimination.

Lonwabo Tsotsobe had submitted his statement to Cricket South Africa (CSA) Social Justice and Nation Building Hearing, which was to take place on Wednesday before facing indefinite postponement. According to the 37-year old, the incident occurred in the 2012 Test series in England, where the Proteas convincingly beat the hosts and claimed the number one ranking.

Lonwabo Tsotsobe revealed that Mark Boucher, who sustained a freak injury in England in 2012, was to be replaced by Thami Solekile as the gloveman. The Port Elizabeth-born former left-arm seamer underlined that with wicketkeeper’s spot being a specialist position, the idea to allot the gloves to AB de Villiers was Smith’s, who wanted to block the selection of a black player. Tsotsobe stated that the southpaw threatened to retire immediately if Thami Tsolekile got the nod.

“Tsolekile was destined to replace Boucher‚ but suddenly AB de Villiers was made the keeper. The wicketkeeper is a specialist position that needs a specialist, of which De Villiers is not. The idea of assigning keeping duties to De Villiers was to block the selection of a black player in the fold of Tsolekile. This was confirmed by Smith who categorically stated that if Tsolekile was selected he would retire with immediate effect,” Tsotsobe said in a statement as quoted by Sportskeeda.

Graeme Smith yet to respond to Lonwabo Tsotsobe’s allegations:

Despite these serious remarks, Graeme Smith is yet to react or respond to the same. It is believed that the former South African skipper has remained silent due to the possibility of being his and other high-profile posts coming in danger.

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