Will Norman Arendse be in charge of Cricket South Africa come October? © Getty Images

The knives are out for Cricket SA’s president Norman Arendse, writes Neil Manthorp in the Weekender.

There will be blood in the corridors of power at Cricket SA in the coming fortnight as the 11 provincial unions prepare to usher in a new president and vice-president after a huge restructuring of the administration of the game.

The CSA (Pty) Ltd company is to be dissolved to form a new governing body which will incorporate the amateur and professional arms of the game. The move is meant to streamline an unwieldy and expensive administration and to qualify for proposed tax concessions.

Such a move, according to the majority of stakeholders, will necessitate fresh elections for office bearers as their positions will have become redundant — one cannot be president of something that no longer exists. CSA president Norman Arendse disagrees, saying fresh elections can be held only in the event of resignation or death. As he said on Wednesday from an ICC meeting in Dubai, “I am not dead and I have no intention of resigning.”