Cricket South Africa (CSA) has confirmed the drafting of plans to set up a support fund in aid of cricket-related people, who have suffered under the Covid-19 pandemic.

Acting CEO Dr Jacques Faul made the announcement on Thursday during a virtual media conference and said it will form part of a four-phase strategy approved by the CSA board.

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‘The board approved a four-pillar strategy on 15 May and that gives effect to a few things. The first one is that we will have a support fund, which we will be rolling out,’ Faul explained.

The fund will be made available to all parties involved with cricket in the country, while it will also aim to help struggling communities.

‘It’s a fund that will provide support to people within the cricket industry and also to the most vulnerable South Africans. We have to use our voice as cricket and also co-ordinate the efforts of some of our players that are already involved in this work.’

Faul was joined by director of cricket Graeme Smith, chief medical officer Dr Shuaib Manjra and South African Cricketers’ Association (Saca) CEO Andrew Breetzke to provide insight into the way forward for cricket in South Africa.

Together with Saca, CSA is planning to get the ball rolling again and will conduct relevant meetings with Sascoc and the South African Department of Sport to seek clarity and permission to ease cricket back into the public domain.

‘Then we will continue to engage with our stakeholders. We are continuing to engage with the major role players and that includes Saca. I want to thank them for the amount of work they are doing towards the duty of care towards the players during lockdown and their efforts at the time of this ongoing crisis,’ Faul added.

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