SYDNEY: Cricket South Africa's (CSA) selection policy based on colour will be called off in next three years to ensure merit based selection at all levels.
"We have decided to continue with the target transformation policy for the next three years, with a review at the end of each year. At the end of the three years, we hope we can then move to merit-based selection across the board. We really believe this has worked well for us," CSA chief executive Gerald Majola was quoted as saying in the Sydney Morning Herald Wednesday.
The CSA has set a selection target of four coloured players for the national squad and its six domestic franchises.
The Proteas have selected seven coloured players in their 15-man squad to tour Australia from next week: Ashwell Prince, Hashim Amla, Makhaya Ntini, Robin Peterson, Jean-Paul Duminy, Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Monde Zondeki.
The policy has prompted much debate and controversy since its adoption in 1998.
The so-called quota system has continued to polarise opinion in South Africa. As recently as in February, CSA president Norman Arendse refused to approve South Africa's squad for Bangladesh because it originally included only four coloured players.
Ardendse's stance placed him sharply at odds with national coach Mickey Arthur, and the pair became embroiled in a bitter, public feud that resulted in senior CSA officials losing their veto power in selection matters.
England captain Kevin Pietersen cited the quota system as the reason for leaving South Africa in 2000. In his autobiography, Crossing The Boundary, he wrote: "I was dropped because the quota system was brought into South African cricket to positively discriminate in favour of 'players of colour' … If you do well, you should play on merit. That goes for any person of any colour."