So there will be no ICL this March and while it might be too early to write the obituary of a patient it seems the doctors have been summoned. Hopefully there will be no celebration in the other camp for another door has just been shut on several fine young men who followed their instinct, in the case of some searched for an outlet for their frustration, and seem to have gone wrong. It is a sad day and one that must be seen in the right perspective.

These young men who signed up for the ICL were guilty of no more than a misjudgement. All of us make them, some of us still are. But these people have been handed a life sentence and I believe the time has now come to review that. For heaven’s sake, politicians jump sides and get rewarded whereupon they immediately jump ship again in search of more rewards. Some of these young men bore scars of apathy and frustration, sentiments that we have all experienced and felt terrible about. They were not mutineers or renegades, turncoats or mercenaries; they didn’t rob a bank, didn’t let their country down or tour lands that encourage apartheid. They wanted to play cricket, they were doing so in their country and it now turns out they may have made the wrong decision. At some point every one of us is guilty of that. When that realisation comes we search for redemption, for an opportunity to get back; indeed we search for people who show us that path.

... contd.