Western Province Cricket Association interim chief executive officer Tennyson Botes has issued a firm response to an anonymous email sent to several clubs.
A four-page statement titled ‘Crises in Western Province Cricket Association’ was received by Club Cricket SA and others on 28 September 2020. It was lined with allegations and insisted the entire WPCA board resign.
Club Cricket SA chose not to publish the statement, which wasn’t overtly flagrant, but included some unsubstantiated remarks.
“The WPCA has been made aware of the fact that you were recipients of a spam email headed ‘Complaint against WPCA – board of directors’, allegedly from a ‘Peter Patterson’, originating from the Gmail address ‘patterspn.p@gmail.com’,” read late last week’s response from Botes.
“The name and email address are unknown to the WPCA and are probably fake. This is borne out by the fact that the email is signed off with the pseudonym ‘WPCA Club Cricket Representative’.
“The writer claims to ‘write this letter on behalf of many WPCA club cricket associates’ and opted not to ‘reveal my identity or the club cricket associates mandating this correspondence because of the fear of victimisation‘.
“In his email, this unnamed person hides behind the cloak of anonymity to make false, uninformed and defamatory statements and misrepresentations.
“Although ‘Peter Patterson’ did not have the courage or decency to address the people he seeks to attack directly, we thank the club delegates who have made the WPCA aware of this travesty.
“However, the WPCA will certainly not engage with an uninformed coward hiding behind a fake name.
“We thank all of our real club representatives and true cricket lovers for their continued support.”
Botes was appointed to the interim post in April 2020, at the end of former WPCA CEO Nabeal Dien’s tenure.