South Africa set to avoid international cricket ban

South African cricket stepped back from the brink of an international crisis as officials announced that the differences between the two rival factions battling for governance of the game had been resolved.

In a joint statement Cricket South Africa's (CSA) members' council and an interim board announced that an agreement had been reached on a new governance model.

The deal came two days after the country's sports minister Nathi Mthethwa gave notice that he would withdraw recognition of CSA, which could have resulted in it being suspended from the International Cricket Council (ICC).

"The members' council and the board are very pleased to announce that a crisis has been averted and agreement has been reached on all those outstanding issues," said the joint statement.

A suspension by the ICC would have put the participation of both the men's and women's teams in international matches at risk.

According to the statement, a meeting of CSA's two factions resolved that a new memorandum of incorporation would be adopted within 48 hours in terms of South Africa's Companies Act.

Mthethwa's threat on Friday, followed the failure of the members' council to endorse the principle of a board comprised of a majority of independent directors at a special general meeting on April 17.

Details of the new governance structure would be made public when the legal process had been completed.

This article originally appeared on BBC Sport

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