The Graeme Smith arbitration debacle unfortunately appears to indicate that Cricket South Africa's path forward is one that is clouded in uncertainty. For Smith himself the future might be a little bit clearer.
Smith is likely to leave the post of Director of Cricket when his contract is up and could also take further legal action against CSA for dragging him through the process and causing damage to his reputation.
CSA appear to have carried out the exercise as a political points scoring exercise after being advised by legal counsel not to proceed with disciplinary proceedings against Smith.
Smith can claim professional vindication at least even if his reputation has suffered damage, and might have options to stay involved with the game outside of CSA’s realm of influence.
In the immediate future, we know that Smith has boarded a flight for India and will be taking in some of the Indian Premier League.
Smith is friends with BCCI bigwig Sourav Ganguly and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him doing future work for either the board themselves or somewhere in the IPL.
There is also a chance that Smith will return to what he was doing before he was roped in to be the Director of Cricket.
Smith would likely be welcomed back into the commentary box, if not in South Africa then certainly abroad.
He retains business interests outside of sport and could even step away from the game for a prolonged period of time following a gruelling term as DOC.
If Smith takes on a similar role in the future, one would expect that it will not be in South Africa, however, he has his admirers in England and Australia.
The findings of the arbitration will have done little to becalm Smith’s fiercest critics, but he will soon depart, allowing CSA to move on to their next crisis.
