Intervention from Nathi Mthethwa, South Africa's sports minister, into Cricket South Africa's matters will be treated as government interference by the ICC only if the cricket board lays a formal complaint with the game's global governing body or if the ICC deems the circumstances to be exceptional. That means, for now, CSA's status as a functioning member of the ICC remains, and its risk of suspension is relatively low.

On Wednesday morning, Mthethwa issued a notice, saying that he would use South Africa's National Sport and Recreation Act to look into matters at CSA, which is battling administrative issues, unless CSA gives him a reason not to by October 27.

Mthethwa has also written to the ICC informing them of his decision. "The ICC has received a letter from the Ministry of Sport, Arts and Culture in South Africa giving notice of potential intervention into the matters of Cricket South Africa," an ICC spokesperson said. "At this stage, no complaint has been received from Cricket South Africa regarding government intervention and Members are encouraged to resolve matters directly with their governments. We will continue to monitor the situation."

An example of how things can go horribly wrong is not far from South Africa. Zimbabwe were the first full members to be suspended by the ICC in July last year. At the time, Zimbabwe's Sports and Recreation Commission had suspended the Zimbabwe Cricket board and a ZC complaint to the ICC had resulted in a unanimous decision to suspend Zimbabwe on grounds of government interference. Zimbabwe were reinstated when the ZC board was given their positions back.

More to follow…