South Africa's cricket authorities have scrapped a controversial quota system requiring at least one black player in the nationalteam.

The decision, taken by the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCB) over the weekend, also scrapped the compulsory inclusion of at least four players of colour in the country's 11 provincial sides, according to the Afrikaans daily, Beeld.

Percy Sonn, President of the UCB, said that South African cricket has developed so well over the past three years that it has reached the target set for the inclusion of black players in the team.

"This success means that we can now with confidence move away from transformation dictated by (racial) numbers to one that's driven by ownership, a sense of responsibility and team spirit," Sonn said.

"In future all team members will be chosen on merit," Sonn added. "We have seen enough change to be filled with confidence that teams can be chosen on merit and that there are enough quality players of colour who can make the team on merit to ensure no senior team will be prescribed by quotas," he said.

Sonn added that the transformation would continue however, with all provincial B teams, and all B teams lower than provincial level needing to select black players to fill 50 percent of the positions.

Racial quotas in South African cricket sparked huge debates in the country following South Africa's Test and one-day drubbing by Australia earlier this year, including dissatisfaction from many former national players, who said quota selection did not necessarily result in the best team.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd