Just a few days after apparently scrapping South Africa's controversial quota system, the United Cricket Board's president Percy Sonn has said that there will be at least five black players in their World Cup squad. Sonn declined to clarify whether this meant that the board had backed down on its decision to drop quotas, which were aimed at reversing apartheid discrimination, saying "We are not backing down and we are not backing up."

Sonn was speaking after a meeting with Ngconde Balfour, South Africa's sports minister, and the ruling party's youth wing, the African National Congress Youth League, about the decision to discard quotas, which was taken last weekend.

The quota system required the inclusion of at least one black player in the national team and of at least four "players of colour" in the country's 11 provincial sides. The youth league, which supports quotas, had threatened to disrupt the World Cup, which begins in South Africa next February, following the board's decision.

The meeting agreed that a ministerial team would be established to investigate an overhaul of cricket in the various provinces. "Our position to disrupt will remain until we have seen that report," said Khulekani Ntshangase, a spokesman for the youth league.

Last weekend, Sonn said that South African cricket had developed so well over the past three years that it had reached the targets set for the inclusion of black players in the team. But four days must be a long time in cricket, as he now seems to be whistling a different tune.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd