South African cricket boss Gerald Majola has rejected suggestions that the sport is in a financial crisis in the country and that the cricket authority will be bankrupt within 18 months.

"South African cricket is on a sound financial footing and has the full backing of major sponsors and the general public," Gerald Majola, CEO of the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA), said in a statement released here Tuesday.

Reacting to media reports amidst growing concern about poor attendance at games and disquiet among sponsors, Majola said: "Speculation in some media circles that South African cricket could be bankrupt within 18 months is absolute nonsense.

"The UCBSA has embarked on a necessary restructuring process in a timely and proactive manner. This is hardly a financial crisis that has caught UCBSA unawares, as some commentators have implied.

"The UCBSA's annual report, due to be released on Saturday, will show that we have achieved an operating profit when an operating loss was predicted in earlier budgets.

Citing a long list of sponsors that he said were backing the game, including Standard Bank, South African Breweries, South African Broadcasting Corporation, and South African Airways, Majola said: "We have also increased our sponsorship base annually by R25-m over the last season."

"For instance, SA Airways has signed as sponsor of the new provincial amateur league which is a first for South African cricket."

Majola said independent research by BMI has shown that cricket was the second most popular sport in South Africa for the fourth successive year.

"The national team is fully supported by the South African public and we had a bumper year all round with the England tour," Majola said.

The cricket boss said some media commentators had misinterpreted "our tighten-belts message for the next three years as a signal of a major financial crisis".

"We have shown an operating profit, despite an operating loss being predicted in earlier budgets. However, we were hit hard by the strong rand. This denied us the opportunity of returning a healthy surplus that would have protected our reserves. Had the rand/dollar exchange rate remained as it was three years ago, we would have had an extra R50-m in our coffers in the 2004/5 season."

Majola said that affiliates had been cautioned that the next three years were likely to see foreign TV revenues dropping compared to the bumper England tour of last season.

"It is obvious that we have to find ways of expanding revenue sights beyond international TV rights, and to continue improving efficiencies and reducing cost