The new Cricket South Africa board chair, Lawson Naidoo, indicated that there might be a new approach to the thorny issue of racial transformation.
Richards said the important lessons from the past year had been the need for a unified cricket family and to rectify what had gone wrong in the past.
There had been speculation that AB de Villiers, who retired from international cricket in 2018, would return in time to play in the T20 World Cup, scheduled for India in October and November.
Sports Minister Nathi Mthethwa has slammed Cricket South Africa for obstructing calls for change.
The crisis at Cricket South Africa reached a peak last week when Sports Minister Nathi Mthethwa invoked his powers to deregister and defund the organisation after its Members' Council voted against amendments to its constitution to allow for restructuring.
In a joint statement issued shortly before midnight, Cricket South Africa’s members’ council and interim board announced that agreement had been reached on a new governance model.
The CSA staff also urged the Interim Board and the Members Council to go back to the drawing board and find an amicable solution.
The Minister said in a statement that he has applied his mind to the matter and there those who are irrational on the members' council.
The move comes after its members council voted not to implement a new memorandum of incorporation, which would have meant having more independent directors, as well as an independent chair.
Men's Test skipper Dean Elgar, limited overs captain Temba Bavuma and women's captain Dane van Niekerk said the threatened government intervention in the troubled sport would have 'dire consequences, the full extent of which we do not yet know'.
Minister Nathi Mthethwa said in a statement that CSA's members' council had acted in bad faith in failing to agree to a new governance structure for cricket administration.
Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza will be taking up the role of transformation ombudsman for CSA from next month, by managing the independent complaints system.
Temba Bavuma will lead the Proteas in the 2021 and 2022 ICC Men’s T20 World Cups as well as the ICC Men’s World Cup in 2023. Dean Elgar will take the reins into the next cycle of the ICC World Test Championship.
CSA Director of Cricket Graeme Smith said the tour was recognition of Ireland's rapid progress as a "fast-developing" cricketing nation.
The touring team will stay in a bio-secure environment and matches will be confined to two venues – SuperSport Park in Centurion and the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg.
Cricket Australia announced on Tuesday that they would not be touring South Africa because of the COVID-19 situation in SA.
The withdrawal drew a sharp response from Cricket South Africa, which expressed frustration at the "eleventh hour" decision despite extensive work to establish bio-secure bubbles for the tourists.
Australia were set to play a three-match Test series once the Proteas had returned from their ongoing series in Pakistan.
