Daily Times

CAPE TOWN: South Africa’s domestic franchise T20 tournament has been confirmed as the replacement for the postponed T20 Global League. Cricket South Africa (CSA) had unveiled the GLT20 as a 57-match event, featuring eight privately-owned teams, to be played from November 3, but it is now under investigation to determine whether the organisational process was above board.

Instead, South Africans fans will have to make do with a six-team domestic tournament that will now take place four months ahead of schedule. Originally due to be played from March 14 to April 15, it will now run from November 10 to December 16, with each franchise playing another in the home and away format. The competition features a total of 33 matches. Each franchise will play one another at home and away with two semi-finals and a final.

A bonus is that all national players will be available, a rare occurrence for domestic T20 cricket in South Africa, which is usually played when the senior side is occupied. Dale Steyn, Chris Morris, Morne Morkel, Duanne Olivier and Wayne Parnell are all expected to make their returns from injury in this competition, while Vernon Philander and Lungi Ngidi were back in action during this week’s first-class fixtures and will also take part in the T20 tournament. South Africa’s captain Faf du Plessis, who has been ruled out of the T20s against Bangladesh this week with a lower-back strain, could also come back during this period. However, no foreign internationals are expected to participate in the tournament. Most of those who had signed up for the GLT20 are already otherwise engaged and, in any case, CSA’s transformation targets make it tricky to accommodate them.

An insider was quoted as saying that there is already unrest in the domestic ranks. “The players are still very angry and disappointed that the T20 Global League is not going ahead and it is going to take time to restore their confidence.” One way of going about that is to ensure speedy compensation for the T20 Global League payouts. CSA have been in talks with the South African Cricketers’ Associations about that and Tony Irish, the SACA chief executive, said after “several hours of negotiation, the ball is in now in CSA’s court.”

The possibility of increasing salaries for those playing the domestic T20 tournament has also been raised and it may yet pan out despite the board’s current financial problems. Apart from the millions it has lost in the planning, marketing and launching of the postponed T20 Global League, the domestic T20 tournament is without a sponsor for a second successive season. While CSA are in talks to find a corporate backer, it may prove tough given the competition’s recent history. Two summers ago, it was hit by a match-fixing scandal that has since seen seven players, including four internationals, banned. Ram, the courier company that had the naming rights to the event, chose not to renew their deal in 2016. It claimed the decision was the result of a disagreement with the board, as opposed a reaction to the news of match-fixing. Another company which did not see eye to eye with CSA is broadcaster SuperSport who have emerged as the biggest beneficiaries of this change in the South African cricket calendar.

Published in Daily Times, October 24^th 2017.