Cricket South Africa should look at the ongoing Caribbean Premier League and see the measure of success achieved by a growing T20 league, with global flavour, as something they should have had.
The CPL has been innovative in the way they have chosen to broadcast the matches, with large audiences allowed in on the action through free-to-air internet streaming platforms. Audiences in South Africa can stream CPL matches live on Twitter, for instance, and the league also streamed on Facebook in some locations. In the United Kingdom, matches are broadcast on pay-TV giant Sky.
The league has been helped by taking place at a time when many international players have breaks in their schedules. The CPL importantly doesn’t clash with the Indian Premier League.
Which brings us to Cricket South Africa’s domestic schedule…
The only scheduled T20 tournament (not counting the lowly Africa T20 Cup) for the season is the, as yet, sponsor-less CSA T20 Challenge – and it is slated to take place in April and May, directly clashing with the IPL.
Cricket South Africa have a November window to stage a tournament along the lines of the T20 Global League, but no announcement of a league was made at the official launch of the season on 4 September.
The ghost of the T20 Global League might rob South African audiences of a good T20 romp for the foreseeable future. In this regard, though, Cricket South Africa should also heed the example of the CPL, which was born out of the ashes of the Stanford Twenty20, doomed for its association to convicted fraudster Allen Stanford.
Cricket authorities in the West Indies had to overcome those scars, but they set out with new business partners and created an enjoyable brand of cricket. The CPL doesn’t try to be the Indian Premier League. The CPL is a very Caribbean product – and that is its appeal.
Most of the parties interested in owning T20 Global League franchises have demonstrated a willingness to work with Cricket South Africa, but they have expressed frustration at being left out of the loop when the board attempted to launch a league in partnership with broadcaster SuperSport.
It may be that Cricket South Africa will soon unveil sponsors for their domestic tournaments. A grand T20 showpiece in 2018 seems unlikely at this late stage, but Cricket South Africa must ensure that they keep pace with the game’s elite.
The message to Cricket South Africa is that we need a proudly South African League to get in on the fun – and we needed it in 2017.
