THE RAM SLAM is back! Cricket South Africa (CSA) today launched the RAM SLAM T20 Challenge which gets underway at St. George’s Park in Port Elizabeth on Friday evening when the Warriors host the VKB Knights in an encounter that will see the grounds state of the art new floodlights in use for the first time.
All six franchises will be in action over the weekend with the first of three double headers featuring the WSB Cape Cobras against the Hollywoodbets Dolphins and the Jukskei Derby between the Multiply Titans and the bizhub Highveld Lions on Sunday at SuperSport Park.
In an exciting development for fans the prize money pool for the Catch a Million competition has been doubled and will thus be a Catch Two Million competition. It will apply to all matches that are televised live by SuperSport and will require fans to make a clean one-handed catch.
The full terms and conditions are on the CSA website (www.cricket.co.za).
“It is great news for our cricket to welcome Ram Hand to Hand Couriers back as one of our naming rights sponsors,” commented CSA Acting Chief Executive Thabang Moroe. “We are particularly grateful to them for coming aboard at unavoidably short notice.
“This season’s competition, which will feature all our Standard Bank Proteas, will probably be the most significant since we launched the franchise concept in this format back in 2004.
“I don’t think any of us need reminding of the recent feats by the likes of David Miller and AB de Villiers in the recent international matches against Bangladesh. We now have the three quickest centuries in T20 International cricket all having been scored by Proteas in Miller, Richard Levi and Faf du Plessis and our fans are not going to be short of opportunities to bid for their share of the Catch Two Million prize money.
“It reminds one of the quote by one of our revered former players, Shaun Pollock, on TV that the ‘players are now becoming the spectators and the spectators are becoming the fielders’.
“There are going to be so many other potential highlights, not the least of these being the long-awaited return of Dale Steyn from injury. This is something that will be watched with anticipation not just here but around the world. The contest between our renowned big hitters and some of the world’s best fast and spin bowlers is going to be something to behold.
“Our players will also be sharpening their collective claws ahead of the tour by India in the new year which will feature international matches in all three formats.
“Another highlight will be the fact that all our grounds have been upgraded to the best international standards and this will enhance the experience for our loyal fans.
“I would also like to thank SuperSport for once again making their state-of-the-art facilities available for today’s function,” concluded Mr. Moroe.
Says Executive Chairman of Ram, Mr David Lazarus: “Ram is a proudly South African company. Our business has been built on partnership, reliability and delivering when it counts! When we received the call from CSA regarding the opportunity the answer was an unequivocal yes as everything spoke directly to what we are about! We are excited to revive the Ram Slam and we challenge all South Africans to come and support their team and stand a chance to win their share of R2 million!”
The RAM SLAM T20 Challenge will be played over a double round with one important change being the reversion to two semi-finals rather than the previous system where the log toppers got automatic entry to the final while there was an eliminator between the two teams finishing second and third.
The Final will be held on December 16.
The full fixture list can be viewed here (TV games are highlighted).
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