LEFT ARM OVER
NEIL MANTHORP: T20 set to enter a world of licences, owners and investors
Expect clashes, disagreements and discord – with fireworks on the field too, writes Neil Manthorp
This week sees the climax to the 2016-17 domestic T20 tournament and, if we’re honest, it’s being signalled with the blow of a paper whistle rather than a fanfare of trumpets. Without the financial lustre and playing lure of a place in the Champions League, nor the cache and spending power of a big-name sponsor, and only a handful of international players — not to mention most big-name Proteas being given a rest on their return from Australia — the tournament has not been what it once was. Perhaps Cricket SA could have recruited a sponsor this year, but the likelihood is they knew the value of a year’s "firewall" between last year’s tainted RamSlam T20 and next year’s reinvented and relaunched version, which might revolutionise much of the game as we know it – or have ever known it. Despite the worldwide headlines created by the match-fixing scandal last year, Ram Couriers were keen to renew their title sponsorship. But Cricket SA had already commissioned global sports group IMG to ...
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