SA20 is a glittering showpiece CSA dare not bungle

The Test team has failed, but another test awaits Cricket SA with the Betway SA20 League that started on Tuesday at Newlands, and it is one the organisation can ill afford to bungle. 

The competition slated to save SA cricket started under Table Mountain with the Paarl Royals facing the Mumbai Indians (MI) Cape Town at one of the country’s most iconic venues.       

Until now the tournament has been all about razzmatazz, slick marketing, big broadcast deals, millionaire local cricketers and the overplaying of Pharrell’s Happy, but on Tuesday the focus switched to cricket after Master KG — the music producer, not the fast bowler — and Sho Madjozi provided the pregame entertainment. 

The tournament’s commissioner, Graeme Smith, has been desperate to reach this moment, having attended a seemingly endless series of meetings poring over everything from that extensive broadcast deal — which is so critical to Cricket SA’s depleted coffers — to getting some of the world’s best players to participate and even ensuring all six venues are able to cope with Eskom’s inability to do its job. 

The lights shone at Newlands throughout Tuesday evening’s festivities. 

The talent on display will be glittering. The Royals have two World Cup-winning captains in Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler, and the fast bowlers include Jofra Archer, Lungi Ngidi and hopefully Kagiso Rabada, who was due to arrive back from Australia on Monday afternoon. 

Dewald Brevis, the hottest young star in SA cricket, is in the MI Cape Town team, as is Ryan Rickelton, whose form was ignored by the national selectors when they picked a squad for Australia.

Wrist spin comes in the shape of Rashid Khan, who will captain the Cape Town team, and for the Royals, Tabraiz Shamsi, who, like Rickelton, has a point to prove to the national selectors. 

Smith admitted the tournament would provide a distraction from the travails of the Proteas, though that will only last a few weeks before it takes a break and the national team occupies centre stage again for the three-match ODI series against England. 

When that happens, another controversy will be revisited regarding the decision taken by Cricket SA to cancel the Proteas’ One-Day International series with Australia, thereby jeopardising the side’s World Cup qualification, so the SA20 could take place with all the nationally contracted players present. 

It is another reason everyone from Smith to the high-ranking officials at Cricket SA will be desperate for the on-field action to be exciting and of a high standard. While it is crucial in giving the sport a lift, the tournament is also a reminder of how dreadfully cricket in SA has been administered for most of the past decade. 

This is the third attempt by Cricket SA at producing a local 20-over franchise competition. It simply has to work, because if it does not the ramifications will be too frightening to contemplate.