Johannesburg - Graeme Smith, in his new role as Commissioner of the Cricket SA T20 League, has outlined how the new tournament will allow South Africa to hold onto its players.
Interviewed by Sky Sports during the lunch break in the first Test between South Africa and England at Lord’s on Friday, Smith also said the International Cricket Council needed to have “decent conversation” about how to create a more equitable future for the international game.
“It's an investment into our game that South African cricket desperately needed.The pressures on nations like New Zealand, West Indies and South Africa, to remain financially sustainable and keep up with the India’s and England’s and stay competitive is hugely important,” said Smith.
Cricket SA’s new T20 League will commence in January, and will feature a host of prominent local and international stars. Nearly $240-million has already been sourced from broadcaster SuperSport and six owners of the new franchises. Those owners all have teams in the Indian Premier League.
"I fear if we hadn’t done this, South African cricket would have lost eight to 10 players to this UAE League. There has to be an element of investment into our game," said Smith.
With the IPL, The Hundred competition in England and the Big Bash in Australia all having windows in which they can be played, CSA were desperate to get a seat at the table, according to Smith.
“It was important that South African cricket got its own commercial league going like the rest of the world.
“It’s an investment into the grassroots and takes pressure off Cricket SA. A big part of the ownership (agreements) is that the new owners have to look at the grassroots, the development programmes and how they would impact that. The opportunity for our players to interact with other top players, top coaches, really professional cricket environments, is really important for us and hopefully that will see a talent pool that will get stronger and stronger and benefit cricket across the board,” said Smith.
The concern, of course, is for the international game. The next four year block of fixtures that was officially unveiled by the ICC last week, sees South Africa play just 28 Tests, with 22 of those being in 11 two match series’s. At a time when the Proteas have developed one of the most potent fast bowling attacks of any era, the dearth of Test cricket is seen as sad, but also a damning indictment of the priorities in the game.
While Cricket SA agreed to that schedule, it must be remembered that the organisation is in dire financial straits and Test cricket – bar a series with India or England – is a loss-making entity for the organisation. It’s understandable that CSA took the financially expedient option. Sponsors have stayed away from the sport because of the maladministration that occurred in recent years, and rebuilding trust will take time as the organisation’s CEO Pholetsi Moseki has previously stated.
However, while that is happening, CSA can’t afford to stand still. The new board of directors has been in place for a year, but by the time they would have started engaging with other Full Members through the ICC about the new FTP, that process would have been a long way down the road.
Smith explained that the ICC’s priorities had also changed.
“Even the ICC, their focus is now moved into the events space. There’s One-Day tournaments happening every year now. Bilaterals and the context of bilaterals (need clarification). These type of series,” Smith said, pointing to the Test at Lord’s, “are fantastic to watch, but when you are throwing in an ODI here and a T20 over there, you are making up stuff (to fill the broadcast contracts) and people get confused and it’s hard for the players as well,” he said.
Test cricket, Smith said, would almost become a boutique format, played among just a handful of nations.
"With Test cricket, it's just iconic nations or the big cricketing nations that are contributing to Test cricket at the moment. I think it's fantastic, especially under Virat Kohli, that India really took Test cricket seriously. They lead the way with that. But as long as we've got competitive teams, you're not going to have 10, 11, 12, 13 or 14 competitive teams. You might only be down to five or six nations that play Test cricket at this level," he said.
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