Cricket South Africa set to launch new T20 league

What’s the story?

The South African cricket board confirmed its plans to launch a new Twenty20 league by the end of this year in which eight privately owned teams will feature. CSA presented its intentions about the league to the ICC earlier this week, and issued a notice worldwide after which it received several sponsors.

“Our vision is to drive the creation of new T20 destination league in SA that would energise the sport of cricket in South Africa by creating a global platform for the best-in-class to perform and showcase their talent to a global audience,” said CSA President Chris Nenzani.

“We have received a very favourable response to our plans from the ICC and Member Boards and look to their support in our endeavour. We now look forward to another exciting chapter in the evolution of South African cricket and to the whole game benefiting from our new T20 Global League.”

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The league is expected to begin in November and run into December but the dates aren’t confirmed yet. Bangladesh’s tour of SA will end on 29^th of October and although India’s tour dates are not confirmed, it is clear that the first Test will not commence before boxing day. This leaves at least a seven-week window for the new T20 league which will not clash with the Big Bash League in Australia.

The heart of the matter

The new T20 league will be similar to other major T20 tournaments such as the IPL, BBL and CPL and will be SA’s flagship event in the format. It will be a completely different event from the six-team franchise system.

While the six-team franchise competition was directed on a provincial basis, the new T20 league will be based on cities, which means that there are likely to be two teams in some cities. Pretoria, Durban, Port Elizabeth and Bloemfontein will have one team while Cape Town and Johannesburg might end up with two teams each.

March 3^rd has been set as the deadline to own and operate a franchise. Once the expressions of interest have been received, formal bids will be held, after which CSA will announce the new team owners.

What’s next?

While Cricket South Africa attempts to launch a new T20 league, there are several challenges they face. With the popularity of the Indian Premier League declining and with Big Bash League continuing to expand, CSA have a challenge to sustain the competition and generate viewers for the league.

But with very favourable responses to their plans, CSA look forward to this new chapter in the evolution of African cricket.

Sportskeeda’s take

Cricket South Africa has worked hard to reach this point where they are ready to invest in the Global T20 arena. This new league will offer great opportunities for investment in South African cricket and the CSA seems to be very excited about featuring local and international superstars in their league.

But the real question is if the new T20 league will co-exist with the Ram Slam T20 league or if the latter will to an end. With no reports on this matter, we can only conclude that CSA is confident that the new league will attract top class players to South Africa.