CHENNAI: When it comes to franchise cricket, the IPL is and will be at number one financially, commercially, and cricket wise. But South Africa’s SA20 is making its presence felt in this world. By not earning bucket loads of money, but by bringing bums to seats. With the league scheduled during the summer months of December and January, all the league needed was for the country’s top players to take part. And the names followed. Heinrich Klaasen, Kagiso Rabada, Lungisani Ngidi, Nqobani Mokoena, Dewald Brevis and Tristan Stubbs. Those names brought people to watch, and the numbers have suggested the same. According to a statement from SA20, 22 out of the 34 matches including the final were sell-outs. 84 per cent of the total stadium capacities were filled.
Former South African pacer Dale Steyn believed that it comes out of teams trying to employ localities as part of the backroom staff. He recalled an example from his days as a bowling coach for Sunrisers Eastern Cape last year. “Adrian Birrell was the head coach. Russell Domingo is the batting or assistant coach. Baakier Abrahams is the fielding coach, although he's probably more assistant coach. They're all local. They all live in the Eastern Cape. What they did then was they picked players that were local players. And I think what that meant was that like you think Tristan Stubbs, he's a local player. You think Jordan Hetmann, he's a local player. Ottniel Baartman. All these guys are local players," he said in a virtual interaction ahead of SA20 season 5.
“And what happened was then it had a ripple effect in terms of the fans. The fans would come to the stadiums because they wanted to come and see players that they watched day in and day out every weekend. They wanted to come and watch somebody that they knew personally,” he added.
That way, the pace great explained that the Eastern Cape’s model has spread across other franchises in the country. “I think the SA20 is now fed off that. They've broadcasted that in terms of social media. And it's created quite a feast for people to come and want to enjoy. So you see Johannesburg doing it now. You see Durban trying to do it better. You see MI Cape Town trying to do it better. And all the stadiums are trying to outdo themselves. So one, the competition has done its own part.But now the stadiums themselves, the spectators themselves are trying to outdo what they did last year. And that's quite infectious and that's quite a good thing,” he said.
Fans returning in huge numbers, Steyn feels is the biggest takeaway. “South Africa has been desperate for cricket. I mean, the world went through a pandemic and sport was definitely taken away from South Africa. If we wanted to play, we had to travel. Local sport took a hit in South Africa. And I think Graeme Smith and the SA20 bringing it back is like giving sport back to the country. And they grabbed it with both hands. They've been salivating for good cricket. And SA20 has delivered,” he said.