CHENNAI: When the SA20 began in 2022, the league was more of a last-ditch effort to make the model work. Previous efforts to launch a franchise-based T20 league failed. Financially, Cricket South Africa (CSA) was not in the best position. Fans were disgruntled with the sport. One of the key objectives of the league was to bring fans back into the stadiums and build a culture around cricket.
Four seasons later on, things have changed and for the better. The league has taken a significant spot in the home summer. Fans are coming in numbers to fill the stadium and the franchises are starting to build a solid home fanbase. With season five scheduled for next year – the country is co-hosting the Cricket World Cup later that year with Zimbabwe and Namibia – the league has got the country buzzing about cricket. It could not have happened at a better time. “Besides lifting the standard of cricket, the SA20 has given a high-profile tournament that players could be a part of. Seeing talent grow over the years and get competitive, that obviously benefits the national team's performance. But I think we really wanted to bring fans back to the game in South Africa and introduce new fans. Those were our key objectives and over the first few years, we've achieved all those things," Graeme Smith, league commissioner and former Proteas captain told in a virtual interaction on Thursday.
The league has done well in producing talents too. In Wednesday’s mini-auction, teenaged all-rounder Jason Rowles was bought for 2.9 million South African rand by Johannesburg Super Kings. The 18-year-old has been on the rise, shining in youth international matches.
"Now, it's about doubling down and making sure it goes from strength to strength. In the next five years, people still want to be a part of SA20 and see it grow from strength to strength," Smith added.
One of the other key problems they had to address in those few years was scheduling. Usually played anytime between December to February – which is summer in the Southern Hemisphere – other cricket playing nations usually have key bilateral series scheduled in that part of the year. Therefore, player availability was not constant. However, the league retained star names throughout the four seasons. “In the beginning CSA took a few tough decisions by cancelling the initial ODI series in Australia which allowed a window in a really busy men’s Future Tours Program (FTP) calendar to be built. I think over the four seasons we have established ourselves at the heart of summer,” he said.
He felt that the league now has established itself amidst other key international tournaments. “There's a nice balance now especially if you look at this year where you've got South Africa vs Australia (from October to November this year), vs Bangladesh (November to December) and vs England (December to January 2027) and our five-week-window in the Jan-Feb window where we have been consistently. So, I think we have established ourselves. I really like to believe that we have become the league of choice in certainly the Southern Hemisphere window,” he said.