The idea of hosting a brand new T20 league on South African shores which could attract some of the world’s best cricketers is nothing new.

Just four years ago, a R10-million prize fund was announced before the first Mzansi Super League (MSL) — which was designed to do exactly that. Six teams took part from various cities around the country, and the prize money was shared among the top two, with SABC broadcasting every match live.

South Africa’s best cricketers, including AB de Villiers, Dale Steyn, Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis, Kagiso Rabada and many others took part, while international stars such as Chris Gayle, Eoin Morgan, Rashid Khan and Dwayne Bravo also competed in the inaugural edition.

After a month of competition, the Jozi Stars emerged victorious, defeating the Cape Town Blitz in the final. Yet, the average attendance over the course of the 32 games was under 6,000 people, and the tournament didn’t make a dent compared to T20 leagues such as the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Australia’s Big Bash league.

The MSL ended up costing CSA more than R100-million over two editions because it virtually gave the broadcast rights away.

It was cancelled in both 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, being replaced on both occasions by a regular CSA T20 league.

Ultimately, CSA made the decision to cancel the MSL altogether — the idea never quite living up to its billing as a rival to some of the world’s biggest T20 leagues.

Now, four years on from the inaugural edition, a new South African T20 league has entered the fray. 

Here to stay 

The Betway SA20 league, which kicks off on 10 January in Cape Town, follows the same structure as its predecessors — with six teams participating and the tournament taking place over the course of a month. 

However, there are some noticeable differences.

First, all six teams are owned by IPL franchises. The teams participating will be the Mumbai Indians Cape Town, the Paarl Royals, the Durban Super Giants, the Joburg Super Kings, the Sunrisers Eastern Cape and the Pretoria Capitals.

Second, and perhaps most importantly, a R70-million prize fund has been announced ahead of the tournament’s inaugural edition. 

The prize fund is the largest in the history of South African franchise cricket, and seven times the prize fund of the first Mzansi Super League.

Former South African Test cricket captain Graeme Smith, commissioner of the Betway SA20 league. (Photo: Sydney Seshibedi / Getty Images)

“We have worked hard to offer a rewarding and unprecedented incentive in the first season of Betway SA20. This is a first for South African cricket, we have never had this type of competitive incentive in our domestic cricket and it is a further indication of SA20’s ambitions to positively impact South African cricket,” said Graeme Smith, commissioner of the Betway SA20 league.

Kagiso Rabada of the Jozi Stars during the Mzansi Super League match between Jozi Stars and Tshwane Spartans at Wanderers on 24 November 2019 in Johannesburg. (Photo: Sydney Seshibedi / Gallo Images)

Jos Buttler of England. (Photo: Nathan Stirk / Getty Images)

A host of stars, both local and international, will also be participating, with headline acts including Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Eoin Morgan, Rashid Khan, Faf du Plessis, Kagiso Rabada, Jason Holder, Quinton de Kock and many others.

Sharing the pot

In terms of how the R70-million prize money will be allocated, Andrew Breetzke, CEO of the South African Cricketers’ Association (Saca), explained the model is very similar to the IPL.

“Some of that prize money will relate to league position for the franchise — so the team, and some of it will relate to pure player prize money,” said Breetzke.

“The pure player prize money effectively gives 100% to the players, so it’s just divided up between the team or managers. But there will be a component of the money that is actually for the team itself — in other words the franchise, for winning the tournament or whatever. That’s how it works in the IPL so I assume we will have the same model here,” he said.

Breetzke explained the significant benefit of the large prize fund is the effect it has on the players, most of whom play only domestic cricket in South Africa.

“From a players’ association point of view, the massive thing is that a significant prize money pool for players means that all players benefit — even those players who effectively were taken up at the lowest value of R175,000.”

There are also benefits from a team point of view.

“The teams are earning good prize money for coming first or second, which is good because it means they are probably going to invest in the team some more, and whether that means better support staff, maybe we start talking about increasing squads with more money available. So those are all positive issues,” Breetzke explained.

Building blocks 

Breetzke believes the huge increase in prize money is an indicator of the success the SA20 league has had in attracting broadcast and sponsorship deals, which bodes well for the tournament’s future. 

“The bottom line is that if you want to put out a domestic T20 league — the first thing you do is you secure a broadcaster. Because if you can’t secure a broadcaster with significant financial muscle you don’t get out the starting blocks. 

“And that was the failure behind MSL and the Global T20 league, but it’s why the current structure of SA20, with SuperSport as a shareholder, actually did get out the starting blocks — because they had a broadcaster,” he said.

The SA20 league also successfully negotiated to have an international broadcaster on board in the form of Viacom18, which will be broadcasting matches live in India. Breetzke describes this as “a double positive on the broadcast deal”.

“I think the most important thing is we need to play the tournament now. There’s a lot of work being done and a lot being said. We actually need to get it going and we need crowds to come and support it, because it’s important for the future of South African cricket.” DM