Six newly formed teams are vying for the inaugural SA20 trophy, which begins on Tuesday with a Western Cape derby between MI Cape Town and Paarl Royals. 

The sides, all bought by Indian Premier League (IPL) team owners, bear a close resemblance to their Indian counterparts, in name — Chennai Super Kings have become Joburg Super Kings, for example — dress and, in some cases, players. 

The benefit of having close ties to the IPL is big for South Africa, not least in the large Indian fanbase it will attract, which will aid the tournament’s viability — something at which previous attempts at starting a global T20 league in South Africa have failed. 

Logistics

There will be 33 matches played in total, including the two semifinals and the final. 

Each team will play the other sides twice, home and away, in the round-robin phase of the tournament, after which the top four teams will meet in the semifinals. 

All the playoff matches will take place in Gauteng — at the Centurion and Wanderers stadiums — because Newlands, Paarl and St George’s stadiums will host the Women’s T20 World Cup, which starts on 10 February. 

Graeme Smith during the SA20 Player Auction at Cape Town International Convention Centre on 19 September 2022 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo: Grant Pitcher / Gallo Images)

The SA20 matches run for a month, from 10 January to 11 February, with a one-week break in the middle to fit in the Proteas’ three-match ODI series against England which begins on 29 January. All three ODIs will take place in the Free State and Northern Cape — two in Bloemfontein and one in Kimberley — as there is no SA20 team situated there. 

SA20 league commissioner Graeme Smith said this will be the last time there will be international matches while the SA20 is in process. 

“From next year on there will be clean windows throughout the Betway SA20,” said Smith. 

Growing talent

South African players will have the opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the best players in the world, with each team allowed four overseas players in their playing 11. 

“As South Africans, we need this competition for the game to grow,” said the captain of the Joburg Super Kings, Faf du Plessis. 

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“There’s no doubt that adding world-class players like Rashid Khan and so many more will benefit South African cricket. 

“Our whole professional system is going to learn a lot about what needs to be done in order to improve the standards we have in the country. We will only benefit from this, there is no doubt about that. The local players will gain so much from this.” 

The SA20 will undoubtedly also provide a much-needed financial boost to Cricket South Africa’s (CSA’s) barren coffers. 

The hope is that the grassroots and domestic cricket structure can be fixed with the additional finances, which will in turn produce more international quality cricketers in the country. 

However, the long-term financial ambitions have hampered the short-term transformation goals. 

Because all six teams are privately owned, CSA has no jurisdiction over transformation settings in the league. 

Only six black South African players — Kagiso Rabada (pre-bought by MI Cape Town), Lungi Ngidi (Paarl Royals), Sisanda Magala, Aya Gqamane (Sunrisers Eastern Cape), Malusi Siboto (Joburg Super Kings) and Junior Dala (Durban Super Giants) — were originally chosen during the SA20 auction, while Proteas all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo was picked up by the Paarl Royals as a wildcard selection after the auction. 

The lack of representation of more than 80% of South Africa’s population reflects poorly on the grassroots development by CSA and should act as a wake-up call for the sport’s governing body. 

New rules

In the theme of ensuring the SA20 is different to other franchise leagues around the world, there have been a few changes to the on-field permutations: 

Each captain can nominate 13 players to take the field before the toss. After the toss, each captain can select their final starting XI and the remainder of the players will automatically become substitute players. 

The winning team will be awarded four points, with a bonus-point win generating five points, encouraging dominant play. 

The bonus point will be awarded to a team that achieves a run rate of 1.25 times that of the opposition. In the case of no result, both teams will be awarded two points, while the losing team will not receive any points.  

In addition, the following rules have been adjusted:  

The pace of play will be protected without suspensions, with captains charged with in-game penalties for slow over-rates through fielding restrictions.  

There has been an amendment to the free-hit rule: a bowled dismissal can’t lead to byes if the ball ricochets off the stumps.  

No runs can be taken off an intentional attempt to run out the batter if a direct hit deflects off the stumps.  

There will be two strategic time-outs of two minutes and 30 seconds in each innings. The time-outs are to allow the teams to regroup tactically. DM