Graeme Smith hopes new T20 league will breathe much-needed life into South African cricket

SA20 league commissioner Graeme Smith has set out the music and now it is up to the players to be the lyricists as they look to produce something memorable in the inaugural edition of South Africa’s new T20 league in cricket.

The opening matches of a tournament upon which there is so much expectation and upon which the future of Cricket South Africa depends, according to most insiders, have gone off well.

But for Smith, there is not yet any real sense of relief, he knows that the job is not yet done.

‘It made me emotional’

“I’m still quite heavily involved, so it’s day-to-day, always working on the next game and trying to ensure that the next three weeks produce a level we can be proud of,” Smith told Saturday Citizen yesterday.

“There might be time at the end of the tournament to step back and think about what we’ve delivered. But just from my visits to the first three stadiums, to see the fans back, to see the energy and the quality of the cricket, it’s something I haven’t experienced since I finished playing.

“It made me emotional and it was terrific to see. Our goal is to keep on attracting people to the grounds. It’s all about entertainment and you never actually know if things will work out.

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“So, now we just want to try and stay on top of things and keep connecting with people. Hopefully, the reception on the highveld will be similar to what we’ve had on the coast,” Smith said.

To try and maximise crowd attendances, the tournament has been divided into blocks, with the opening week happening at the coastal venues – Cape Town, Durban, Gqeberha and Paarl – but from next week the action starts to gather momentum in Gauteng.

From 3 February, the last week before the semi-finals, all the matches will be either at the Wanderers or SuperSport Park.

Sustainable SA20

Smith wisely made attracting international players of real quality a priority, even if that meant throwing great big wads of cash at them. But to have the financial resources, he, first of all, had to have a blueprint for the tournament in place in order to attract investors.

“We want to make the SA20 sustainable and create revenue for our partners and Cricket South Africa, and deliver a great experience for the fans. The cricket will always be the core part of that.

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“It’s fantastic that players like Donovan Ferreira, Jofra Archer, Anrich Nortje and Dewald Brevis are already talking points. You’ve got to have the capital to attract the sort of international players who will really make a difference.

“The quality on show so far has been really excellent and the fans really want to be part of it. The way Jofra and Anrich have been bowling, I’ve been getting requests for the speed gun reading to be put on the scoreboard!

“But one of the most challenging parts of putting SA20 together was convincing international players that we can be trusted.

“Because of the competition in the marketplace for their signatures, we couldn’t afford to wait to sign them up. So they were actually signed up even before we had the franchises in place and I’m very grateful they agreed to give South African cricket one more chance,” Smith said.

The Proteas’ most successful captain knew there were obvious lessons to be learnt from the failures of CSA’s two previous attempts to launch an international T20 competition – the Global T20 League and the Mzansi Super League.

“I looked at the previous failed attempts and made sure we learned from them,” Smith added.

“There have been many parts to the journey. First, we had to get a broadcast deal in place and then manage the shareholders and then get the licence and go-ahead from CSA.

“Once that base was in place, we moved on to attract interested parties. From 29 various entities from around the world, which were evaluated by Deloittes, to get six of the best, high-quality IPL franchises involved is a dream come true.

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“And it’s not just about the size of their commercial investment, it’s also the incredible element of expertise they bring into South African cricket, their professionalism both on and off the field in terms of strategy, scouting and how they look after the interests of the players,” he said.

“The domestic players tell me they are all feeling so well looked after.”

– news@citizen.co.za