Cricket South Africa has officially announced the end of the current domestic franchise cricket structure which comprises of the Cape Cobras, Titans, Lions, Dolphins, Knights and the Warriors. CSA has instead opted to return to the Provincial structure which would as of 2020 include 12 teams, with the intention of adding an additional 2 come 2022.
Before we get into that, however I think its best to give a ‘snapshot’ of the status of South Africa first class cricket. As previously said, we currently have the 6 franchise sides whom all issue professional cricket contracts to their respective squads. Below the franchise system, we currently have 13 amateur or ‘semi-professional’ sides who issue amateur contracts to their respective players. On average a franchise side will issue around 16/17 contracts which would imply around 100 professional franchise contracts, excluding international contracts of course. The amateur sides will on average issue 11 contracts to their respective players, which would imply an additional 143 odd contracts yielding a total of 243 contracts given to South African domestic cricketers. These domestic cricketers currently compete for 4 traditional trophies, namely the 3 and 4 day red ball Sunfoil series, the Momentum One Day 50 over cup, the Africa T20 cup, and lastly the CSA T20 competition that is currently being played and is in fact in its last year of operation. In addition to these 4 traditional trophies, South Africa plays host to its new look Mzanzi Super League which is intended to replicate the IPL in the sense that it should attract the top international players around the world. The Mzanzi Super League consists of 6 team, the Cape Town Blitz, Paarl Rocks, Jozi Stars, Tswhane Spartans, Durban Heat, and the Nelson Mandela Bay Giants all of whom consists of a squad of around 14 players, an additional 84 contracts.
At this point you might be wondering why a change is necessary? Well, in 2018 CSA reported a loss in the region of R650 million. The reason for such an exorbitant loss can be explained by a handful of issues. Firstly, we simply have too many cricketers that are contracted under CSA with the 243 franchise/amateur contracts as well as the 84 MSL contracts. Secondly, we have too many competitions, which all require flights, busses, accommodation, match officials, and ground staff and lastly, poor crowd attendance, which as seen ticket and advertising revenue plummet over the last decade or so.
How will the new set up address these issues though? Well firstly, we will now have only 12 provincial cricket teams as opposed to the 6 franchise sides, and the 13 amateur sides which would mean fewer contracts are in fact being issued to South African cricketers, albeit all professional contracts. Secondly, it has been decided that there is no need for the African T20 cup as well as the CSA T20 tournament, hence the decision to scrap the latter from 2020 onwards. The removal of this major tournament sees 30 odd fixtures being completely removed from the annual cricketing calendar and the financial gain that comes from doing so. Lastly, and most importantly, CSA are set to rely heavily on the Mzanzi Super League to fund this domestic set up.
Given its relative success in its first season (regardless of the poor quality of cricket in my opinion), I believe the MSL could match the likes of the Indian Premier League, the Australian KFC Big Bash, as well as England’s Vitality T20 Blast. We have the stadiums, the cricket heritage and culture, as well as the previous experience of hosting the Champions League Cricket trophy in 2010 and 2012 which proved a major success. Taking all the above into account, I would say that it is a great decision financially.
Having said that, under the 6 franchise sides I believe there has already been a noticeable decline in the quality of the cricket being played which can be chalked up to a few reasons but most importantly the rate at which players are heading overseas in hopes of bagging themselves an impressive country cricket contract. My concern over the quality of cricket becomes increasingly apparent under the 12 team Provincial set up whereby players who were unable to initially obtain a professional contract will now be pooled along with the top players in the country. There are obviously two sides to every story but it appears that South Africa have made a financial decision at the expense of the quality of South African domestic cricket and have further opted for the ‘quantity over quality’ approach in the hopes that the exposure to professional cricket may make younger ambitious cricketers reluctant to head overseas.
Another area of concern for me is the ‘feeder’ systems into the domestic setup. Currently, we have 13 amateur sides all producing players to move into the 6 franchise sides which are essentially producing the International Proteas squad.
Under the new provincial system, we have:
1. Western Province
2. Boland
3. Northerns
4. Gauteng
5. Easterns
6. KZN inland
7. KZN coastal
8. Free State
9. Border
10. Eastern Province
11. South Western Districts
12. Northern Province
But who is feeding into these teams? If i’m not mistaken, the next level would essentially be club and academy cricket, as well as school boy cricket. I think this become particularly troublesome when CSA looks to add the likes of Limpopo and Mpumalanga from 2022 onward who as of right now, do not have the school system, club system, nor academy system to sustain quality and competitive provincial cricket sides which would simply contribute to the ailing quality of the provincial set up as a whole.
In conclusion, given the financial strain of the current setup on Cricket South Africa, change is undoubtedly needed. Having said that, I agree with the notion that the provincial structure may slowdown the rate at which young cricketers are leaving South Africa, but is likely to hinder the quality of our domestic set up as a whole which in turn is unlikely to address the lack of attendance issue. CSA have clearly got all their eggs in one basket and that basket is the ever promising Mzanzi Super League.
Comments