By Matt Hughes For The Daily Mail
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Graeme Smith was so convinced of South Africa’s need for their own global T20 tournament that after being appointed as its commissioner last year he spent three months working without being paid.
The veteran of a world record 108 Tests as captain is convinced that South African cricket would have ‘withered and died’ without the new SA20 league, which after two previous failed attempts finally launched in Cape Town last week.
Smith’s pessimism seems overly dramatic, but is endorsed by other leading figures in South Africa cricket, public disillusionment with the Proteas and the parlous state of the sport’s finances. Cricket South Africa [CSA] posted losses of over £10million in each of the last few years and their cash reserves have dwindled to a few million, leaving the threat of bankruptcy a real possibility.
Graeme Smith says South African cricket would have ‘died’ without the new SA20 league
‘We needed to save cricket in South Africa as without this it could have withered and died,’ Smith tells Sportsmail at Newlands, which has been full to capacity for the first time since Ben Stokes sealed a famous Test win for England in front of the Barmy Army’s travelling hordes three years ago.
‘The world game cannot afford to lose South Africa, and you can’t have an international sport with only three teams.
‘Cricket in this country was dying. The financial problems of CSA have been well documented, players are leaving the game and the spectators have drifted away. South Africa cricket was mired in politics, in-fighting, poor results, financial losses. Something had to change.’
Smith looks exhausted as he is leading a small 10-person team charged with running a tournament that spans six cities, but a successful launch has put a spring in his step.
Attendances have exceeded all expectations with a 92 per cent occupancy rate over the first week, which is unheard of for domestic cricket, and after securing some late broadcast and commercial deals SA20 is projected a make a profit of a few million pounds in its first year. Innovative pricing has been crucial, with the cheapest tickets available for just £1 with the proviso that they could only be booked in blocks of six.
Smith was crucial in persuading players of the calibre of Jofra Archer and Jos Butler to sign up
Much of the money inevitably comes from India, with six IPL franchises paying around £75m for a 10-year contract to run the six teams at last year’s auction. Mumbai Indians’ £21m bid for the Cape Town franchise was the biggest bid, although Chennai’s purchase of the Joburg Super Kings cost them around £15m.
The IPL takeover led to a lucrative and potentially game-changing broadcast deal with Viacom18 worth around £20m-a-year, which is far more than the ECB are receiving from their streaming deal for the Hundred with FanCode in India, but there has also been significant interest from other markets.
Sky Sports bought the UK rights and are planning to send their own commentary team for next year after relying on host broadcaster SuperSport this time around, while Betway came on board as title sponsors with a late deal worth £4m-a-year. In contrast both South Africa’s Test and one-day teams are currently without sponsors.
Just as important as the numbers is the quality of the cricket, with Smith’s credibility and persistence crucial in persuading international players of the calibre of Jofra Archer, Jos Butler and Rashid Kahn to sign up.
‘It wasn’t the plan to have six IPL teams,’ Smith says. ‘We had 29 expressions of interests and 16 concrete bids, but the IPL ones were by far the best across the board as they’re among the best sports franchises in the world.
‘Cricket in this country has been in such a negative state for so many years, but in one week I’ve felt that shift. Newlands hasn’t been full for three years, and even then it was mainly England fans. In terms of domestic cricket it has never happened before. I was at every opening game and people kept coming up to me saying, ‘what’s going on?’
Beyond commercial deals and attendance figures the ultimate litmus test will be whether the increased interest can help improve the fortunes of South Africa’s Test team, who returned chastened from a one-sided defeat in Australia last week. Dean Elgar’s side are due to play just 28 matches in the next four-year cycle with T20 the priority, six fewer than Bangladesh. England play 43, Australia 40 and India 38.
CSA own 57 per cent of the competition – SuperSport and Mumbai Indians executive Sundar Raman are the other shareholders – and will receive a dividend from the profits.
CSA chief executive Pholetski Moseki is hopeful that SA20 will help keep more domestic and international players in the country at a time when they cannot compete with T20 franchises in terms of pay. The top earners at SA20 will receive £400,000 for three weeks’ work, whereas CSA’s annual central contracts are worth between £85,000 and £120,000.
Cape Town’s Newlands stadium has been full to capacity for the first time in three years
‘The new competition will help us to retain more players, who previously would have disappeared to play T20 around the world,’ Moseki told Sportsmail.
‘They can earn more in a month at even the smaller franchise tournaments than I can pay them in a year, but SA20 will help keep more of them in South Africa, and hopefully playing for South Africa.’
Smith believes the tournament can help revive international cricket, and has been hearted by recent conversations with MI Cape Town’s star batter Dewald Brevis, who has reassured him he wants to Test cricket despite having yet to play a first-class match. A one-day debut in the three-match series against England that begins next week is a possibility.
‘I hope the positivity created by SA20 will rub off onto all formats,’ Smith says. ‘I’ve spoken to Brevis, who has two contracts with Mumbai. He says he wants to play for South Africa, and wants to play Tests.
‘Test cricket has always been close to my heart. I captained South Africa in over a hundred Tests so would always want to play, but it’s about how players manage themselves. Ben Stokes, for example, has walked away from ODI’s, but is playing T20 and IPL.
‘Test cricket was seen as under threat when I was playing. My feeling is that if you’re producing good cricketers then your cricket is strong, and then people will want to watch it. T20 enables you to grow the game, attract a new audience and new players. I don’t think Test cricket does that.’
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