Aborted Global T20 league could be replaced by South Africa's domestic tournament

What’s the story?

South Africa’s Global T20 League, plagued by financial complications even before taking off, could be replaced by a domestic T20 competition, according to reports in ESPNCricinfo.

In all probability, the major star attractions for the domestic event will remain intact, with the national players set to be available to participate as the board is unlikely to give them an NOC to play in leagues outside the country.

"If there is an international tour in that time, only 12 or so guys will be playing. What about the rest of the players? They can't sit around for six weeks and not do anything," a source close to the CSA told ESPNcricinfo.

In case you didn’t know…

The much-awaited Global T20 League, the brainchild of Cricket South Africa, was supposed to take place next month, but got pushed to November 2018, owing to financial difficulties in terms of sponsorship deals and broadcast rights.

Aimed at being CSA’s answer to the IPL and Big Bash, the tournament was supposed to feature a host of stars, including the likes of AB de Villiers, Kevin Pietersen and Hashim Amla, among others, in a city-based franchise format.

The heart of the matter

Earlier christened the ‘Ram Slam’, the domestic T20 tournament was embroiled in match-fixing, with as many as seven cricketers arrested for attempting to fix games. The last season of the tournament couldn’t gather much traction, as several main players were plying their trade in the Test series against Australia.

To check the feasibility of a domestic tournament, the franchise CEO’s were contacted via teleconference, and collectively told the CSA that the replacement could work. All broadcasting issues will also be taken care of, as SuperSport holds exclusive rights over all domestic games in the country.

What’s next?

The domestic tournament is now set to take place in November, before the Indian team tours the country for their much-awaited series. The Global T20 league will now be held in November next year.

Author’s take

Cricket South Africa seems to be going through a tough phase: with the postponement of the Global T20, as well as the termination of contract with their commercial rights partner, the board could be in for a loss worth millions.

One of the reasons why the Global T20 league’s future had to be re-assessed, was because the market of such a competition couldn’t be figured out: since the Indian BCCI does not allow its players to participate in foreign leagues, and the existence of several other competitions of different magnitude, one more T20 league might not have turned out to be what the already cash-crunched South Africa board would have expected.