Bengaluru: The League Commissioner Graeme Smith on Thursday said over the last five years SA20 has established itself as a primary choice of players in the January-February window. The SA20, which runs between January 17 and February 19, runs along with the Big Bash League, which is scheduled between December 12, 2026 and January 26, 2027.
But Smith believes that the SA20 has found its own space in the thickly populated cricket calendar.
“I think it really has. I think in the beginning, credit to Cricket South Africa for one or two tough decisions that they had to make in cancelling, say, the initial ODI series in Australia, which allowed a window in an already busy FTP calendar to be filled,” Smith said during an interaction facilitated by SA20 post the Season 5 Auction.
“So, yeah, I think over the five seasons, we’ve established ourselves at the heart of summer. I think there’s a nice balance now, especially if you look at a year like this, where you’ve got Australia, Bangladesh and England for international series. You know, the five weeks in the Jan-Feb window…I think we’ve established ourselves.
“I really like to believe that we’ve become the league of choice, certainly in the Southern Hemisphere window. So, I think that we certainly established ourselves coming into season five,” he added.
Smith said the SA20 also has given South African cricket a huge lease of new life over the last four seasons.
“I think just before SA20 started, South African cricket was in a challenging space. I think the national team was struggling. There were a lot of administration issues. I think fans were getting disgruntled with the game.
“So, for us, besides lifting the standard of cricket, it’s about giving a high profile tournament that players could be a part of, seeing talent grow over the years and get competitive. It obviously benefits the national team’s performance.
“But we really wanted to bring fans back to the game in South Africa, introduce new fans. I think, last year, walking around the stadium, the amount of people that I’ve met in the stadium that are coming to watch cricket for the first time. The growth of the fan base, the support for our game, certainly is one of the key goals that we achieved over the first few years,” he said.
The former South African skipper said now they will have to sustain the initial success of the league.
“Now, it’s about doubling down and making sure it goes from strength to strength that in the next five years, people still want to be a part of SA20 and see it grow from strength to strength.”
Former South African pacer Shaun Pollock, now the assistant coach at Pretoria Capitals, said the SA20 has seen the rise of several young South African talents.
But he felt that young talents in India and South Africa should not be compared because of the difference in conditions.
“I think all the coaches would agree that we’re very conscious about trying to find some young talent. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, I suppose, has brought a different dimension to the way people think about the younger guys and as to whether they can do it.
“But I also think you’ve got to understand that batting in Indian conditions when you’re younger compared to batting in South African conditions when you’re younger is a bit of a contrast.
“So, yeah, everyone’s looking, everyone’s trying to find and trying to balance. It is probably the thing that’s the hardest thing to do,” said Pollock.
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