More than winning or losing at stake in SA cricket
The next month or so will be a busy time for the country’s professional cricketers as they chase titles in Division 1 and 2 of the Cricket SA T20 Challenge in a packed schedule. Exciting times for the players. They should enjoy them — they may not be around forever.
There is more at stake than promotion, relegation and victories. It could be their very survival as professional provinces at stake. The status quo in SA cricket cannot remain. Reality has a tendency to hit hard when ignored.
The scenario in which the SA20 “saves” SA cricket is as popular as it is naive. Three years ago, Cricket SA’s annual operating costs topped R1bn for the first time. Some pruning briefly reduced the number to about R800m, but since then the organisation has committed itself to a professional women’s game with 11 contracted players at each province.
The SA20 provided Cricket SA with about R120m. Even, as expected, when the excellent tournament’s revenue expands and forces its competitors, the ILT20 (International League T20) and the Big Bash, to move from January into February and backwards in Australia into December, how much income will it generate? R300m? R400m?
Most T20 franchise leagues are, money trees, but of the kind that devours cash rather grows it. Inflation and the bloated domestic structure will see Cricket SA’s costs rise just as quickly as the SA20 can grow. This financial predicament has been the reality for close to a decade now, so why hasn’t it exploded yet?
Two full-format India tours have generated close to a R1bn to keep the wolves at bay and that income was almost doubled, ironically, by the depreciation of the rand against the US dollar, in which the revenue is paid. The third source of income which has kept Cricket SA afloat are the “dividends” from International Cricket Council (ICC) events.
Like every other nation apart from India, SA saw its share of that money reduced when the Board of Control for Cricket in India instructed the ICC to give them a whopping pay rise in 2023 and any chance that Cricket SA might be looked on favourably by the ICC in future disappeared when they brutally disrespected the World Test Championship in February.
Without a meaningful or respected voice at HQ in Dubai, Cricket SA lost the few remaining friends they may have had.
They are very much alone now with the same, looming financial crisis. Cricket SA cannot afford to support 15 professional provincial teams and over 300 paid players. “Support” is the key word there. It’s not to say 15 provinces cannot exist, but they have to be self-sustaining.
Just as Cricket SA don’t have influential friends in high places, neither do the provinces because Cricket SA have done little to promote their own, domestic T20 competition. Other than issue a press release with the headline: “The CSA T20 is back and bigger than ever before!”
“The Cricket SA T20 competitions have evolved into a beloved cricketing tradition, uniting communities and inspiring the next generation of cricket stars,” Cricket SA CEO Pholetsi Moseke was quoted as saying.
We cannot be certain how many cricket-loving families read press releases. It was issued on Thursday last week, a day after the tournament started. By comparison, the SA20 organising committee started running television commercials five months before that tournament started.
Crowd attendances in the earliest stages of the tournament suggest bleak prospects for the future. As much as (some of) the provinces have tried to promote their home matches, the odds of success are stacked against them.
In Durban, Hollywoodbets has invested considerable time and money in attempting to attract fans to the stadium — and it may yet succeed if the Dolphins are successful as the tournament progresses.
Comparisons with other countries are difficult if not outright irrelevant, but England’s 18 counties were left to “make a go of it” with their domestic tournament after the England and Wales Cricket Board had claimed the entire height of summer (August) for the still contentious, franchise-based Hundred. Most of the counties worked with feverish determination among local schools and communities, aware that their continued existence might depend on them attending.
Despite a ridiculously cramped schedule including midweek games during termtime, they have made a success of it. The UK has countless advantages over SA with disposable income and ease of access to venues incomparable to SA’s but, somehow, the provinces are just going to have to find a way. Because, their survival really will depend on it.*