T20 Challenge to fill Global League ‘hole’

JOHANNESBURG: The mad scramble to sort out the domestic cricket calendar in the wake of the T20 Global League’s postponement will leave a two-week “hole” in the summer schedule, with the T20 Challenge, as predicted, moving from March 2018 to November 2017.

The six-team T20 Challenge – still without a sponsor – is scheduled to start on 10 November, a week later than when the T20 Global League was supposed to have kicked off.

With the current round of Sunfoil Series fixtures ending on Thursday, it means there will be a fortnight with no professional franchise cricket taking place.

In order to ensure there was content at a major point of the season, Cricket South Africa have moved the T20 Challenge originally scheduled for March and April next year to November, with the final set to take place on 16 December – the same day as when the T20 Global League final was due to take place.

In addition, the competition’s structure will also change; no longer will there be a single playoff match before the final – between the teams that finish second and third on the standings – instead the top four teams will qualify for semi-finals.

It is understood that the same rules regarding the number of overseas players that applied for the competition in previous seasons will be utilised again, with two allowed (which include players on Kolpak contracts) per starting team.

All the national team players will be available for their franchises. Three sets of double-headers have also been fixed to the schedule for Centurion (12 November), Newlands (26) and St George’s Park (3 December)

The 2017-18 home season will now end with the fourth Test against Australia at the Wanderers on 3 April.