A bright ray of sunshine for SA Cricket

GRAEME Smith will have woken yesterday morning tentatively parting the shades or curtains of his abode with fingers crossed that the weather will have improved overnight.

It has been miserable stuff in Johannesburg this past fortnight – the sun too shy to break through thick and ominous cloud cover that has dumped heavy rain across the plateau of the Witwatersrand, with the occasional angry flashes of lightning and deep rumbling of thunder rolling over the highveld. The former Proteas’ captain will have nervously chuckled to himself that in such times, it would be best to be a skipper of a seaworthy vessel than the commissioner of the SA20.

The inuguaral tournament should have had its final on Saturday, but the weather that dawned on the day held the Wanderers in north Johannesburg hostage with rain the ultimate winner on the day.

Yesterday morning “Biff” would have awoken to more dreary weather but thankfully not a drop of rain in sight. And as the morning progressed, a smile would surely have cracked his glum demeanor and widened with every hour. For, by the time the Pretoria Capitals hosted the Sunrisers Eastern Cape, the sun had made a welcome return to herald the news that, yes, indeed, there would be a game of cricket to play, to watch, to entertain.

The importance and success of the SA20 to South African cricket cannot be stressed, and for that to happen in its first running, it required a final. The spectacle by the six teams in the tournament over the last month has been excellent.

There have been some riveting games, and matches that have excited and pleased in equal measure. By last night, it will have come to a worthy conclusion, decided in the Bullring and not by the rain gods who are in constant battle with their cricketing counterparts. It will not have mattered who will have won between PC and SEC, because, as Smith would have surmised, along with Cricket South Africa, the game will have been the ultimate winner.

After all, the Wanderers was a sold out affair weeks in advance before the final was even decided and in spite of the harrying rain of Saturday, it was packed to the rafters yesterday, awash with the sights and sounds of SA cricket. And that is the greatest victory of all.