T20 Global League will be a life changing event in South African cricket: SACA

South Africa’s T20 Global league is just around the corner, and the buzz fails to die down. The South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA) today congratulated Cricket South Africa (CSA) and the T20 Global League (T20 GL), on conducting a successful player draft in Cape Town on Sunday. Many big names are set to take part in the inaugural edition of the T20 League.

With major tournaments such as the Indian Premier League, Bangladesh Premier League, Australian Big Bash and Pakistan Premier League already making an impact, it will be interesting to see if the South African League can manage to make its own space in due course. Many franchises have come up with an intention to take the game further ahead, and a lot will depend on how well the format manages to reach out to a new audience.

A world class T20 League

SACA Chief Executive, Tony Irish spoke to Sport 24, and said, “The global cricket landscape is changing rapidly and CSA has undoubtedly made the right decision to create a world class T20 league in South Africa.”

“Not only will our local cricket be broadcast to fans all over the world but the league is also capitalising on key factors in the cricket market, including the increasing shift of global media rights resources towards T20 leagues around the world and the introduction of new investment by private team owners into the South African game.”

Life changing move

“We are also hopeful that the T20 GL will play its own significant role in the retention of player talent in South Africa. Until now our players had to play offshore in order to earn hard currency amounts on offer in other countries. The fact that local players can now earn rands that are linked to dollar amounts by playing in a domestic competition here at home is an important factor in keeping those players playing in South Africa, and for South Africa,”

“For many of our younger players, the league is likely to be life changing, not only in their private lives but in their cricketing careers. They will have the chance to play on a bigger stage in front of bigger audiences, both at stadia around the country and globally on television and on wider broadcast platforms,” he added.