Cricket South Africa truncate 2020-21 domestic season
Cricket South Africa has confirmed the domestic playing structure for the franchise and provincial 2020-21 season has been restructured as the franchise teams will play almost three times the fewer number of matches next season. Cost-cutting is believed to be a major motivation behind the move.
Cricket South Africa (CSA) has announced its restructured domestic season as the franchise teams will play almost a third fewer league matches next season. Currently, the six sides play each of their opponents once in a home and away round-robin system in the first-class and one-day formats. But that will change from 2020-21, when the teams will be divided into two groups of three. Group members will take each other on home and away, but will play the sides in the other group only once; home or away. Each team's campaign will thus be trimmed from 20 first-class and one-day league games to 14.
It is to be believed that cost-cutting is a major motivation for the move as the CSA is deep in debt because of alleged mismanagement by its board and previous administration. Resignations, suspensions and new appointments, most of them temporary, have quelled the troubled waters. But the organisation is still likely to struggle to attract sponsors and could find itself in difficult negotiations with broadcasters.
"The new structures, as recommended by the CSA cricket committee, were approved at a joint meeting of the CSA members' council and the CSA board of directors. The South African Cricketers' Association (SACA) has also been consulted and kept informed as the process has unfolded,” said a release as quoted by Cricbuzz.
The six franchises will play a four-day first-class and fifty-over competition while the provincial teams will play three-day cricket, which will also be classified as first-class for all teams apart from Mpumalanga and Limpopo, and a fifty-over one-day competition.
A previous domestic restructure plan, hatched by the former administration, would have cost up to 70 professional players their jobs and put CSA at odds with SACA, who responded by since launching abandoned legal action. There was no word in the release on the future of the Mzansi Super League, CSA's popular but money-bleeding T20 tournament.
"It is important that we announce the new structures timeously so that all franchises and provinces have a clear picture of the road ahead to advise the contracting of their players. I would like to thank all our stakeholders for buying into the new structures," said CSA acting chief executive Jacques Faul as quoted by Cricbuzz.
South Africa's domestic season is expected to start in September and squad and fixture lists are currently being planned. Although all cricket in the country was put on hold for 60 days last week as a response to Covid-19, CSA is hopeful that play will be possible when the summer starts, in about six months' time. Final squads are expected to be released by the end of the month.
