Continued success of SA20 creates challenges for Cricket SA

The SA20 bigwigs couldn’t have scripted it better.

The poster child of the competition since its inception, swatting three sixes to lead his side ― the Pretoria Capitals ― into the tournament’s fourth final.

Dewald Brevis stood arms aloft, that boyish smile lighting up his face, as his seventh six sailed into the Kingsmead stands.

Brevis has been central to the SA20.

Young, charming, freakishly talented, he’s ridden the ups and downs of the four seasons, been written off in season 2, then won the thing the following year.

This season he started slowly, endured former players questioning his match awareness, but in the last two fixtures he has rescued the Capitals from 7/5 ― making 53 to set a winning target ― and on Wednesday, chasing 171 for victory, he made an unbeaten 75 off 38 balls.

With the competition now more established and Brevis its most valuable commodity, having him in the final ties a bow around a season in which the SA20 cemented itself as one of the showpieces of the South African sports calendar.

Its value to South African cricket is undeniable.

It has added more than R100m of clear profit to CSA’s coffers in four years, provided a platform for young players to mingle with experienced international players and coaches and refined scouting platforms that will hopefully unearth even more talent.

“You look around [the competition], there’s Shaun Pollock, Saurav Ganguly, Hashim Amla ― as a young player, you can only benefit from learning from the expert coaches that are around,” said former Proteas head coach Russell Domingo, an assistant at Sunrisers Eastern Cape.

Domingo also highlighted the impact of Bryce Parsons ― who produced a stunning all-round display, taking three wickets, scoring 60 runs and sharing a crucial 91-run partnership with Brevis that secured victory for the Capitals ― as evidence of the young talent that keeps emerging.

This season SA20 also bailed out CSA, which had failed to secure Test fixtures for the home summer.

Venues that usually hosted players attired in pristine whites had blinding yellow, shocking pink, an army in orange and various shades of blue charging around the outfields of the country’s cricket grounds.

Shifting its usual start time from the second week of January to Boxing Day also helped elevate the SA20’s status.

It was prime viewing for South Africans in the middle of the holiday season and stadiums were packed.

The quality of the cricket was mixed. Much of that was down to the volatility of the format, which can benefit creative thinking but punish over-thinking, as the Sunrisers Eastern Cape discovered with their batting strategy on Wednesday night, which sent Matthew Breetzke to the crease at No 7.

For the likes of Ryan Rickelton and Ottniel Baartman, it provided an opportunity to show up the national selectors, though those responsible for picking the Proteas T20 World Cup squad will point to Aiden Markram, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada and Brevis as proof that they did get some calls correct.

A number of matches went down to the last over ― always good from an entertainment perspective ― and this season also saw the competition’s first ‘super-over’.

Among the plethora of overseas stars, two stood out ― Sherfane Rutherford, who has been the Capitals’ saviour, and Sikandar Raza, a glittering addition for the Paarl Royals.

Concerning for SA cricket, however, is the continued lack of impact from black African players.

It was highlighted last season that the only players who featured on a regular basis for their franchises were the likes of Lungi Ngidi and Rabada ― long-established international players. This year Kwena Maphaka played eight games for Durban Super Giants, and Lutho Sipamla, who performed so well for the Super Kings last year, played only twice for the Sunrisers.

Unlike provincial cricket, where targets for black players are enforced ― six black players per starting team, three of whom must be black African ― the SA20 contains no such rule.

Though there was talk last season that the six franchises would be encouraged to look at more black African talent, other than the emergence of 19-year-old fast bowler Nqobani Mokoena at Paarl Royals, this season has been similar to last season.

It has put a spotlight on Cricket SA’s development initiatives and how players are scouted and trained, especially young batters.

Cricket SA has spent millions on development, but the SA20 illustrates that rather than more money, better infrastructure and coaching ― especially at junior level ― are needed to improve the quality of players coming through to make them more attractive to franchise owners and coaches.

Having witnessed the energy and excitement generated by the SA20 this summer, CSA will be under pressure to ensure packed stadiums when Australia and England Test tours happen next season.

They would do well to copy SA20’s marketing strategy, which is creative, hip, colourful and personable.

South Africans have shown they enjoy the spectacle of the SA20. Next summer will reveal whether the love for Test cricket is as strong.