SA20 is a stunning spectacle that has rapidly garnered the public's attention

The sight of packed grass embankments around SuperSport Park for the clash between the Pretoria Capitals and Sunrisers Eastern Cape yesterday afternoon provided yet another illustration of how rapidly local supporters had embraced the Betway SA20 tournament.

Nearly 50,000 spectators have passed through the gates over the course of the first week of the tournament, an uptake that has pleasantly surprised players and the tournament’s organisers. 

The impact on the sport — financially and from a playing perspective — will take longer to measure.

“The nice thing has been the fans; it’s been nice to see the stadiums full,” said former Proteas batter Herschelle Gibbs. 

It had been a cause for concern ahead of the tournament that despite the presence of all of the Proteas, the fact that teams were new would make it tricky to create a bond with South African supporters.

The recent poor performances of the national men’s team had also been cited as a worry, with cynicism abounding regarding a side which is still the face of the game locally. 

“The SA20 has brought renewed momentum, focus and excitement,” said Cricket South Africa CEO Pholetsi Moseki.

The challenge for CSA is how to utilise it all to improve the Proteas, continue to renew trust with stakeholders and enhance the sport in general.

“Everyone hopes (the SA20) will help accelerate the process of improving the standard domestically,” said Gibbs. “You will probably see the results of this in two to three years.” 

Key to that improvement will be young South African players mixing with the established international stars, which in this tournament includes two World Cup winning captains — Jos Buttler and Eoin Morgan.

“The local boys must sponge off them as much as they can with regard to experience and knowledge of the game,” said Gibbs. 

“It has brought a different element in terms of how guys deal with pressure,” said CSA’s director of cricket, Enoch Nkwe.

“I’ve been encouraged to see the youngsters getting exposed — like Dewald Brevis and Donovan Ferreira. We’ve seen in the first week how they have had to deal with pressure and they did so by being fearless.” 

Brevis, the breakout star of South African cricket, was named man of the match in the opening game on Tuesday for the Mumbai Indians Cape Town and Ferreira — who was still working full time in marketing and sales 18 months ago — earned the same award the following day for the Joburg Super Kings. 

Nkwe believes their success should lead to a different way for players to be judged, not just as limited overs batters, but Test ones too.

“We may need to start changing our mindsets around the game and how players come to Test cricket. In the old days you would need to start with playing first class cricket.” 

Citing Australia’s David Warner as an example, Nkwe said it may become the norm for young players to start in the T20 format and use it as a foundation for the Test format.

“Someone like Dewald Brevis, I know, wants to play Test cricket, but he is starting in the white ball formats and in three or four years he will be good to play Test cricket. That’s not something we need to fight.”

Gibbs, whose aggressive style put him ahead of his time, didn’t share that sentiment.

“The first class structure needs to improve for us to produce complete players rather than just one-format players. In the past we had players who could play all three formats or at least two at any given stage and we need to get back to that.

“If we are just going to target the white ball formats we will run into an obstacle in a couple of years’ time.” 

There is, however, no denying the entertainment factor, as yesterday’s match demonstrated. Nearly 400 runs were scored, which included 30 fours and 24 sixes, three of those putting spectators in with a chance to share in a R1-million prize at the end of the tournament. 

It didn’t matter that players who grew up in the Centurion area, like Aiden Markram, were playing for the opposition or that the crowd were also cheering for an Englishman, Will Jacks, who top-scored with a sweetly struck 92 off only 46 balls. 

That home team the Capitals won, added to the enjoyment, but that seemed almost incidental. The SA20 has a 10-year television contract, so it is here to stay and the impression it has made at the start has been profound.