League season has begun with the BBL close to its business end and SA20 and ILT20 due to start within ten days of each other as the 2024 T20 bonanza gets underway. Apart from tournaments around the world, this year will have both a men's and women's T20 World Cups, which gives the format primacy in the calendar. For South Africa, even more so.
With international cricket often costing more money to the host than it makes, Cricket South Africa launched the SA20 with financial stability in mind but now finds itself relying on it for more. For example, there are no more T20Is for the South Africa men's national team before they announce the World Cup squad, so the selectors will be keeping a keen eye on the SA20. And that's before we get to the spectacle and the speed at which it won spectators over. The SA20 - a sassy, switched-on event that takes place at the height of summer - has marketed itself at diehards and newcomers alike and has quickly found a diverse and engaged fan base. Last season was headlined by sold-out stadiums and this one will tell if the interest holds. Here's what to expect from season two, which starts on Wednesday when Sunrisers Eastern Cape take on Joburg Super Kings in Gqeberha:
Remind me what happened in season one?
After the hype of the tournament's unveiling and its first auction, the SA20 got underway to a warm reception in Cape Town, which Mumbai Indians turned blue and gold. Their star-studded team won that contest but flopped overall and finished at the bottom of the table.
Durban's Super Giants, Paarl Royals and Sunrisers Eastern Cape all boasted competitive outfits and created a mid-table log jam. They all finished on the same number of points but DSG missed out on the last four on net run-rate. Joburg Super Kings recovered from a shaky start to win four of their last five games and sat second behind Pretoria Capitals, who dominated the league phase with seven wins in ten games. Then, against expectations, Sunrisers beat both JSK and Capitals in the knockouts to finish as the champions. Their star players were former South Africa international Roelof van der Merwe, who was the tournament's joint-leading wicket-taker, and their captain Aiden Markram, who finished third on the run-charts behind Jos Buttler and Faf du Plessis. Beyond the results, fun was had; all six stadiums were filled and money was made as South African cricket came alive again.
Sounds fun, so what's changed for season 2?
Not much in terms of tournament format or structure, in which all teams play each other home and away, but there is an additional fixture in the knockout phase. Last year, the top four teams played in two semi-finals before a final but this year will have IPL-style qualifiers and an eliminator. To summarise, the teams placed first and second after the league phase will play in the first qualifier, with the winner going straight to the final. The teams placed third and fourth will play an eliminator with the loser out of contention. Then, the loser of the first qualifier will play the winner of the eliminator to determine the second finalist. The venues for these matches have been predetermined with Cape Town's Newlands Stadium to host the first qualifier and the final, and the Wanderers in Johannesburg to get the eliminator and second qualifier.
Wait, didn't Newlands get sanctioned for a substandard pitch recently?
Just this morning, in fact. After the second Test between South Africa and India ended in 107 overs - the shortest result Test in the history of the format - match referee Chris Broad rated the surface "unsatisfactory" because of the variable bounce. The very same strip was used in the SA20 last year, when Newlands was criticised for being too slow overall, but will not be used for this year's SA20.
Instead, groundsman Braam Mong started working on the adjacent pitches as soon as the Test ended, three days ahead of schedule, but will doubtless still come under some scrutiny throughout the tournament. Mong is not a full-time employee at Western Province Cricket Association, which is in financial distress and has had to rely on a bailout from CSA in order to host the New Year's Test and the SA20.
So CSA has some money now?
Yes, and thanks, in large part, to the SA20. It turned a profit in its first year, four years earlier than projected, and seems set to keep the cash rolling in. For this season, the SA20 will reach audiences in North America after a broadcast deal was reached with Willow TV. It has also attracted some new sponsors including the Indian technology company Zoho Corporation and continues to state its ambition to be the biggest T20 league outside of the IPL. The financial success so far underlines why CSA has given it pride of place in their calendar, ahead of some international series.
Won't this tournament clash with South Africa's Tests in New Zealand?
You mean you've only just heard about that!
Okay, given how much cricket there is and how many clashes there are, you could be forgiven but this came to our attention as early as July last year when New Zealand Cricket announced the summer fixtures. CSA asked NZC to reschedule but the dates were not open to negotiation, which forced CSA to show where their priorities lay. Any South African player with an SA20 deal was informed of their contractual obligations to play in the tournament ahead of the Tests, which has resulted in a squad with seven uncapped players, including the stand-in captain Neil Brand, being selected for the New Zealand tour. This caused a furore, particularly in Australia. But while the first-choice players are disappointed to miss out on the Tests, they understand their new reality.
Okay so South Africa's big-name players are all available. Are there any new international faces?
A fair few and the highest profile is probably Kieron Pollard. After two seasons with the Cape Cobras in 2014-15 and 2015-16, Pollard is back to lead MI in the absence of Rashid Khan, who recently had back surgery. Pollard is also the only international captain and takes charge of a team that has added Tom Banton and Olly Stone to their squad but can no longer call on Odean Smith, Tim David or Waqar Salamkheil.
DSG have acquired the services of Nicholas Pooran and Bhanuka Rajapaksa but lost Jason Holder, to ILT20, and Johnson Charles. The player flow between South Africa and Emirates also sees Moeen Ali join JSK while van der Merwe has left SEC.
Other big names to look out for are veteran legspinner Imran Tahir, who will play for JSK, Ireland's Lorcan Tucker and Paul Stirling who are at Royals and Capitals, respectively, and Dawid Malan, who will play for SEC. There has also been a change of captain at Super Giants, where Quinton de Kock has been replaced by Keshav Maharaj.
In the coaching department, there's one major change. Shane Bond has replaced JP Duminy as Royals' coach, after Duminy joined the national white-ball team as batting coach.
And what about Impact Player, like they have at the IPL?
No substitutes yet for the SA20 but they will continue to allow teams to name their final XI after the toss. Last season, teams named 13 players at the toss and decided on the final XI after the toss. This season captains will take two team sheets to the toss - one with their bat-first XI and the other with their bowl-first XI - and present the final list once the toss has been completed.