Despite having no sponsors‚ the domestic Cricket SA T20 Challenge will not lose its shine as global superstars Kevin Pietersen and Kieron Pollard are set to be back to set the domestic short-format competition ablaze when it takes off on November 12.
Pietersen will re-join the Dolphins‚ where his cricket career kicked off before he ventured to the United Kingdom and ultimately became a highly regarded English international cricketer. Pollard will again bring some Caribbean flair for the Cape Cobras, where he shone last season.
The domestic Twenty20 competition is without a title sponsor following the end of the deal with courier company‚ Ram‚ at the end of last season.
CSA head of commercial and marketing‚ former Protea Clive Eksteen, revealed that there is a process of revamping the competition to compete with some of the globally recognised T20 competitions like the Indian Premier League (IPL)‚ Australia’s Big Bash League and the Caribbean Premier League.
However‚ due to the fact that the revamping is likely to happen only next year‚ it has been a challenge to get a sponsor on a one-year agreement.
“I think it’s a fair comment. There might be some concern‚” Eksteen said‚ commenting on the sponsorship issue at the launch of the competition at the Wanderers Stadium yesterday.
“But certainly for us‚ it is where we want to go with the competition – we really want to make it a global domestic competition. In our minds that is where some of our national players are playing‚ plus some international players and our domestic players in one competition.
Eksteen went on to explain the reasons for the challenges in bagging a sponsor on a short-term (one-year) basis.
“To revamp we only had one year for a sponsorship‚ and that is quite hard for a sponsor to come in and be part of the competition for one year. It’s a very difficult thing‚” he said.
“It’s a decision that we took‚ and unfortunately Ram could not be part of the competition.”
The CSA commercial head added that the association was at advanced stages to secure sponsors for the revamped competition from next year onwards.
“Certainly by the close of this year there will be a lot more detail around it‚ as to where we want to go and the structure around it. There’s a lot of things that have to happen before this time next year,” said Eksteen.
“That is the idea . I think South Africa is crying out for a really high-end 20-over domestic competition.”
While admitting to hoping that the revamped competition would gain as much traction as the popular IPL which has become a global brand‚ Eksteen admits that there would be plenty of work to be done if they wanted to rival the multi-million dollar Indian competition.
“Certainly the IPL is unparalleled in my mind. It is a massive competition. Just the numbers are on another scale. We certainly want to take our domestic 20-over competition up a lot and compete up there‚ in our own way‚ with all the other competitions in the world‚” he said.
The domestic SA T20 competition had a dark cloud hanging over its head last season when players from different provincial sides were bust for match-fixing with some‚ including Gulam Bodi and Thami Tsolekile‚ being handed bans from the game of cricket.
Eksteen defused any suggestions that the match-fixing scandal had a hand in the lack of sponsors for this season’s competition.
“To be honest‚ it never came up . I think it’s really around how we dealt with it‚ making sure that we want to leave no stone unturned. There is no space for it in the game. Our integrity in the game is first and foremost‚” he said.
“It is not the reason for not sponsoring.” — Tiso Black Star Group Sport
Stars set to light up T20
Pietersen will re-join the Dolphins‚ where his cricket career kicked off before he ventured to the United Kingdom and ultimately became a highly regarded English international cricketer. Pollard will again bring some Caribbean flair for the Cape Cobras, where he shone last season.
The domestic Twenty20 competition is without a title sponsor following the end of the deal with courier company‚ Ram‚ at the end of last season.
CSA head of commercial and marketing‚ former Protea Clive Eksteen, revealed that there is a process of revamping the competition to compete with some of the globally recognised T20 competitions like the Indian Premier League (IPL)‚ Australia’s Big Bash League and the Caribbean Premier League.
However‚ due to the fact that the revamping is likely to happen only next year‚ it has been a challenge to get a sponsor on a one-year agreement.
“I think it’s a fair comment. There might be some concern‚” Eksteen said‚ commenting on the sponsorship issue at the launch of the competition at the Wanderers Stadium yesterday.
“But certainly for us‚ it is where we want to go with the competition – we really want to make it a global domestic competition. In our minds that is where some of our national players are playing‚ plus some international players and our domestic players in one competition.
Eksteen went on to explain the reasons for the challenges in bagging a sponsor on a short-term (one-year) basis.
“To revamp we only had one year for a sponsorship‚ and that is quite hard for a sponsor to come in and be part of the competition for one year. It’s a very difficult thing‚” he said.
“It’s a decision that we took‚ and unfortunately Ram could not be part of the competition.”
The CSA commercial head added that the association was at advanced stages to secure sponsors for the revamped competition from next year onwards.
“Certainly by the close of this year there will be a lot more detail around it‚ as to where we want to go and the structure around it. There’s a lot of things that have to happen before this time next year,” said Eksteen.
“That is the idea . I think South Africa is crying out for a really high-end 20-over domestic competition.”
While admitting to hoping that the revamped competition would gain as much traction as the popular IPL which has become a global brand‚ Eksteen admits that there would be plenty of work to be done if they wanted to rival the multi-million dollar Indian competition.
“Certainly the IPL is unparalleled in my mind. It is a massive competition. Just the numbers are on another scale. We certainly want to take our domestic 20-over competition up a lot and compete up there‚ in our own way‚ with all the other competitions in the world‚” he said.
The domestic SA T20 competition had a dark cloud hanging over its head last season when players from different provincial sides were bust for match-fixing with some‚ including Gulam Bodi and Thami Tsolekile‚ being handed bans from the game of cricket.
Eksteen defused any suggestions that the match-fixing scandal had a hand in the lack of sponsors for this season’s competition.
“To be honest‚ it never came up . I think it’s really around how we dealt with it‚ making sure that we want to leave no stone unturned. There is no space for it in the game. Our integrity in the game is first and foremost‚” he said.
“It is not the reason for not sponsoring.” — Tiso Black Star Group Sport
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