CAPE TOWN - The chief executives of South Africa’s six domestic cricket franchises have attempted to rescue a prime section of the cricket season with the advancement of the domestic T20 Challenge.
Originally scheduled for mid-March, and much-maligned after the 2015 match-fixing scandal that saw the T20 Challenge lose its title sponsor, it is now set to be the premier domestic competition after the much-hyped Global T20 League was postponed.
The six chief executives, along with CSA general manager Corrie van Zyl who has been tasked with filling the six-week void in November and December, all gathered in a tele-conference on Thursday to discuss the way forward.
Independent Media understands that although no Global T20 monies, in regards to “hosting fees”, were paid over to the six franchises as yet, the projected figures were close to R1.1 million they were hoping to recoup through the GLT20.
Cricket South Africa cannot recover any lost revenue through a separate broadcast deal for the T20 Challenge as SuperSport already own the rights for the tournament.
It is believed though that CSA are actively trying to source a title sponsor for the T20 Challenge tournament.
In their favour may be that South Africa’s premier cricketers - all the contracted Proteas - were scheduled to participate in the GLT20 as “marquee players” and have no other commitments at this stage.
However, with the postponement of the GLT20, players such as AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis, JP Duminy and David Miller - among others - could be snapped up by Bangladesh Premier League (BLP) franchises, especially due to a host of Pakistan players being forced to miss the first two weeks of the BPL due to domestic commitments.
The BPL and GLT20 tournament dates were originally scheduled to overlap.
Local franchise bosses are hoping, though, that certain contract stipulations which state that the Proteas would receive a percentage of their salaries regardless if the GLT20 went ahead can be utilised as a bargaining tool to keep the players in the country for the T20 Challenge.