International cricket’s increasingly congested fixture list has led to a seemingly unresolvable conflict between Cricket South Africa’s commitment to the ICC World Test Championship and the tournament upon which they have placed the game’s financial future, the domestic SA20.
The Proteas are committed to playing a two-test series in New Zealand from 4 February, with a warm-up match scheduled for 29 January, which would rule out the country’s best cricketers from at least the final 10 days of the SA20.
CSA gave a commitment to the six IPL-owned SA20 Franchises that all of the national players would be available for the duration of the tournament and that will not change. Neither will the dates of the test series against New Zealand.
“We’ve collaborated and agreed dates with CSA, who have confirmed the tour, acknowledged the arrangements and have been in receipt of the schedule for several weeks,” a spokesman from New Zealand cricket said.
“Flights have been confirmed, dates for the practice game have been agreed, and we’re looking forward to the squad’s arrival. The Proteas are a popular and formidable test team and we view them as an important part of our home summer schedule.”
CSA cannot start the SA20 before the final day of the New Year test against India which finishes on 7 January at Newlands and, given the distance and, given the distance and time difference, the test team would need to leave at least a week to acclimatise before the first test – even if they forewent the scheduled three-day warm-up game.
CSA set a precedent before the inaugural edition of the SA20 when they forfeited a three-match ODI series against Australia to ensure the best players were available but CEO Pholetsi Moseki says a similar choice for the NZ tests is not being considered:
“That’s not something that we’re even considering,” Moseki told Independent Media. “Under no circumstances are we considering that but, as you can imagine, balancing our FTP schedule with the leagues and the shrinking international window has become quite a challenge.”
Only one realistic solution
The possibility of the SA20 being ‘squeezed’ into a much shorter window with the playing of multiple double-headers is almost certainly the least likely solution of all.
Anything which might compromise the financial viability of the tournament which Moseki describes as “our baby” would not even be discussed.
“I’ve bet my future on it so I’m not suddenly going to allow it to crumble. Obviously there’s quite a lot of balancing acts that will need to happen,” Moseki said. “Finding the balance from really competing interests can become a challenge.”
It is a challenge which appears to have only one realistic solution. A test team without the entire, regular bowling attack (Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Marco Jansen, Gerald Coetzee and Keshav Maharaj) as well as captain Temba Bavuma, Heinrich Klaasen and several other batters would be regarded as a ‘B’ team and a sleight to test cricket.
This may be the first major clash of commitments but it will not be the last. The Proteas may have to commit themselves to building mutually exclusive test and white ball squads.