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January’s one-day games between Australia and South Africa will be cancelled if they cannot be rescheduled, after the organisers of the touring team’s new domestic Twenty20 tournament refused to allow players to remain in Australia following the conclusion of the Sydney Test.
Elsewhere, the launch of a new UAE T20 league, to be played in January 2023, has further crunched the calendar into which the Big Bash League is attempting to revamp itself with a better quality offering than was seen in recent seasons.
Australia’s January white ball series against South Africa is as good as cancelled.Credit:AP
With both the South African and UAE leagues to be heavily backed by money flowing out of India, including numerous owners of IPL clubs, there is a serious danger of the BBL being swamped by a tidal wave of cash for players to appear in shorter tournaments.
In a reminder of the dynamics at play once private ownership is introduced to any sporting ecosystem, Cricket South Africa’s leaders have informed Cricket Australia that the new tournament means it “won’t be possible” for the three ODIs to be played as scheduled in mid-January.
This has left the two boards scrambling to find another window in which to play the games, pivotal as they are to automatic qualification for the 2023 World Cup. Presently ranked 11th, the Proteas need to finish inside the top eight to qualify. Australia are sixth.
“Whilst the timing of the ODI series against South Africa is set out in the future tours program, we have had a recent request from Cricket South Africa to reconsider the dates of the three games, but have been unable to find alternative dates as yet,” CA’s chief executive Nick Hockley said when announcing the schedule.
On Monday night, the UAE’s league, to be played in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, was formally announced. It has the backing of serious Indian money – with team owners including Reliance Industries Limited, owners of Mumbai Indians, GMR Group, co-owners of Delhi Capitals, the Kolkata Knight Riders owners, plus the giant Adani Group.
South Africa’s new tournament is majority owned by Cricket South Africa (57.5 per cent), but 30 per cent is held by the subscription broadcaster SuperSport and the remaining 12.5 per cent by Sundar Raman, formerly the chief executive of the IPL. The owners of Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals have all expressed interest in buying teams.
It is Cricket South Africa’s third attempt at starting up a franchise-based T20 league, following the Global League T20 and the Mzansi Super League, neither of which were able to get off the ground either side of COVID-19, despite the governing body’s outlay of more than $US30 million in start-up investment.