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For the game to remain relevant in the real world, it will need to develop new audiences ©BCCI/IPL
They wore white jumpsuits, gold-rimmed sunglasses, and little else. The significant amount of black skin they exposed on this incandescent afternoon absorbed the sunlight, which bounced off their bleached, close-cropped hair. They were young, beautiful, completely fashionable, and of a gender that was not immediately evident or, perhaps, even fixed.
They were the last kind of people you’d expect to see in Newlands, the natural habitat of white and brown conservatives trapped in convention and the way things should be done – by all of us, not just conservatives – because they always They have been made that way. And yet, there they were strolling around the concourse in their overalls and sunglasses and little else, enjoying Saturday’s SA20 final along with everyone else.
Beyond all the numbers that demonstrate the success of the tournament, that tell us why the second edition was better than the first, that assure us that the competition has a solid future, there was this. SA20 is doing something right if it attracts people who wouldn’t otherwise be seen dead in a place like Newlands.
The conservatives are still there. But if the game wants to remain relevant in the real world, it will need to develop new audiences. You will need, among other things, beautiful people with overalls. The SA20 is doing its part to attract them even as it continues its core business of keeping sport afloat financially in South Africa.
But that doesn’t sit comfortably 11,500 kilometers away in New Zealand, where South Africa is likely to lose a men’s Test series to the Kiwis for the first time in the 17 matches they have played since February 1932. That will happen unless Neil Brand’s team found a way to win in Hamilton, where they scored 220/6 on the first day of the second test on Monday.
The South Africa team’s strength has been severely affected by the players’ contractual obligation to prioritize SA20, which clashed with the series. Most of the first-choice Test XI participated in the tournament and watched from afar as New Zealand won the first Test, at Mount Maunganui, by 281 runs on Wednesday.
The SA20 has the best of this bargain. South Africa’s seemingly inexhaustible supply of talent means the tournament is not short of players worthy of the stage it offers. The comings and goings of foreign stars are therefore felt less intensely than in the ILT20, which runs concurrently but relies heavily on players from other countries.
Graeme Smith is in a unique position to consider those contrasting realities. As SA20 commissioner, he is the face of the tournament and is rightly credited with most of its resounding success. As South Africa Test captain from April 2003 to March 2014, in 109 matches of which they won 53 (both world records), he led his team to the top of the rankings in August 2012, where they remained until May 2014. How do you feel, as a South African administrator, former player and captain, about the train match?
“My job is to build SA20 and make it a success, but my love for Test cricket hasn’t gone away – I care,” Smith said at a press conference on Tuesday. “I’m on the MCC cricket committee and we discussed it at length two weeks ago. The challenges for Test cricket are much deeper than just this scheduling issue. It’s about funding, how the models work.
“We saw (CWI chief executive) Johnny Grave come out and say, after an incredible Test win (by the West Indies by eight runs at the Gabba last month), that they lost over a million dollars and didn’t win not a penny.that trip.How do bilateral revenues work?Distributions?All these things need to be talked about in the game to keep Test cricket strong.
“This scheduling issue (between the Test series in New Zealand and SA20) should not have happened. It’s disappointing. It’s crazy that it happened. We have to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Under Smith, South Africa won 48.62% of their Tests, lost 26.61% and drew 24.77%. Of the 79 full games they have played since his retirement in March 2014, they have won 38, a winning percentage marginally 0.52 lower than in the Smith era. But they lost 39.24% and tied 12.66%: deficits of 12.63% and 12.14%. South Africa hasn’t been noticeably less victorious post-Smith, but it has been significantly worse at not losing. “Our Test cricket has been challenging for a long time in terms of performance,” Smith said. “I would love to see that team strong again.”
That team had the best day of its tour to New Zealand on Tuesday. After falling to 150/6 after tea, they were well served by a non-stop stand of 70 shared by Ruan de Swardt and 37-year-old debutant Shaun von Berg. South Africa could have been in a stronger position had David Bedingham not fallen off the boot after scoring a solid 39. “There are so many ways in cricket to ruin your day and that is one of them,” Bedingham told reporters . Maybe putting on a white jumpsuit would make him feel better.
© Cricbuzz