Cricket SA boss concedes risk of tournament overload but says cricket can't spurn opportunity

Cricket SA's head honcho Haroon Lorgat admitted there was a risk of overloading the game with more tournaments but said they could not close the opportunity door.

Speaking at the launch of the Africa T20 Cup at the Wanderers‚ Lorgat said the Cricket South Africa (CSA) Franchise T20 challenge will not be scrapped even though the mooted Global Domestic League is set to demote what used to be the marquee South African domestic T20 tournament.

“We have to develop players and we have to create the opportunities for them to aspire to something more‚" Lorgat said.

"Either we go from the Africa T20 Cup straight to the Global Domestic League or have something in between.

"Logic tells me you have to have something for players to aspire to even though the crowds are dwindling at 50-over and at first class level.

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"Whether you have supporters or not‚ it is crucial to have these tournaments and we know people make choices in terms of what they want to watch.

“There's always a risk of having too much and at some point‚ you have to stop and say there needs to be enough competition for all the players to have access to opportunities.

"We've got the base that is growing and as we transform and we succeed with the transformation‚ more players will be coming to the fore.

"At the end of the day‚ players do need an opportunity to shine.”

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With the increase in the number of franchises not expected to happen very soon‚ the three-year-old Africa T20 Cup provides semi-professional cricketers a chance to show their wares ahead of the domestic season.

Lorgat has been keeping an eye on the Super Rugby movements where two South African franchises will have to be cut.

He said there was a move to strengthen the lower tier squads through the addition of more contracts to stem the overseas exodus.

Unlike South African rugby‚ whose cashflow is drying up in the face of an extreme sponsorship drought‚ Lorgat said the franchises have been doing reasonably well financially.

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“This will help raise the competitive nature of the game and make sure that players believe they can use that tier of competition to sustain themselves until they make the franchise level and onto the national team.

"We hope this will include not making player's minds wonder abroad‚” Lorgat said

“It's all very well to float more teams‚ more entities and franchises but you've got to sustain them.

"We've been working on our franchise's sustainability and we are happy to say that our franchises will at the very worst be breaking even and with some‚ I'm expecting them to be breaking surpluses by the end of this financial year.

"It's too quick to be going into growing that base.”

- TMG Digital/TMG Sport