A franchise T20 league is the next step to make Proteas better, says Tryon

Chloe Tryon, who’s been part of all three major women’s franchise leagues in England, India and Australia, feels that if a women’s SA20 can’t be held now, then another form of competition needs to be created as filler.

“The only way to carry on developing [women’s cricket] now is to start a league. I think we can play some exhibition matches alongside SA20. That will help girls to rub shoulders with the best in the world.”

It feels like the natural next progression for women’s cricket in South Africa, but establishing a women’s SA20, as the league’s commissioner Graeme Smith has pointed out previously, is challenging.

While the Proteas have proven themselves to be a world-class outfit, the feeder programme to the national side needs improvement. Currently, the player base below the national level is shallow and thus creating squads for six teams — as is the figure for the men’s SA20, will be difficult.

Cricket SA (CSA) only began its professional provincial programme three years ago at the behest of the government, which gave the organisation R15m to start professional provincial cricket. Before then only the national players were contracted, along with high-performance contracts for 12 players one tier below.

Now, with further support from gambling firm HollywoodBets, CSA has also been able to hand out 66 provincial contracts. A player base is being quickly created, and like the SA20 has exposed young men’s players in the country to international coaches and allowed them to rub shoulders with international players, so Tryon believes the development of the country’s women’s cricketers can be accelerated with exposure in a similar way — in the short-term through exhibition games.

“Look, even if it is not Ellyse Perry, or Alyssa Healy or Harmanpreet Kaur, we’ve still got girls playing WBBL at a high level who are really good, and they can come here and help our girls’ experience,” said Tryon.

“I feel like when you play with the best in the world your level goes up a little bit. Even having something alongside the SA20, it may be a slow burner, but it is something. It will only help our game.”

Unlike Australia and England, the two historic powerhouses in the women’s game, South Africa’s domestic programmes have been flimsy. But at least it’s made a start.

Tryon, who plays for the DP World Lions, Laura Wolvaardt, who is with the Titans and Nonkululeko Mlaba at the Dolphins, rarely get a chance to play alongside provincial teammates because of the heavy international programme.

Cricket SA agreed to a busy schedule as a way to offset the absence of a proper provincial structure, which is how the likes of Wolvaardt, Tazmin Brits and Sune Luus developed as international cricketers. That means they’re away a lot, which is another hindrance to the establishment of a women’s SA20.

After their World Cup exploits, the national team will get back together at the end of the month, to prepare for a home series with Ireland that runs from December 5 to 19. Before then Wolvaardt and Tryon, will most likely head to Australia to play in the Women’s Big Bash for a couple of weeks.

Though dates for the Women’s Premier League have yet to be confirmed, reports in India have suggested it could begin in the second week of January, a month earlier than normal because of the men’s T20 World Cup starting in February.

That kind of schedule makes creating even exhibition games hard this year.

She admitted that she has talked to CSA officials about the domestic women’s programme and a bit like the men, her biggest complaint is the number of provincial matches in which local players can participate. “Ten games a year is not enough,” stated Tryon.

“I’ve had those chats [with administrative officials]. The only way these girls get better is to play more matches, where they are rubbing shoulders with the Wolvaardts, De Klerks or Kapps.”

Tryon acknowledges that the situation now is better than it was when she started. “Some girls used to have jobs, they had to work, then train and then play, which is hard to balance.

“There are enough coaches in the structure to help the girls, and that can only help their skills to get better. The domestic level has grown immensely.

“Because of domestic contracts, the girls have been able to focus more on their skills work. When I started, there wasn’t any of that. We used to just train the day before and then play. Now we have girls with contracts, where they can focus on their skills.”

As the provincial structure improves and more players challenge for Proteas spots, the establishment of a women’s SA20 — scheduling aside — seems inevitable.

For now, it is Tryon, and her national teammates, through their outstanding play in global tournaments who are lifting the standard of South African cricket.

The Proteas women have, in the last 10 years, punched well above their weight class and can no longer be described as plucky opponents.

“We’re not going to tournaments just to make up the numbers anymore,” Nadine de Klerk remarked.