A trainsmash is a trainsmash is a trainsmash, however much you ignore its shuddering impact and keep calm and carry on.
Sunday Times
TELFORD VICE in Cape Town
WHATEVER happens, do not, under any circumstances, come hell, high water or anything else, mention the war.
“Focus now shifts to the shorter format, with the T20 Challenge scheduled to begin next Friday, November 10,” at least four Cricket South Africa (CSA) press releases have read, more or less, in the past six days.
Is this a plot to con us by rote?
“Please be advised,” another effort intoned, “that the changes to the franchise fixtures for the 2017-18 season has meant that changes have had to be made to the CSA provincial fixture lists as well.”
But a trainsmash is a trainsmash is a trainsmash, however much you ignore its shuddering impact and keep calm and carry on.
The bulletproof truth is that the T20 Challenge is desperate damage control for the failed inaugural edition of the T20 Global League.
CSA told us on October 10 that they had postponed the latter because it was going to run at a loss of US$25-million. They also said they would investigate. More than three weeks on, they’ve volunteered precious little else on the issue.
What does this mean for cricketminded South Africans, besides giving them still another reason to think the suits are dangerously negligent at best?
That they won’t be able to watch, in the flesh at a ground near them, fading stars like Chris Gayle, Kevin Pietersen, Lasith Malinga and Brendon McCullum inflate their bank balances in the pretend cause of teams that don’t barely exist.
Plan B is that they will be able to watch, in the flesh at a ground near them, playing for a team that has existed since the start of the franchise era 13 years ago, something as relevant as Dale Steyn’s return from a year on the sidelines with a calamitous shoulder injury.
And to see how seriously Vernon Philander, who has recovered from a back problem and has been playing first-class matches, which are not on television and therefore out of mind, has taken Graeme Smith’s blunt admonition in England this winter that he needs to lose the junk in his trunk.
Yes, Steyn and Philander would have played in the T20GL. But now they won’t have ballies like Gayle and Pietersen getting in their way.
The prospect of seeing Steyn steam in for the Titans in their opener against the Lions on Sunday is easily worth taking the Gautrain for those within striking distance of Centurion.
There are, then, reasons to look forward to plan B that don’t require the suspension of disbelief.
But, at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth, where the Warriors will be up against the Knights next Friday, there is a disappointment for what might have been.
“The T20GL was well-positioned in terms of the quality of the competition,” Mark Williams, the chief executive of the Eastern Province Cricket Board and the Warriors, said.
“The quality of player that the T20GL attracted will make it a really good competition [if the postponed tournament is played in future as promised], and the plans that our franchise owner had would have made it quite special.
“But we’ve got the Proteas back, which is good. Whether they play for the Warriors or not we’re still going to feature them at St George’s Park, and that’s going to help.
“So [the T20 Challenge] will be better than other years because of the Proteas being around. Whether it’s going to measure up to the T20GL, I’ll leave it for you to answer because …”
Williams didn’t finish his sentence. But at least he mentioned the war.
Bulletproof Truth 