“If there are opportunities to strengthen the top, there are areas we could look at. But the biggest investment is going to be in our development.” – Enoch Nkwe, CSA’s director of cricket, on how SA20 revenue will be spent.
Telford Vice / London
MIGHT the money that is flowing into impoverished South African cricket via the SA20 stop some of the country’s top prospects from plying their trade elsewhere? It seems not.
With each of the six franchises in the tournament, which will see its inaugural edition in January and February, able to spend up to USD2-million on players, and many more millions going the way of major shareholders CSA, it seems the game’s struggles to stay afloat financially could be reaching an end. Logically, that should mean more money for the players at the highest level — which would end the drain of young players to better paid careers.
The problem was starkly apparent ahead of this year’s IPL, when Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortjé, Marco Jansen, Aiden Markram and Rassie van der Dussen chose to play in the tournament instead of make themselves available for a Test series against Bangladesh.
But, at South Africa’s men’s T20 World Cup squad announcement on Tuesday, director of cricket Enoch Nkwe said other priorities would take precedence when the SA20 cash landed in CSA coffers.
“We’re still in talks in terms of how that [SA20] money is going to work in our system,” Nkwe said. “It’s not just about the top players who have been exposed to big platforms. The most important thing is our pipeline; our development of cricket. We need to look at how we’re going to invest in our development. It’s key that we invest as much as possible, not just financially but by making sure that we have all the required resources so we continue to produce international players.
“If there are opportunities to strengthen the top, there are areas we could look at. But, first and foremost, the biggest investment is going to be in our development. Because we know the calibre of cricketers our system produces for the Proteas.”
But hanging onto those players is the challenge, and is less likely to happen if they are not going to be paid what they think they are worth once they reach the highest level. A case in point is Dewald Brevis, the 19-year-old batter who has yet to play a first-class match but has already turned out in the IPL and the CPL. What need might he have of an international career, especially if he can make better money on the T20 franchise circuit?
“We can’t ignore the fact that he has played some good cricket outside of the Proteas,” Nkwe said. “I know he’s very excited to come back into the domestic frame and play his cricket here, and prove himself. He wants to play for South Africa.
“We’re working hard behind the scenes making sure we identify a big pool of players to work with from the medium to long term. It’s a work in progress. We don’t want to have a repeat of the past, but we’re ensuring that we’re going to build some confidence in our system.”
Nkwe will have to hope that, while that happens, up and coming players don’t lose patience and follow the money to other pastures. CSA are far from the only people doling out cash to cricketers, and many of the others don’t care where they come from — or what the players they buy leave behind.
First published by Cricbuzz.
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