Former South Africa cricketer & SA20 League Commissioner Graeme Smith said, Cricket South Africa is heavily invested in SA20, aiming to establish it as a strong franchise tournament. Conflicts like balancing formats are common across the game. For instance, India currently fields three different teams across formats, and Australia recently prioritized Test matches over ODIs against Pakistan. Franchise cricket is growing globally, and for South Africa, SA20 benefits our game, with most players being local. While tough decisions were needed initially, we believe this model can work alongside traditional cricket. Developing squad depth is crucial, and adopting systems like India and Australia will help us nurture versatile players. The challenge for federations is retaining players amid opportunities outside the 'big three'—India, England, and Australia. Countries must manage their players well to keep them in the game.
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00:00No, look, I think Cricket South Africa are heavily involved in SA20 and they made those
00:06decisions to really give the league an opportunity to start, build and develop into a strong
00:14franchise tournament.
00:15You know, I think conflicts is something that is happening across the game, I mean you just
00:21look now, as I said, even if you take the Indian team now at the moment, they've got
00:26three different teams around the world, an AA, a Test team and a T20 team happening.
00:31So squad depth, and we've looked at Australia now against Pakistan, they didn't pick their
00:35best team in the ODIs because they're prioritising the Test matches.
00:38So I think it's a natural ebb and flow.
00:41I think what's happening is that franchise cricket is obviously developing and getting
00:44stronger globally.
00:45From our perspective in South Africa, we see it benefiting South African cricket, you know,
00:51the majority of our players are South African, like at the IPL, you know, it's a window
00:56that we have and, you know, we believe we can work around it.
00:59In the beginning, obviously you've got to make one or two tough decisions, but, you
01:04know, South African cricket also needs to develop that squad depth and we'll have to
01:08start looking at models like India and Australia in terms of developing players that can play.
01:14You know, I think the challenge for federations now is that players outside, sort of, maybe
01:20the three big nations of India, England and Australia have opportunities, you know, and
01:25that's why I think federations and countries need to be good at what they do, they need
01:29to look after their players to keep them in the game.