Ken Borland

Springbok centre Francois Venter is a man who brings leadership and rugby intelligence to the field, and his inclusion in the Sharks starting XV for their United Rugby Championship derby against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Sunday highlights the experienced midfield the franchise is building.

The 31-year-old former Free State Cheetahs star, who has played seven Tests, was part of the unfortunate Worcester Warriors team that went into liquidation, and the Sharks snapped him up to join the other strong group of centres they have. Lukhanyo Am, who should be back in action in early December, is a seasoned Springbok and world leader in midfield, 28-year-old Rohan Janse van Rensburg is in the prime of his career and Ben Tapuai is a 33-year-old Wallaby who has experience playing in both hemispheres.

“Francois brings a lot of experience, he has played at international level and in the UK,” Sharks director of rugby Neil Powell said on Friday. “He has a lot of rugby IQ.

“Our attack coach Noel McNamara has been very impressed with him over the last two weeks and how quickly he has understood what is expected in terms of our attacking principles and system.

“Francois has an amazing work ethic, he’s a good guy. He has caught up very quickly with what he needs to know and I’m looking forward to seeing how he goes.

“Hopefully Francois can bring some stability, and with Rohan coming back for the Cardiff game after the international window and Lukhanyo targeting the Ospreys game in early December, we have a few centres with good experience, plus Marnus Potgieter and Murray Koster in the squad,” Powell said.

Of course, having all these playing resources attracts both expectation and naysayers, and, shorn of their regular Springboks, there will be no sterner test of their form than travelling to Loftus Versfeld to take on the Bulls.

“There’s not just expectation from the franchise owners but from ourselves as management and players,” Powell said. “The key is the pressure we put on our ourselves to succeed.

“There’s an opportunity to do things differently now, and there will be a few changes. But the union is in a really good place, even though we’re just at the beginning of our journey.

“We know it is always a physical battle playing the Bulls at home, especially amongst the forwards. It’s going to take a good 80-minute game for us to win. We’ll be in trouble if we don’t stand up to them physically and play for 80 minutes.

“We need to put pressure on them in all areas and also match their kicking game. But there’s a good energy in our system,” Powell said.

Sharks – Aphelele Fassi, Werner Kok, Francois Venter, Ben Tapuai, Thaakir Abrahams, Boeta Chamberlain, Cameron Wright, Phepsi Buthelezi, Vincent Tshituka, Dylan Richardson, Hyron Andrews, Gerbrandt Grobler, Thomas du Toit (c), Kerron van Vuuren, Ntuthuko Mchunu. Bench: Dan Jooste, Dian Bleuler, Carlu Sadie, Justin Basson, James Venter, Sikhumbuzo Notshe,  Grant Williams, Marnus Potgieter.

Temba Bavuma says he wants to park the bitter disappointment of not being bought for the SA20 franchise tournament for now as he looks ahead to the tour of India and then the T20 World Cup in Australia straight afterwards, but there is no doubting the Proteas captain feels like he has been ditched on Lovers’ Lane.

Bavuma, captain of the national T20 side, failed to draw a single bid in this week’s auction, despite being put up for sale three times, and will now not be a part of the most important T20 tournament this country has hosted. The 32-year-old suffered the same fate as fellow Proteas white-ball stalwart Andile Phehlukwayo.

“I would be lying if I said there wasn’t disappointment and obviously I expected to play a role in the SA20. And it’s not just myself but Andi as well, he has played for several years for South Africa in white-ball cricket.

“I feel almost let down. This is not coming from a place of entitlement though and you want to be selected on merit or whatever credentials you have.

“I also need to caution myself not to delve too deeply into it, even though I would like to think about it more. It’s not the right time now, my focus is on the India tour and the World Cup afterwards.

“It is comforting that some people share the same sentiments as me, but the biggest thing for me is to serve the team the best I can, I still have a big responsibility as captain,” Bavuma said on Thursday, sounding like someone who needed to be in hospital.

Setbacks have generally brought out the best of the feisty, determined Bavuma in the past and he’s not one for cussing and moaning in a dark corner. Coach Mark Boucher said the team ensured the captain knew he had their support when the squad had a get-together before their departure for India on Friday – “Temba is our leader, we back him 100% and you could see the energy around him, the guys understand the situation he is going through.”

“There are things I need to deal with on a personal level, but I’m not going to sit here and say I need to prove anything,” Bavuma said. “We had some team-building last night and it was nice to see the guys.

“We have friendships and relationships that go far beyond just being team-mates and knowing that they are there as my team-mates is enough, their presence is enough.

“I don’t expect words of sympathy, let’s rather go out there and create some memories. I’ve been out injured for three months so I’m looking forward to getting out on the park again,” Bavuma said.

The Joburg Super Kings have secured the services of Stephen Fleming as their head coach for the inaugural SA20 tournament and the New Zealander will obviously have good memories of returning to the Wanderers, where he steered the mother franchise – the Chennai Super Kings – to the Champions League title in 2010.

As the owners of the Johannesburg franchise, it is understandable that CSK would appoint their much-admired head coach to take the reins. Fleming has won the IPL four times and been runner-up another four times during his two stints as Chennai coach.

“My last memory of being at the Wanderers was with Chennai, winning the Champions League. I remember it very fondly, it’s a wonderful ground,” Fleming said.

“First thing I remember was the support that we got through South Africa, which was a surprise for all of us. It just shows the passion of the South African cricket fans to follow good cricket.

“We like to produce that and we’re really hoping we can get good support from Johannesburg and around the country. That’s a big part of what Chennai is about,” Fleming said.

Faf du Plessis, who made his IPL bow with the Chennai Super Kings in 2011, spent a decade with the franchise and it must have been hell for him when they did not retain him ahead of this year’s IPL auction, where they then lost out on his services in a bidding war with Bangalore Royal Challengers.

But he is now back in the Chennai fold and will captain the Joburg Super Kings. Du Plessis has an impressive record at the Wanderers, averaging 40.61 in his 15 T20s there, and he made South Africa’s highest T20I score – 119 off 56 balls – there against the West Indies in 2015.

“I have an extremely lucky and long relationship with Chennai,” Du Plessis said. “When the opportunity presented itself to play for them again, I was extremely happy.

“I think the SA20 league is going to be incredibly crucial for the sustainability of South African cricket. Being involved with the IPL for the last 11 years, I’ve seen first-hand the difference that T20 leagues can have on a country’s cricket.

“You see the difference that it makes to the younger players. That knowledge, wisdom and experience that you can share with your young talent in your own country, that’s extremely important for the growth of the national team.

“I’ve been lucky as a player and as a captain to have some really good leaders in my time. Starting under Graeme Smith, then moving to AB de Villiers, then my time at Chennai Super Kings, where Stephen Fleming was really influential at the beginning of my leadership journey,” Du Plessis said.

South Africa’s bombshell decision to pull out of their ODIs in Australia next January, thereby harming their chances of qualifying automatically for the World Cup, have exposed not only the adverse financial situation CSA find themselves in, but also their obsession and the massive gamble they are taking in trying to get a T20 franchise league off the ground.

By forfeiting three ODIs against Australia, the Proteas will miss out on a possible 30 points that could have lifted them from their lowly current position of 11^th on the World Cup Super League qualifying table into the top eight and an automatic place in the showpiece 50-over tournament.

The reason CSA have given for taking such a drastic step is that their new T20 franchise league they are launching next January is their priority and they feel they have to have their Proteas available for the new tournament.

Not many people realise, but it was South Africa who first played T20 cricket at a senior, interprovincial level. Back in 2002, SuperSport and Discovery combined for a knockout 20-over tournament featuring Western Province, Northerns and KZN, and one other invited team, that sent the winners on a trip to an exotic destination as a prize.

South Africa were also amongst the first to stage a formal domestic T20 tournament, in 2004 as part of the switch to the franchise system.

While T20 was not initially taken very seriously at international level, after South Africa hosted the first T20 World Cup in 2007, the format’s popularity quickly spread through all levels of the cricketing world.

India won that inaugural World Cup, beating Pakistan in a thrilling final at the Wanderers, and the most cricket-mad country in the world’s love affair with T20 began. The Indian Premier League, the most lucrative of all cricket events, began in 2008.

The 2009 IPL was hosted by South Africa due to security concerns surrounding India’s general election. And that is when the adverse effects T20 has had on the running of cricket in this country began to rear their ugly head.

For CSA, T20 has been a bit like The One Ring in J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic, The Lord of the Rings. The ring forged by the dark lord Sauron has the ability to provide great power, but it also corrupts even the most well-intentioned.

Following their hosting of the IPL, CSA became embroiled in the Bonus Scandal that cost CEO Gerald Majola and several high-ranking administrators their jobs.

The T20 Global League, the brainchild of Haroon Lorgat, who succeeded Majola as CSA’s chief executive, was meant to get off the ground in 2017 and then in 2018, but it was embroiled in controversy over broadcast rights. Lorgat was fired by the Cricket Capturers who then plunged CSA into its biggest ever crisis, and the reason why the organisation was, six months ago, apparently a year away from Day Zero – when they could no longer pay the players.

The engineers of that ‘coup’ then launched the Mzansi Super League, which was played in 2018 and 2019 but was never financially sustainable because the broadcast rights – where most of the income should be derived – were given to the SABC for free.

And now CSA have a new Precious. There is another T20 domestic franchise league on the table, waiting to be launched. Whether this will be another poisoned chalice or a belated success story remains to be seen.

On the positive side, what toppled the previous attempts – the lack of broadcast income – has been resolved by SuperSport coming on board and being a 30% stakeholder in the event.

As far as the Proteas are concerned, there is disappointment that they won’t be playing the ODIs in Australia and they are upset over the 30 qualifying points lost. But unlike last October when CSA made a unilateral decision that the players must take a knee for Black Lives Matter, this time the team were consulted and they understand the financial priorities at play.

Apart from having all our own stars involved, big-name overseas players such as Jos Buttler and Liam Livingstone are being courted to play in the league. But it’s not as if there’s no competition for their signatures: The Big Bash League starts in Australia in December and the Emirates Cricket Board are launching their own new T20 league in January 2023 as well.

CSA are reportedly allowing each of the six teams in their league a U.S.$1.5 million salary bill, but the UAE are apparently going to match that and their players will only have to pay 2% tax, compared to the 15% withholding tax in South Africa.

CSA have three main income streams: broadcast rights, sponsorships and ICC disbursements.

While not qualifying for the 50-over World Cup would mean missing out on a substantial amount of U.S. dollars, broadcast rights only really bring in the millions CSA require when they host one of the Big Three, especially India.

And, thanks to the aforementioned CSA ‘coup’ in 2018, sponsors have also largely fled the coop.

So one can understand CSA’s desperation to find some way to keep the lights on at their Melrose Estate offices. And by extension the 15 provinces, which cost CSA R250 million a year to look after.

More countries are likely to pull out of bilateral commitments, and even risk their participation in ICC events, because of cricket’s skewed financial model.

It is time the International Cricket Council, as the mother body of the game, took serious steps to look after all their children and not just India, England and Australia. A failure to ensure a level playing field will lead to the demise of international cricket.