Ken Borland

T20 franchise cricket has changed the life of more than one cricketer and the IPL, who held their mega auction at the start of the week, has done that more than most. But Betway SA20 Commissioner Graeme Smith wants South Africa’s franchise T20 tournament to do that and revitalise the game in the country he captained with such distinction.

The Indian Premier League is obviously the benchmark all other leagues aspire to, and their auction saw record prices being paid for the next tournament being held from March 14 next year, with the 10 franchises spending more than £60 million overall.

Smith wants the SA20 to continue growing in stature such that it is considered to be part of the top group of T20 tournaments, and the fact that so many South Africans and overseas players who feature in the SA20 are being picked up by the IPL as well, bodes well for the stature of the January/February competition.

Proteas stars Heinrich Klaasen, Marco Jansen (the most expensive overseas player), Quinton de Kock, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Gerald Coetzee, David Miller, Aiden Markram, Faf du Plessis and Lungi Ngidi have all been signed up by the IPL, as well as lesser-known players like Lizaad Williams, Kwena Maphaka, Matthew Breetzke, Donovan Ferreira, Ryan Rickelton and Tristan Stubbs, who have shone in the SA20 and thereby attracted the attention of the Indian franchise owners who all have teams in the IPL too.

Amongst the highest-paid overseas stars who were bought at the IPL auction are players like Josh Buttler, Jofra Archer, Moeen Ali, Noor Ahmad and Rashid Khan, who have all featured regularly in the SA20.

“From an SA20 perspective, it’s lovely to see the platform provided by our tournament to these players and there are a significant number of South African players in the top money-earners list,” Smith told sportsboom.com in an exclusive interview at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Monday.

“Last year we produced the most players going to the IPL of all the overseas countries, and that shows the growth of our franchise cricket. And that includes a few youngsters, those are the good stories of people’s lives being changed, like Kwena Maphaka going to Rajasthan Royals for £142 000.

“So the exposure from the SA20 is very important but we also hope that the tournament keeps the Proteas strong. They haven’t had a great period in T20 cricket since making the World Cup final, but the IPL auction and the SA20 tournament show that there is still some incredible talent there.

“There is a lot of franchise cricket played around the world and we want to elevate SA20 so that it is one of the No.1 picks. There is like a Tier One of these T20 franchise tournaments and we certainly want to be up there. I think we are establishing ourselves as one of the Tier One events.

“The feedback from the overseas players has been incredible. They love coming to South Africa because of the crowds, they say the tournament is well-run and, most importantly, they say it provides extremely competitive cricket. Two years into the event, there is much higher confidence that we can pull it off and we hope it just keeps developing,” Smith said.

Smith has high hopes that the SA20 will also keep developing South African domestic talent into world-beating international stars. Never mind being able to get them on the phone, the likes of Tristan Luus, an SA U19 all-rounder, can sit in the Mumbai Indians changeroom and chat face-to-face with Ben Stokes about the game. Likewise, Breetzke, who has just set off on his international career, will be chewing the ear off of fellow top-order batsman Kane Williamson in the Durban Super Giants locker-room.

“With our rookie draft and our introduction of the SA20 Schools competition, we’re going to expose a lot of youngsters. Plus the franchises are unbelievable when it comes to their attention to their pipeline and talent. They bring great expertise in terms of the support staff.

“Maybe before SA20, our players were not developing in the right way, they were becoming fully professional late in the day and you were still trying to educate them at national team level. But playing against the best shows you where you need to improve and what it takes to play at that level. They can sit and chat with a Ben Stokes or a Kane Williamson, and you’ll have international physios telling them that these are the levels they need to reach physically,” Smith said.

The bottom line is always commercial, however, and the SA20 continues to be the second-biggest money-spinner for CSA after the Proteas men. That has enabled things like the SA20 Schools competition, an annual camp for U19 girls and an umpire exchange with The Hundred in England, to be introduced.

There was more good news for the SA20 on the commercial front on Monday as they announced a new partnership with DP World, the global smart logistics and supply chain company.

Kagiso Rabada is once again the No.1 bowler in red-ball cricket according to the ICC world rankings, but as much as he believes Test cricket is the pinnacle of the game, South Africa’s spearhead says winning the World Test Championship is not at the top of his bucket list.

The Proteas, whose inability to win a limited-overs World Cup has baffled cricket-lovers around the globe, are in position to make the World Test Championship final next year, even though they are currently lying fifth in the standings with a win percentage of 54.17. But their last four Tests in this cycle are all at home and winning all of those games, against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, will lift that figure to 69.44%, which will guarantee them a place in the final at Lord’s from June 11 to 15 next year.

A couple of draws and two wins could also be enough, depending on the results of the Tests between Australia and India and New Zealand and England.

In the last calendar year, South Africa have come closest to breaking their World Cup hoodoo, reaching the semi-finals of the 50-over event last November in India and making the final of the T20 tournament in the West Indies and USA in June 2024. They seemed on-course to win that final against India, but superb bowling at the death, led by Jasprit Bumrah, saw them fall short by just seven agonising runs.

Rabada, who reached 300 Test wickets in the least-ever number of balls during the recent 2-0 series win in Bangladesh, has said previously that individual milestones are not his main motivation, but winning a World Cup for South Africa is his chief goal.

But, in an exclusive interview with SportsBoom at his home ground of the Wanderers, Rabada said claiming the World Test Championship crown would not scratch that itch, even though the longest format is his favourite.

“The T20 World Cup was extremely heartbreaking, but I feel we rose to the occasion,” Rabada said. “We are edging closer and closer to winning a World Cup and it’s just a matter of making that last, full step. But it was nice to be in that moment, we now know what it takes. You need a bit of luck as well.

“But having that experience is important, coming so close under high pressure, experiencing that will be invaluable going forward. I think the lesson we take from that final is not to over-complicate things, but the lessons will apply to each individual differently. But there was so much agony and once you feel it, you can’t unfeel it.

“Winning the World Test Championship would not completely satisfy me, although I would still be very proud and it would be amazing to do it. But the 50-over World Cup has so much value and history; the World Test Championship is not there yet, it’s a new thing.

“For me, winning the ODI World Cup is the holy mecca. You lose one game in the playoffs there and you’re gone. Whereas the World Test Championship is about who the best team is over a two-year period. We are now at crunch time in that tournament,” Rabada said.

Trying to decipher the South African team’s resting policies can at times feel like picking through dirty laundry, but the 29-year-old Rabada is frank about the management of his workloads, which has seen him sitting out the current T20 series against India.

“I’ve learnt to listen and understand my body better and I know I won’t feel the same as I did in my early twenties. I’ve bowled a lot of overs and it’s been a high workload. So looking at my path moving forward, I’m going to prioritise Test and ODI cricket.

“It’s not just about physical fatigue but also mental, and I believe it’s the smart decision to preserve myself. It also gives opportunities for others to step up and come through.

“But Test cricket is the best and all the greats played that. Even the most dominant T20 players, they play Test cricket. It’s the hardest and best format,” Rabada said.

With 313 wickets in 66 Tests at an average of just 21.49, 157 ODI wickets in 101 matches while conceding a touch over five runs-an-over, and 71 scalps in 65 T20 Internationals, it is easy to think Rabada is at his peak.

But the athletic U19 World Cup winner says there is still room for improvement.

“I don’t know if I’m at my best yet. I just want to keep pushing the limits. It could sound crazy, but I believe you never know how much you can get out of yourself.”

And, given that he is now clearly one of the strongest leaders in the Proteas set-up, what about captaincy?

“Taking more of a leadership role has come naturally really, it’s the circle of life and I’ve been in the Proteas team now for nine years. I’ve just taken it in my stride and I’m happy to be one of the leaders. I feel it’s something I’m meant to take on and I’m not shy about it.

“It’s a natural process when you consider the experience and knowledge that I’ve gained. So I’m willing to express myself and pass down that knowledge, when there are people who want to hear it. It’s because I have a lot of care for this team, why wouldn’t I want to be involved in the decision-making?

“As far as the actual captaincy goes, I have thought of it. Pat Cummins actually asked me about it and he said he found it difficult to separate it from playing his own game. He said as a bowler, you need a lot of assistance to be captain.

“But it’s something I would not rule out, but I won’t be strongly advocating for it. It must just happen naturally,” Rabada said.

Caring for the Proteas and their performance comes naturally too for Rabada. As does his undiluted passion for the game: The fifth-leading wicket-taker in South Africa’s Test history insisted on conducting this interview sitting outside on the balcony of the president’s lounge at the Wanderers, so he could watch the progress of his Central Gauteng Lions domestic team as they opened their four-day campaign.

PORT EDWARD (KwaZulu-Natal) – The Vodacom Origins of Golf Series is at Wild Coast Sun Country Club this week, a perilously rugged course, and young contender Jonathan Broomhead says it is important for him to bring his best game for the challenge.

Fortunately Broomhead is in good touch of late, having ended in the top-10 last week, further up the east coast at the SunBet Challenge Sun Sibaya event, and the 23-year-old has had five other top-10 finishes this season, including being the runner-up at the Vodacom Origins of Golf Highland Gate tournament. He is currently seventh on the Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy, the same position he finished last season, speaking to the consistency the Durban Country Club player is producing.

“At the Wild Coast, you always hope that you’re going to be on the better side of the weather, because it can get really nasty around here. You can’t come here with expectations, you just have to try and play your game. When the wind blows, you can only focus more on what you can control, play according to your game-plan, make sure you stick to that,” Broomhead said.

“You have to make sure your golf is where it needs to be when you come here because it is a very tough course. You need to manage yourself and play the course as it is. You have to stay patient because you can get bad bounces every now and then; you can quickly be two or three over and scrambling. But if you make a putt or two, then you can ride that momentum.

“Last week was nice for me; I struggled a bit for the first two rounds but then had a good third round of 67. My game is heading in the right direction, it’s in a nice place, but there are still a few things to improve on. I just need to take every opportunity and try and keep going with that momentum,” Broomhead said.

Broomhead’s mature approach and comfort in the wind mark him out as one of the main threats in this R2 million event, which is the third leg of the series and the last before the final at Oubaai from November 14-17.

Veteran Jean Hugo was the runner-up in the SunBet Challenge event held here last season and pipped Broomhead to the Vodacom Origins of Golf title at Highland Gate, while the seasoned MJ Viljoen is fifth on the Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy.

The experienced Heinrich Bruiners, a member of the Sunshine Tour’s Papwa Sewgolum Class, is also in great form, having finished fifth in the Vodacom Origins of Golf Sishen event last month and fourth last week at Umhlali Country Club, while Pieter Moolman is the defending champion and has a couple of other recent top-five finishes at the Wild Coast Sun Country Club.

Kathu (Northern Cape) – There were nearly 35 excited children from the Kuruman chapter of the South African Golf Development Board at the Sishen Golf Club driving range on Thursday, taking part in the Vodacom Origins of Golf development clinic and receiving coaching on the basics of the game from Sunshine Tour professionals, but one little guy stood out because he has been teeing it up around the country in junior golf with some success.

Delrico Agterdam is just 10 years old but he already plays off a seven and he is ranked the number two junior in the Northern Cape. For the last two years, he has received his provincial colours for the U13 team.

Considering how much younger he is than his fellow competitors, it is tantalising to think how good Agterdam will be once he fills out a bit.

Annemarie Rabie is the SAGDB coach for the Kuruman area and she was at Sishen Golf Club on Thursday. She says there is little else Agterdam is interested in other than golf.

“Delrico thinks about golf all the time. He eats and sleeps for the game and he really wants to become a professional golfer when he is big. He started playing when he was really small and he puts in a lot of work. The great thing about him is that I can give him a lesson today and tomorrow he will be practising that exact thing and remembering what I taught him,” Rabie says.

Agterdam’s father works at Kuruman Country Club and Rabie first saw him there, just playing around with a club and a ball. The talent was obvious.

Giving disadvantaged golfers the opportunity and exposure to express and fulfil that talent is what the Vodacom Origins of Golf development clinics are all about. But while Agterdam will be aiming to write his name in the annals of the game, the clinics also help engender a love for golf amongst all the other kids. Vodacom wants them to know that there is a place for them in this great game, whether that be as a player, fan, coach or administrator.

“These clinics are really excellent and it was so amazing to see how much the kids enjoyed it. They were like little sponges and they all had a million stories to tell on the 45km drive back to Kuruman. It’s just amazing what Vodacom do, if there weren’t these clinics then these kids would never have been coached by Sunshine Tour pros, or have met them or have played on a course like Sishen Golf Club.

“And when we got to Kuruman Country Club, Delrico climbed out of the car and said he wanted to go and play a few holes, he was so inspired!” Rabie laughed.