Ken Borland

When one leaves the job of national cricket coach “to pursue other opportunities in line with his future career and personal objectives”, then the IPL would be a most suitable next step and Proteas coach Mark Boucher was duly confirmed as the Mumbai Indians new head coach on Friday.

Boucher announced earlier this week that he would step down as the Proteas coach after the T20 World Cup next month in Australia, and the “pursue other opportunities” reason was attributed to Cricket South Africa CEO Pholetsi Moseki in their statement.

“It’s a pleasure to welcome Mark Boucher to Mumbai Indians. With his proven expertise on the field and off it as a coach, guiding his team to numerous victories, Mark will add immense value to MI and take forward its legacy,” Akash M. Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Jio Infocomm, the owners of the franchise, said.

Boucher has overseen a steady growth in the Proteas T20 team, such that they are now ranked third in the world and are considered dark horses for the World Cup crown in Australia.

For Boucher, taking the coaching reins at a franchise as powerful as Mumbai Indians, the most successful IPL team in history with five titles since 2013, can almost be considered a step-up, especially in terms of salary.

But the last couple of years have been rough for Mumbai and there will be pressure for Boucher to turn around their fortunes as quickly as possible, because they missed the playoffs in 2021 and finished last this year.

“It is an honour and privilege for me to be appointed as head coach of Mumbai Indians,” Boucher said. “Their history and achievements as a franchise clearly put them up there as one of the most successful franchises in all of world sport.

“I look forward to the challenge and respect the need for results. It’s a strong unit with great leadership and players, and I look forward to adding value to this dynamic unit.”

Reports had suggested Boucher was being lined up for the MI Cape Town coaching gig in the inaugural SA20 early next year, but Australian Simon Katich has been appointed to head that sub-franchise, with Hashim Amla as the batting coach.

Boucher replaces Mahela Jayawardena as IPL coach, with the Sri Lankan great now looking after all three sub-franchises in the IPL, SA20 and Emirates T20 for Reliance as global head of performance.

Despite technological difficulties meaning the video for their big name reveal of the new SA 20 could not be played, the commissioner of the T20 franchise league, Graeme Smith, did not need to be beeped out once at the announcement on Wednesday, suggesting preparations are going relatively smoothly for the basket that is seemingly holding all Cricket South Africa’s eggs in the coming years.

Smith is under enormous pressure to deliver a successful T20 franchise league at CSA’s third attempt, but it seems the former Proteas captain is bringing the same cool, unruffled head as he did at the crease. In terms of time-frames, it is a bit of a T20 dash, and now that the name – SA 20 – has been unveiled, the player auction in Cape Town on September 19 will be the next big landmark.

“It’s a simple name, but something we can really own and bring to life,” Smith said. “We’re very excited by what can be done with it and what we can create. One of our taglines is For Everyone.

“Hopefully it will bring people together and new fans to the game, give them the opportunity to love cricket. Hopefully the highly-competitive cricket will stand out.

“To see it come to life is very exciting and hopefully there will be full stadiums and great excitement. We’ve had very tight timelines, just five months to get the league going, so we’ve had to be agile,” Smith said.

While there has been some debate over how star players like Rashid Khan (BBL), Moeen Ali (UAE) and Liam Livingstone (BBL) are going to meet their commitments to both the SA 20 and the other leagues they have signed for over the festive season, Smith said he is pleased with the players available for his league.

“We’ve attracted some high-quality players. Our league is South African focused – 60-70 of them playing on a global platform – but we do have extensive overseas interest, an immense number of players have registered for the auction.

“The Big Bash League will have a different structure this season and they’ve allowed players to play in Australia for a portion of the tournament. So from early January, those Big Bash players who have signed for the South African league will be fully available.

“There are a few players who have also signed for the Emirates league. I was in the UAE last week and met with the league and we’ve agreed a way to handle it – we’ve allowed the players to feel comfortable to choose where they play. There needs to be a way we both co-exist,” Smith said.

The Mumbai Indians Cape Town were the first team to announce their five pre-auction signings for South Africa’s new T20 league early next year, and they are all proper stars of the shortest format, led by two of the best bowlers in the business – Rashid Khan and Kagiso Rabada.

According to the rules of the still-unnamed tournament, each of the six franchises must make five direct signings before the auction, to comprise three foreign players, one player capped by South Africa and one uncapped.

MI Cape Town, which is owned by Reliance Industries, clearly pulled out all the stops in securing the services of spinner Rashid, pace spearhead Rabada, exciting new talent Dewald Brevis, and a pair of Englishmen in all-rounder Sam Curran and the explosive Liam Livingstone.

The 23-year-old Rashid, from Afghanistan, is wanted by all the T20 leagues around the world because of the many individual matchwinning performances he has produced in T20 as well as his effervescent personality. A canny leg-spinner who bowls at a brisk pace, a useful contributor with the bat down the order and a fine fielder, his signing for the South African league is a major coup.

While Rabada is one of the most feared fast bowlers in the game, the 19-year-old Brevis was all the rage in South Africa at the start of the year when he broke the record for the most runs in the U19 World Cup, playing some amazing innings. He then represented Mumbai Indians in the IPL, and clearly made an impression.

The MI Cape Town statement on Thursday confirmed that they will play in the same blue-and-gold colours of the Mumbai Indians, who have won the IPL five times since 2013.

Akash Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries, said, “I’m excited as we begin our journey in building MI Cape Town. With our direct player signings, we have taken the first step towards building the MI philosophy – having a strong core around which the team will be planned.

“I am glad to welcome Rashid, Kagiso, Liam, Sam, to the #OneFamily, and happy to have Dewald continue with us on this new journey.

“We are certain that MI Cape Town, like our two other teams, will play the brand of cricket Mumbai Indians is synonymous with – playing fearless cricket, and the same will resonate with the passionate cricket fans of South Africa and across the world.”

The first five players confirmed for South Africa’s new T20 league will certainly add the sort of value Commissioner Graeme Smith is striving to include in the line-ups.

It’s been an amazing couple of weeks for women’s rugby in this country. After their breakthrough victory on away soil over Japan on July 30, the news that FNB will be the new major sponsors of the Springbok women’s team was confirmed on Wednesday, and on Saturday the doughty national team will take on Spain at Ellis Park in the curtain-raiser to the massive Rugby Championship Test against the All Blacks.

Delighted SA Rugby president Mark Alexander said finding a principal partner for the national women’s team had not been an easy task, but having chased after several potential sponsors, they then went back to an Old Faithful in FNB, and they have committed themselves to sharing the federation’s passion for the development of the women’s game.

It is the same company who, after Springbok rugby had arguably reached its nadir in 2017, signed a three-year deal, which was extended for five more in 2020, when other sponsors were jumping ship. The bank is undoubtedly now reaping the benefits with South African rugby on an absolute high.

“We have presented so many proposals to so many companies to sponsor our women’s team,” Alexander said at the announcement at Melrose Arch on Wednesday.

“But like they did when they came in after the 2016 season when all our other sponsors were leaving us, FNB have answered the call. A lot is being said about supporting women’s sport, but very few corporates actually do.

“This is an exciting start for the women’s game. You can see the quality of their play and I must commend Lynne Cantwell [High-Performance Manager for Women’s Rugby] for getting the right pillars in place.

“We want people to see our Springbok Women in action, to put them in the lights. Society needs to change its mindsets and the time has come for corporates to put their money where their mouths are,” Alexander said.

South Africa’s 20-10 win over Japan was a top-class effort, with Cantwell, a former Ireland captain, describing it on Wednesday as “a huge stake in the ground, a well-constructed win that was not by luck”.

Springbok captain Nolusindiso Booi was thrilled by all the good news surrounding her team and said Saturday’s Test against Spain at Ellis Park was a chance for them to perform in front of their heroes in the men’s side.

“We’re very excited to play before our heroes and display our rugby, and also to make the fans proud,” Booi said. “We’ve seen a lot of improvement, things are changing in women’s rugby.

“We’re on the up and now we need to go and compete with bigger teams as our goal is to make the top-five and ensure every girl playing rugby is aiming to play for the Springboks,” Booi said.