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.

Proteas star Tazmin Brits will make her debut for the DP World Lions Ladies team this weekend as #ThePrideOfJozi look to continue their impressive start to the season in the Gauteng derby with the Fidelity Titans at SuperSport Park in Centurion.

Brits was signed from South-Western Districts by the DP World Lions in the off-season and is coming off an outstanding T20 World Cup, where she was the tournament’s second-leading run-scorer behind captain Laura Wolvaardt.

Apart from being a world-class opening batter, the 33-year-old Brits is also a prolific run-scorer at domestic level and her presence in our DP World Lions team could provide that little bit extra that takes our Pride from being runners-up in both the 50-over and T20 competitions last season, to champions.

So far this season, #ThePrideOfJozi have enjoyed two bonus point wins in the HollywoodBets Pro50 Series, while they have won one and lost one of their T20 games.

The batting has largely been led by the middle and lower-order, with the top-order getting starts but so far not converting. Brits and her enormous experience and ability could well change that.

“Now that the Proteas have been back for a while, Tazmin will be joining us and that will be good for our top-order,” coach Shaun Pretorius said. “Hopefully they will now fire. They’ve had a bit of a slump, but we support them and we know they are motivated to build a way through this passage of form.

“The middle and lower-order have been really good, but imagine the freedom they could play with with a good foundation up top. We just need to make sure we take care of that phase, get through the first 10 overs and not allow any soft dismissals. The number of wickets we’re losing is a bit concerning,” Pretorius said.

A Jukskei Derby is always a massive match for DP World Lions Cricket and Pretorius said the Ladies camp is buzzing ahead of their visit to SuperSport Park, especially since the men’s team beat the Titans twice last week to win the CSA T20 Challenge.

“I’m a bit of a nervous man,” Pretorius chuckled, “because the men have set the tone with two wins of note against the Titans. They will also have Proteas back and we don’t look down on teams who are losing, especially if they’re at the bottom because then they will be very hungry and you never know when they will click.

“For us, it’s very important we make sure we execute properly and win the different phases of the game. We’ve had good execution of our plans so far and I’m definitely happy with our performances, but there are still areas for us to improve on, especially in the T20,” Pretorius said.

The Titans are currently situated in fourth place on the Pro50 table and are fifth in the T20 standings. So, playing at home, they will be desperate to turn things around against their arch-rivals.

Our DP World Lions will be without SA U19 stars Fay Cowling, Karabo Meso and Diara Ramlakan, who are currently in Pretoria excelling against the Irish U19s, for Saturday’s 50-over match, but Pretorius will see where they are in terms of energy levels for Sunday’s HollywoodBets Pro20 Series game.

EDENVALE (Gauteng) – Defending champion Robin Williams collected two eagles on Saturday, the first of them a pivotal moment as he came back from a horror start, on his way to a two-under-par 70 which stretched his lead to three strokes after the third round of the Fortress Invitational at Glendower Golf Club.

Williams began the day with a one-stroke lead but he quickly fell from his pedestal after a double-bogey six and a bogey five on the first two holes. But he fought back superbly, holing a great eagle putt on the 500m par-five sixth. A birdie on the par-four seventh meant he was back on par, and another eagle, on the 509m par-five 11^th, put him back on the top of the leaderboard. A massive drive, 350 metres into the wind, was followed by a mediocre approach, but Williams then chipped in his third. After that he parred his way home.

“I really wasn’t good this morning and got off to a really bad start. It was chaos, a super-scrappy first two holes and then I had to make a six-footer for par on the third. But I said to my cousin [caddy Damian Williams] that we had been in this situation lots of times before and we just needed to keep our heads down and weather the storm. We just had to keep it together and try and get the pars going,” Williams said.

“The eagle on six was massive, it was a 25ft big, old, swinging putt and I needed that kickstart after the rough beginning. If you had told me on the third tee that I would finish level-par after the front nine, I would have jumped on it. I’m very happy with the turnaround and I’ve put myself in a position to win.

“I surprised myself with how far my drive went on 11, maybe it hit a sprinklerhead. I was disappointed with my second because it was such a massive drive and I had only a nine-iron in. Fortunately the ball was sitting up though and I just tried to get the chip close, luckily it went in. It’s been so hot and it’s at altitude, so I really wanted to take advantage of the par-fives. I treated them as par-fours and if I can do the same tomorrow then I’ll be in good shape.

“But there is still a lot of golf out there tomorrow, lots of guys trying to hunt me down. I was in a similar position last year and I know it’s going to be nervous, stressful and not fun. But I’ll just try and enjoy it and play with a smile on my face. I’ve already done myself proud,” Williams said.

Kyle de Beer, the leader of the Fortress Rookie of the Year standings, had his fill of birdies on the back nine as he came home in 31 to sign for a 66 and tied-second on 14-under-par.

Altin van der Merwe is third on the Fortress Rookie of the Year standings and he joined De Beer in second after making birdie on the 18^th for a two-under 70.

Daniel van Tonder was one behind Williams at the start of the third round, but he had a tiff with the fourth and fifth holes, making bogey at both. He made birdies at the sixth and 17^th holes, finishing level-par and staying second on 14-under.

First round leader Kyle Barker (68), Keenan Davidse (69) and Jovan Rebula (71) will tee it off on Sunday on 13-under-par, four behind Williams, who will bid to become the first golfer to defend a title on the Sunshine Tour since JC Ritchie when he defended his Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open crown in 2022.

EDENVALE (Gauteng) – Defending champion Robin Williams said an outstanding start and playing in the same three-ball as a charging Danie van Tonder were pivotal to his 65 on Friday, which gave him the lead after the second round of the Fortress Invitational at Glendower Golf Club.

Williams backed up his excellent 64 on the first day with a seven-under-par round that lifted him to 15-under-par at the halfway stage of the R2 million event, with Van Tonder firing a fabulous nine-under 63 on Friday to sit just one stroke behind on 14-under-par.

Altin van der Merwe (67) and Jovan Rebula (66) are a further two strokes behind, while first-round leader Kyle Barker is on nine-under, six behind, after a level-par 72 on Friday.

Williams notched three birdies in the first four holes, and reached the turn in five-under, but as most of the field found, the back nine was more testing and he came home in two-under, including a bogey at the par-three 12^th.

Van Tonder was the exception as he birdied the 10^th, 11^th and 14^th holes and then eagled the 477m, par-five 17^th to come home in 31.

“I had a good start and that set the tone for the whole round, I just had to keep the momentum going,” Williams said. “I’m very happy, you’re always pleased when you put yourself in position to win. I’ve gone above my expectations already, it’s my first title defence ever and there was quite a lot of pressure.

“But my favourite part of today was playing with Danie, we fed off each other. He played seriously good golf today and I’m looking forward to us pushing each other, bringing out the best in each other, over the weekend. It was great fun with him today and there was a stretch where he just could not stop getting birdies and I was just trying to keep up with him,” Williams said.

Because of the exciting promise he has shown and his success in the last year, Williams has had to mature quickly under the weight of attention. Especially after his sensational fourth-place finish in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

“It’s been tough handling all the external stuff, but I’m kinda learning how to handle it day in, day night. When I put my South African SIM card back in my phone, the number of messages waiting for me after the Dunhill was hectic.

“But I’m going to have to get used to it and learn to enjoy it. I still want to get my story out there as much as possible,” the 23-year-old Williams said.

Van der Merwe is 27 years old and only turned pro this year, but he showed why his amateur record was so good as he recovered from back-to-back bogeys on the third and fourth holes by collecting four birdies in the next five holes.

Rebula’s 66 included just one bogey and an eagle on the par-five 11^th.