NEIL MANTHORP: Proteas start England ODI series amid a new era of cricket

Temba Bavuma and Aiden Markram will lead their respective white-ball Proteas teams, starting on Wednesday, for six matches within just 12 days to conclude one of the more interesting touring itineraries of modern times. The first of three One-Day Internationals will start at Headingley in Leeds on Wednesday six days after the conclusion of a more than 35 hour journey from Mackay in northern Queensland.

SA lost the T20I series 2-1 but won the ODI series by the same scoreline, their fifth consecutive bilateral victory against Australia. Playing in England will represent a very different challenge, not the least of which will be the large crowds, packed and rowdy unlike the family-orientated gatherings in the rural north of Australia.

One might have expected the British cricket-watching public to be exhausted after yet another jam-packed season, which included an emotionally exhausting five-match Test series against India but no, ticket sales for Leeds, Lord’s and Southampton’s Rose Bowl on Friday and Sunday are bullish. There won’t be many empty seats.

One of the reasons is The Hundred, which concluded on Sunday with the Oval Invincibles winning their third consecutive title with a comprehensive victory over the Trent Rockets. The tournament has many detractors but it has also achieved one of its core goals, to attract a “new audience” to the game.

The unintended side effect however, was that it alienated much of the old one. The Hundred has been a conspicuous success for women’s cricket and it has undoubtedly appealed to younger followers but it seems a fourth format has been a little too difficult for many older, mostly male viewers to digest.

Overs are “sets”, which consist of five balls rather than six and a bowler may deliver two sets consecutively from the same end. The existing scoreboards at grounds have just about managed to compromise and cope but television graphics look nothing like a traditional scorecard and have alienated old-school armchair viewers.

There is also the reality of sporting tribalism in the UK in which entire cities can be divided into “red” and “blue” supporters — as in the case of Manchester and Liverpool. Most Indian cricket lovers are more immediately attracted to the prospect of watching and following individuals rather than teams, which makes the IPL’s merry-go-round of players and mega-auctions unproblematic. But elsewhere, the teams are the major attraction, which is why many viewers outside India find their composition and constant disbanding confusing.

SA is probably somewhere in between. Whereas Yorkshiremen will probably never be comfortable with sons-of-the-soil Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root playing for Welsh Fire and Trent Rockets in The Hundred, perhaps local viewers have become accustomed to seeing true-blue Titan Heinrich Klaasen turning out for the Durban Super Giants.

The Hundred and the SA20 are the same age and are still growing up and finding their feet in sporting society. The English competition will have to do so all over again having now been IPL-ised for more than £500m.

The SA20 might however, want to reconsider its projected relationship with money. “Millions on the line at Betway SA20 Season 4 Player auction,” yelled the headline on last week’s press release. “Big payday awaits SA cricketers in biggest auction to date.”

“Who is going to be SA cricket’s next multimillionaire?” the release asked, somewhat proudly, before gushing about the remaining R131m the six franchises have to spend on rebuilding their squads. We were reminded, again, that each team has R41m at their disposal — “the second-highest salary cap after the IPL”.

Sport is littered with the casualties of players who prioritised their pay cheque over performance and there is no shortage of wizened coaches who advised young players to “perform on the field and the rewards will take care of themselves”. There is nothing wrong or shameful about SA20 cricketers being well-rewarded. Indeed, it really is something for the organisers to be proud of, but not necessarily to shout about.

In an era that is producing more administrators than before who know “the cost of everything but the value of nothing”, it seems important to remember that good cricket and the provision of playing opportunities to aspirant youngsters is what might provide the SA20 with its point of difference. Big is not always better.