The Cricket SA first division has a strange look about it this season, with the once-mighty Titans and Lions languishing at the bottom, having been dominant at the top for many years.
Neither of the once-mighty provinces made the play-offs in the T20 Challenge, while the Lions are in fifth place on the 4-Day log, and the winless Titans are stone last in eighth.
So, what’s gone wrong? Nothing. Quite the opposite, in fact. The Lions and Titans are comfortably the most professionally administered unions in the country with the most efficient infrastructure and elite coaching staff. Why have they stopped winning?
Three vital decisions were made at the national board level a few years ago that have exploded within domestic cricket and left the provincial game struggling for purpose and meaning.
First, there was the move to two divisions with promotion and relegation, an attempt to add context and jeopardy to every game, which seemed reasonable. But the decision to “bridge the gap” between domestic and international cricket by hugely increasing the “A” team schedule has undermined the two-division system, as has the decision to move to a single round of fixtures. The top eight teams play just seven matches.
The relentless international calendar means that, even when Proteas players are available to play domestic cricket, they are mostly rested. None of the nationally contracted players selected for the tour of Pakistan played in the first two rounds of four-day matches.
The result is that all efforts in the first division are now aimed at survival. The decision to stage an “A” tour to India concurrently with the Proteas tour meant the Titans were without as many as 14 players while the Lions lost up to 10. Both have been forced to select club and varsity cricketers.
The contracting of players has thus changed dramatically. Boland stormed into the final of the T20 Challenge, losing just a single game, and the North West Dragons sit atop the 4-day competition after four matches, with Boland in third place.
Their “secret” is to contract good cricketers … but not “too” good. They must be able to help win games but also be available to play in most of them. Older players with international experience — but no chance of further national call-ups — have become popular.
The Knights were controversially relegated last season, and their utterly justifiable response has been to “play the system”. Dane Piedt is still a mighty fine cricketer and a canny choice as captain.
Another former Protea, Sisanda Magala, leads the attack, while Rilee Rossouw was a potent gun for hire while he kept in shape for the lucrative Abu Dhabi T20. No wonder the Knights won the Division Two T20 title and will almost certainly win promotion.
Boland have become masters at contracting excellent and often massively undervalued or unappreciated cricketers. Grant Roloefson, Gavin Kaplan, Ferisco Adams, Imran Manack and captain Clyde Fortuin are all proven domestic performers unlikely to be called away for alternative fixtures — or rested. North West have contracted equally wisely.
But what does this do for the pipeline of talent attempting to push through the domestic system towards the ocean of international opportunity? It makes it extremely difficult. It is one of the reasons young players Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Kwena Maphaka and Tristan Luus were signed by SA20 franchises before they had even earned a provincial contract. There will be more and more such players as the domestic game becomes increasingly and fatally marginalised.
At a given point this summer 45 cricketers were playing for the Proteas or South Africa “A” or being contractually rested while domestic cricket continued. And then you hear some smart arse observing that the “standard” isn’t what it used to be.
Not only did the Titans shatter provincial convention this year by announcing a record profit of more than R30m while most regularly lose money, but they have also produced more national cricketers than any other provincial team. The Lions also turned a (smaller) profit and regularly supply players to the national teams.
But the direction in which the domestic game is heading means that, far from being rewarded for their success, they are the victims of it.
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