SACA hopes T20 Global League will help South Africa cricket

The South African Cricketers' Association (SACA) has expressed hope that CSA's inaugural T20 Global League would help in improving the overall game of the South African players.
"It will be important to ensure that the T20 GL is appropriately niched into South African cricket and that it's good for the game as a whole in South Africa," said SACA Chief Executive Tony Irish.
"The rest of our cricket must go on and our existing domestic teams and competitions have to continue to produce the best Proteas teams possible in all formats," he added.
Irish shared the benefits of the new League, which starts in November, with the SACA members.

"The global cricket landscape is changing rapidly and CSA has undoubtedly made the right decision to create a world class T20 league in South Africa.
"Not only will our local cricket be broadcast to fans all over the world but the league is also capitalising on key factors in the cricket market, including the increasing shift of global media rights resources towards T20 leagues around the world and the introduction of new investment by private team owners into the South African game," he said.

The Chief Executive hoped that the League will play its significant role in the "retention of player talent in South Africa".

"Until now our players had to play offshore in order to earn hard currency amounts on offer in other countries.The fact that local players can now earn rands that are linked to dollar amounts by playing in a domestic competition here at home is an important factor in keeping those players playing in South Africa, and for South Africa," said Irish.
Irish also wished that the event attract foreign overseas players, given South Africa's reputation in the cricket world for putting on successful events.
South Africa had successfully hosted the Indian Premier League in 2009 at short notice after concerns over security in India were raised due to elections around the same time.

"As a players' association, we will be welcoming those players into our ranks and working to ensure that some of the benefits provided to our local players are also available to them. For many of our younger players, the league is likely to be life changing, not only in their private lives but in their cricketing careers.
"They will have the chance to play on a bigger stage in front of bigger audiences, both at stadia around the country and globally on television and on wider broadcast platforms," said Irish.