Africa T20 Cricket Cup Launched

CRICKET SOUTH AFRICA (CSA) today launched the 16-team Africa T20 Cup which will be the African curtain-raiser to the 2015-16 season.

Zimbabwe, Kenya and Namibia have accepted invitations to compete in the event with the other participants being the 12 CSA Affiliates as well as Associate Member, KZN Inland.

The tournament will be a World Cup-style competition, consisting of four pools of four teams each with the winners of each pool advancing to the semi-finals and eventually to the final.

Easterns (Sahara Willowmoore Park), North West (Senwes Park), Griquas (Diamond Oval) and Free State (Mangaung Oval) will be the venues for the four pool matches and some of these venues will also host the semi-final and final depending on which teams advance and based on an assessment of the quality of venue hosting during the pool stages.

The tournament will run from September 4 to October 4.

All Franchise players will play for the province at which they are contracted although a limit of four has been placed on the number to be fielded at the same time. This limit would not include the contracted Protea  players who are restricted to one in the starting XI. In addition, all teams will be required to field at least two under-21 players.

Transformation targets will be the same as that which applies for the CSA semi-professional competitions (six players of colour and three black Africans).

“This tournament is an exciting new concept for our cricket,” commented CSA Chief Executive, Haroon Lorgat. “It should provide impetus at the start of a season with exciting and competitive playing opportunities plus revenue generating potential for each team.

“We are keen to lead the way in developing an Africa-wide competition.

“With international Twenty20 matches to follow against England and Australia later in the season, this tournament will provide an early start for players to stake a claim in next year’s ICC World Twenty20 squad.

“A key differentiator is for each team to include two under-21 players which will give rising stars the chance to play with our fully fledged professionals. It is an important factor in developing talent that emerging players can learn from the best.

“I am delighted that SuperSport will be providing live and full coverage of 10 playing days, including the semi-finals and final, and thank them once again for their fantastic support of South African cricket,” concluded Mr. Lorgat.

CSA has also announced the appointment of Makhaya Ntini as the Africa T20 Cup Ambassador.

“I am both delighted and honoured to be invited to fulfil this role,” Ntini said. “The development of African cricket is something that is very close to my heart and I welcome this important initiative.”

SuperSport And CSA Sign Renewal Deal

Cricket South Africa (CSA) today confirmed a renewal deal with broadcast partner, SuperSport International, that will see the channel remain on board as the PAY TV Rights Holder for Sub-Saharan Africa for another six years.

The agreement comes into effect on 01 May 2015 and will continue until 30 April 2021.

SuperSport will also remain the Host Broadcaster for all home international matches during this period.

In addition, the broadcaster will play a key role in promoting Domestic and Franchise cricket with an undertaking to cover a minimum of 60% of the RAM SLAM T20 Challenge and Momentum One-Day Cup matches.

"We know SuperSport is a world leader and this really excites us as we tie up another landmark deal for Cricket South Africa," commented CSA Chief Executive, Haroon Lorgat.

"A solid broadcast agreement is essential to promote the game at all levels and I am happy that we will continue to have SuperSport as one of our key partners. We also appreciate their willingness to provide SABC with the live feed so that we can enjoy Free-To-Air broadcast.

"The past year has seen the strategic relationship between CSA, the Proteas and SuperSport grow exponentially and we look forward to build on this to ensure we produce world class content. It was SuperSport that brought us those wonderful pictures of the Castle Lager Test Team becoming the number one team in the world and we hope to share more of these memories with SuperSport in the future," added Lorgat.

Brandon Foot, Acting Chief Executive of SuperSport, was delighted by the renewal. "We have forged a strong alliance with Cricket South Africa and look forward to continued growth in both the game and television viewership. There is a great appetite for cricket and we hope to play a role in bringing the game closer to supporters."

Your Weekend Sports Preview

Sports lovers are in for a treat this weekend. We have SuperRugby, the Barclays Premiership, MotoGP, La Liga, the Masters and more rugby.

Here are some of the biggest sporting events to watch this weekend on DStv's SuperSport.

Golf: The Masters

So of course the second day of the 79th Masters Tournament, like the first, was all about the phenomenal Jordan Spieth. His 66 was arguably better than Thursday’s 64, a little more controlled, a little less hectic and reliant on the odd lucky bounce. The young man’s a genius. And most likely this year’s champion. But there are enough big names hovering around in case of any dramatic slip. You never know in golf. You just never know. Join the action today and tomorrow to witness the spectacular.

-14: Spieth
-9: Hoffman
-7: Rose, D Johnson, Casey
-6: Mickelson
-5: Els
-4: Na, Streelman, Haas, Moore
-3: Cabrera, Oosthuizen, O’Meara, Day, Scott, Matsuyama, Schwartzel
-2: Woods, Garcia, Willett, Henley, Blixt, Reed, B Watson, McIlroy

Verdict: I think Spieth will win if he manages to maintain his composure.

La Liga: Sevilla vs Barcelona

A hyper moralized Barcelona will travel to Andalusia to measure forces with Sevilla at the emblematic Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan for round 31 of the Spanish Liga BBVA.

Will Sevilla be able to put an end on Barça’s winning streak?

Barcelona continued with their fantastic streak when they hosted Almeria last Wednesday. Luis Enrique’s boys sealed their 24th win of the season thanks to another excellent performance by the erratic Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez, who scored twice against the Andalusian team at Camp Nou. Barça’s Asturian manager implemented some changes in the team’s lineup against Almeria by giving some more playing time to young players, such as the centre back Marc Bartra and the talented deep-lying playmaker Sergi Roberto.

The unpredictable home defeat against Málaga in the end of February was an excellent eye opener for the Catalan team, who from that moment on embarked on a fantastic streak of seven consecutive wins for La Liga and two for the UEFA Champions League.

Verdict: Barcelona appear very strong and might just snatch it. Sevilla will aim for at least a point.

Barclays Premiership: Manchester United vs Manchester City

A motivated Manchester United will measure forces with their neighbours and rivals, Manchester City, at the emblematic Old Trafford for round 32 of the English Premier League.

Will City be able to return to winning ways against such a highly motivated United on Sunday?

The current EPL champions, Manchester City, have not yet managed to find a way to get back on tracks and keep collecting unimpressive results as we enter into the season’s final countdown. After an easy home win over a ten-men West Brom almost three weeks ago, the Citizens have once again been defeated last Monday’s night at Selhurst Park by a mighty Crystal Palace, who in the end were the fair winners of the match. A goal from Glenn Murray in the first-half and another one at the expenses of Jason Puncheon from a superbly placed free-kick right after the break, proved to be enough to impose the sixth defeat of the season to a deeply fragilized Manchester City, which has dropped to the 4th place of the table after their recent unimpressive results.

The defeats against Barcelona and the respective elimination from the UEFA Champions League had a major impact on the team and, if to that we add the EPL’s setbacks against Liverpool, Burnley and Crystal Palace, one can say that Manchester City are free falling and have very slim chances of recovering from such poor streak.

Their upcoming match at Old Trafford will surely be a very complicated one and, in case of defeat, the Citizens will eventually say goodbye to the second place of the EPL table for good.

Verdict: Manchester United will pile more misery on Pellegrini.

Lions vs Sharks

The Lions have been a shining light in a so-far dire Super Rugby campaign for the   South African sides. With four runs on the trot, including a record-equalling three away wins and a last-gasp victory over trans-Jukskei rivals the Bulls, the men in red have built up a fine head of steam. They should feel confident of beating the Sharks at the Emirates Airline Park (Ellis Park) and give their home fans something to cheer about at last.

Johann Ackermann’s team has shown a resilience under talismanic skipper Warren Whitely that was sorely lacking in seasons past and their miserly defence has seen them get past more fancied opponents. A place in the playoffs beckons for the ninth-placed Lions if they can maintain their run and pivots Marnitz Boshoff and Elton Jantjies stay injury-free.

The Sharks find themselves on the opposite end of the form spectrum as they are coming off a humiliating 52-10 loss to the Crusaders at King’s Park in Durban. Loose forward Jean Deysel was red-carded for kneeing in that game, continuing a worrying penchant for indiscipline that has been a hallmark of the Sharks’ season so far. They were lucky to escape with the points against the Chiefs two weeks ago when both captain Bismarck du Plessis and centre Frans Steyn were sent off for infractions.

With all three stalwarts suspended for the next few games, new head coach Gary Gold faces an uphill battle. As it stands, the Sharks are two places ahead of the Lions in seventh and remain in contention for a playoff spot. To do that, they will have to rein in their emotions and plug the holes in their defence.

Verdict: Lions are usually at their best when playing at home and i dont see the Sharks upsetting them.

IPL: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bangalore

The reigning champions, Kolkata Knight Riders, kicked off the ongoing Indian Premier League 2015 positively by beating Mumbai Indians by a margin of seven wickets. The latter managed 168 for the loss of three wickets in the allotted twenty overs and the former smashed 3-170 with nine balls remaining. Royal Challengers Bangalore held the seventh spot in the previous tournament by grasping just five matches out of 14, lost nine and attained 10 points. They will be playing their opening game of the event against KKR.

Players to watch

Gautam Gambhir tasted his maiden fifty of the event for KKR vs. MI as Suryakumar Yadav and Manish Pandey contributed 46 and 40 runs. Robin Uthappa, is capable of scoring brisky runs whereas Shakib Al Hasan and Andre Russell are tremendous all-rounders. Morne Morkel, Piyush Chawla, Sunil Narine and Umesh Yadav bowled superbly in the last match.

AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle were the star performers in the recently concluded ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 while Rilee Rossouw has improved in the shortest versions of the game. Nic Maddinson, Dinesh Karthik, S Badrinath, Mandeep Singh, Vijay Zol and Yogesh Takawale are useful batsmen of RCB. The formidable bowling unit will be looked after by Mitchell Starc, Adam Milne, Harsh Patel, Sarfraz Khan, Iqbal Abdulla, Darren Sammy, Ashok Dinda, Abu Nechim, Varun Aaron and Sean Abbott.

Verdict: RCB will walk away victorious, but inly if they manage to fully utilise their arsenal.

Morne Morkel Gets First Wicket Of IPL 2015

Click, click, bang...

The 2015 Indian Premier League has gotten off to a flying start for Kolkata Knight Riders and Protea seamer Morne Morkel at Eden Gardens after he captured the first wicket of the tournament.

Coming in to bowl the second over of the game, Morkel slanted the ball across Mumbai Indian's Aaron Finch, who attemped a pull while leaning forward - he top edged, and Yadav held onto a steepler at deep fine-leg.

The experience of brilliance is not something that taxes us very often in our regular lives; the occasional snaffle of a seat on public transport, a bodily function here and there, a forgotten drunken non-insight. Good old us.

Sport, on the other hand, provides precisely that with alarming regularity, intimidatingly, depressingly, wondrously better than us and all that we are. And this is precisely the beauty of the IPL: artificial, disruptive and avaricious, brilliant, brilliant and expletive brilliant.

The unforeseeable skill and power of the batting, the cunning, zestful, crafty bowling, the battle between the two, the athleticism in the field, the nous and invention of the captains, vicarious pleasure in the pleasure of the players, the thumping, pulsing vim of the crowd; all of cricket is here and all of sport is here.

All the best to the Protea Fire players in the IPL.

South Africans In The Indian Premier League 2015

Ahoy, time flies! Its now been a couple of weeks since Michael Clark lifted the ICC Cricket World Cup above his head at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground amid a blizzard of golden ticker tape.

While the world has been reliving some of the classical moments orchestrated by the greatest cricketer's of this epoch, who set Australia and New Zealand alight last month, the tractor engines were busy chugging into life the pitches in India.

Yes people, its all set for the 2015 Indian Premier League which is now in its 8th edition. This season’s IPL has 54 players that participated in the 2015 World Cup. All 15 Indian squad members feature, as do 11 from Australia, 10 from South Africa and seven from New Zealand, the other three teams that made the semi-finals. England are represented by the Sunrisers Hyderabad duo of Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara.

I have decided to rave up your adrenalin by compiling a list of South African cricketers who will be part of the action come April 8.

Kolkata Knight Riders - Johan Botha, Morne Morkel.

Mumbai Indians - Marchant de Lange.

Chennai Super Kings - Kyle Abbott, Faf du Plessis.

Delhi Daredevils - Jean-Paul Duminy (Captain), Quinton de Kock, Imran Tahir, Albie Morkel.

Kings XI Punjab - Beuran Hendricks, David Miller.

Rajasthan Royals - Chris Morris, Rusty Theron.

Royal Challengers Bangalore - AB de Villiers, Rilee Rossouw, David Wiese.

Sunrisers Hyderabad - Dale Steyn.

The reigning champions, Kolkata Knight Riders, will add fire to the gas as they attempt to defend their title while taking over Mumbai Indians in the opening game of the event.

Let the games begin, the whole world is watching.