As SA20, South Africa’s franchise-based T20 league, gets ready to host its third season in January-February 2025, Graeme Smith, the League Commissioner is quite happy with its progress so far but says they are not keen on expanding and innovating as of now.

SA20 was launched in 2023 with six teams representing six cities of the country. All six teams are owned by entities owning Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises and thus the league has very close ties with Indian cricket, which they are trying to exploit further by appointing Dinesh Karthik as India Ambassador SA20.

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And just like IPL did, Smith said he is not very keen on adding more franchises and implementing rules like Impact Player in the third edition of SA20.

“We always thought year five onwards is where we would look at it (adding more franchises). IPL also took time to expand from where they started. For us, it’s about developing the quality of South African players. Having strong domestic players is a key pillar in being able to build a successful tournament as we’ve seen with IPL and the Indian players,” Graeme Smith League Commissioner SA20, said at SA20 India Day in Mumbai.

Smith also highlighted the role of the leagues in broad-basing the domestic cricket structure and improving the bench strength, citing the IPL’s impact on Indian national teams as an example.

“I mean, you just look at India a few weeks back, they’ve got an A-side and a Test side in Australia and a T20 side in South Africa. I mean, that depth of talent is insane. And we want to see, whatever it is, in South Africa, if it’s 70 players involved in SA20, we want 70 strong players. And then seeing the depth of young talent come through. So, when you’re adding franchises, you need to think about the quality of the cricket, you need to think about the fan bases.

“So I think now, going into season three, if we have a great season, you see the South African players step up with the international stars, it really does start to give you the platform to see how you can grow,” said Smith, the former South Africa opener.

Smith said there were some initial fears about how the league would work out because some previous efforts to put together a league in South Africa failed.

“When you’re building these things, you always have an element of fear. But being able to get the full houses and the fans to watch in South Africa. In India, it’s second nature. In South Africa, for a long period of time, through politics and other reasons, cricket had lost its way. The last domestic game in South Africa that sold out was in the 90s before SA20. And I think last year we averaged over 380,000 people through our gates, which is just record attendance,” he said.

“And a lot of it has to go to the quality of the event, the quality of the franchises, and the players that Dinesh and Mark have mentioned. I look at Season 3 now, and I don’t think South African cricket’s ever had the quality of players that’s going to come into a tournament with its local players like for Season 3,” Smith added.

He said it did not sound right to say someone is aspiring to be No.2 in anything but in the first two seasons, SA20 has positioned itself as the number two league behind the IPL.

“Our ambition, it doesn’t sound right to say you want to be the number two league in the world, but I think, you know, being realistic, IPL is just incredible. It’s a beast. It’s been the driving force for a lot of change in the cricketing landscape. We’ve been fortunate to attract six franchises from the IPL to work with the BCCI in terms of developing SA20, and learning from, what they’ve done very well over the years. And for us, two seasons in, the stats, the viewership, the digital stats, and the crowd attendance are all starting to show that we are the number two league,” said the SA20 league commissioner.

Smith, who attended the SA20 India Day along with the league’s two brand ambassadors Mark Boucher and Dinesh Karthik, said the focus now will be on the growth of the league.

“For us now, it’s about growth. It’s about building on (the first two editions) and making sure we go from strength to strength. And, I remember in the beginning conversation with international players who were uncertain about coming to South Africa because of the failed attempts. And now what you’re starting to see is that the players want to be a part of it because it’s competitive. Crowds are great, it’s summer. South Africa is a great place to come as well. So, you know, that’s very exciting for us,” he added.

The 43-year-old Smith said that they have no plans of starting a women’s SA20 league and would rather wait for the domestic structure to get broad-based.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s a question I get a lot, actually. And it certainly is an ambition for us. But I think the thing that’s important to talk about is that South African cricket, from a woman’s talent depth perspective, is just beginning, really. Cricket South Africa have invested in their first professional contracts at domestic cricket, not at the international level.

“So from an SA20 perspective, we’re supporting that. We’ve started a school programme. This year we launched SA20 schools and over 500 schools, girls and boys. And we’ve invested in the under-19 level as well, where we’re developing coaches. We’re investing in players there and trying to grow the talent pool. I think for us, you know, the phase would probably be very similar to IPL where you would look at exhibition matches.

“The other thing is that the women’s calendar, I guess, has got busier and busier. The South African women’s team is now very busy. There’s women’s IPL, there’s Big Bash, there’s hundreds that are already established. So, you know, you need to find the time and the calendar that obviously can work and make a success of a league like that,” he concluded.