“Smith brings with him tremendous experience and understanding of the game, having worked in the sport as a player, captain, commentator, ambassador, consultant and more recently as Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) Director of Cricket (DoC),” said Cricket South Africa (CSA) in a statement to announce Graeme Smith as the head of their new T20 league.
The new series is expected to kick off in Jan or Feb next year (2023) and CSA appointed the former captain and left-handed opening batsman to head this new venture. Smith served as South Africa captain for 10 years before being appointed as CSA director of cricket, and he seems to be the ideal person for this new role.
Graeme Smith to head new CSA T20 league
“His understanding of the game will add tremendous strength to the League. Recognised for his leadership qualities and decisive, clear thinking, Smith will lead the League which, outside of CSA, has SuperSport as one of its major shareholders,” said the official release. Smith will apparently be involved in all aspects relating to the development and growth of the league.
Earlier this month, CSA decided to pull out their team from the ODI segment of their Australia tour of the time, so as to make their players available to participate in this new franchise league. Star players are usually the biggest attractions in such tournaments, and there’s no way CSA wouldn’t want their own players to participate in the first edition.
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They even decided to lose precious points towards the Super League, risking qualification to the World Cup. “I’m extremely honoured to be entrusted with leading this exciting new venture. I’m deeply committed to South African cricket and happy to serve the game as best I can,” said Smith about the job he’s got to lead this new and innovative tournament.
“I’m excited by the opportunity to deliver the new league which I believe will be an extremely competitive product, one that can bring the much-needed investment into the game and provide new opportunities for players around the world and more importantly to our SA home grown talent. The response from stakeholders has been very positive thus far and we’ve made great progress in the initial stages,” he added.
Cricket South Africa CEO Pholetsi Moseki called Smith the perfect man for the job. His understanding of both the local as well as the international cricketing environment would help them take this tournament to new heights over the next few years. Remember, he also has a few years experience of playing in the world’s biggest T20 league – IPL in India.
As per early reports coming in, as many as 6 owners of IPL teams have won successful bids to own teams in this tournament, which means we can expect a lot of money pouring in, and thus more entertainment with bigger stars. For similar cricket and other sports news from around the world, stay tuned to ReadScoops.com…
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