Africa T20 Cup to focus on financial leverage, identity building

The second edition of the Africa T20 Cup will be focused on the financial leverages the shortest format can provide but it will not feature pink balls. Last year's group stage matches were played with the pink ball but the idea was abandoned for finals weekend after player concerns. All of this year's matches will be played with the white ball.

The 16-team tournament includes the 13 semi-professional provincial sides which form South Africa's second domestic tier, as well as a team from each of Zimbabwe, Namibia and Kenya. The teams are divided into groups of four, each group will complete all its fixtures over one weekend at one venue and the winner of each pool will advance to finals weekend. A selection of matches and the final will be broadcast live on the pay television service, SuperSport.

One of the key features of the tournament is that it is played on South Africa's smaller grounds, which rarely see international fixtures, and not the major stadiums. The inaugural edition in 2015 was held up-country in Benoni and Potchefstroom and in the central areas of Kimberley and Bloemfontein. This year, Pietermaritzburg, Oudtshoorn, East London and Paarl will stage the event.

Oudtshoorn is a notable inclusion to the hosting calendar. The Western Cape town is known for ostrich farming and is home to South Western Districts, who have been granted full Affiliate status at CSA. Their ground is receiving major upgrades in anticipation of the tournament and veteran bowler Gurshwin Rabie gave an assurance that "there won't be any ostriches running around".

The Oudtshoorn Recreation Ground will join the Pietermaritzburg Oval, Buffalo and Boland Park in using the tournament as a way to generate revenue through advertising, which should be lucrative given the television presence.

"There was a lot of opportunities to generate revenue because you are on live television," Corrie van Zyl, CSA's general manager of cricket, said at the competition's launch at Newlands. "Last year, it was a case of 'let's see what happens with this competition' and you could see it in the way some of the host unions presented the matches. This year there is a lot more focus from the members."

The cameras are also an opportunity for the lesser-known players to build their profiles, especially as most of them are hardly ever seen on screen. South Africa's provincial competitions are not televised or streamed with the Africa Cup as the exception. "It gives the added pressure of performing on live television," van Zyl said.

It also gives the provincial players an opportunity to rub shoulders with professionals. Each team must field at least two franchise players, but not more than four, and last year, Vernon Philander (South Western Districts) and Kyle Abbott (Kwa-Zulu Natal Inland) were two of the most prominent names. "When franchise players play, we want some of the experienced players to play. It's so important for the development of the players," van Zyl said.

Chiefly, though, the Africa T20 Cup is a development exercise and all squads must include two Under-21 players, who have not had any franchise experience. "When we created this, we wanted to create a competition for the provincial teams that will give them opportunity to develop players," van Zyl said. At a time when South African cricket is questioning is depth and the structure of its domestic systems, van Zyl hopes the Africa Cup will serve as proof of his belief that, "there is a lot of talent in this country."