M-NET Invests In South Africa Domestic Cricket (25 Apr 1996)

M-Net invests R20m in belief that four-day cricket can still be a big switch-on

by Peter Robinson

First-class cricket in South Africa was thrown a R20-million lifeline yesterday with a sponsorship deal which will secure the domestic game up to and into the next millennium.

The SuperSport Series, backed by M-Net, will replace the Castle Cup for five years from next season.

South African Breweries will continue to sponsor the Test team and one-day cricket rights have been bought by Standard Bank.

It seems an arrangement which will suit both the United Cricket Board and M-Net. The huge growth in popularity of one-day cricket has created a dilemma, perhaps unique in sport, in that it has to market two allied yet differing products.

As a consequence the first-class version of the game has suffered falling attendances world-wide. The M-Net sponsorship deal will not only finance the four-day game, but also provide it with invaluable television exposure.

The argument that this arrangement will benefit only affluent viewers is undermined by the fact that SATV does not televise provincial cricket.

The national broadcaster, however, will continue to screen international matches played in South Africa.

M-Net began broadcasting Castle Cup matches last season with some success, according to SuperSport general manager Russell MacMillan yesterday, and the station is confident of attracting viewers throughout the summer.

It may be, too, that the arrangement will enable M-Net to construct a handy safety net if and when local content quotas are introduced.

There is an important precedent for this. The Kerry Packer War and the birth of World Series Cricket in the late 1970s owed their origins to Channel 9`s desire to find a more cost-effective method of promoting local content than drama or comedy.

What M-Net will come up against, however, is the high production values maintained by TopSport. Capable producers have ensured that SATV cricket coverage is the equal of any in the world, avoiding the worst excesses of Channel 9 while approaching the game with less caution than the BBC.

One slightly worrying aspect of the arrangement was the specially designed players` strips will be unveiled before the new season.

These, apparently, will not be full colour uniforms - thankfully, because at least one previous attempt to marry coloured and white clothing in this country produced a horrible hybrid.

Source: The Star Newspaper, 25 April 1996