South Africa’s professional cricketers have instructed their players’ union to carry out a review of local cricket.
The cricketers are concerned about the state of the game in the country, including the lack of domestic first-class cricket, CSA’s financial situation, and the fact that the Proteas men’s team and all three domestic competitions do not have a sponsor.
“The players are worried,” South African Cricketers’ Association (Saca) CEO Andrew Breetzke told Rapport newspaper.
“They are not playing enough first-class cricket, the facilities and infrastructure are of concern, and other issues, such as support structures, transport, scheduling, accommodation, umpiring and pitches, will also be scrutinised in our investigation. The players say it has an impact on their ability to play the game at the highest level.
“For cricket to survive, you have to have a strong Proteas team. For this to happen, you must have a strong local structure and you must have good transformation.
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“We have already started our review, and we will go full steam ahead in January. The plan is not to criticise, but to say that these are the problems that the players believe are hindering their ability to perform. We will also submit suggestions for improvement. We want to tell them [CSA] what to focus on to strengthen the game.”
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Breetzke says the players want Division 1 domestic teams to play 14 matches each instead of seven, to be financed by proceeds from the SA20 league.
