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Big crowds, entertainment, family and fun are keynote Cricket South Africa 2019/20 season
©Reuters
Big crowds, entertainment, family and fun. These are some of the key words that Cricket South Africa (CSA) has highlighted after officially launching their 2019/20 season.
A bumper year has been predicted, with the start already having taken place after the new CSA Provincial T20 was held over the past two weekends.
The Standard Bank Proteas and Women’s Proteas have also begun their campaigns during their respective tours to India, while the new franchise season is set to launch on October 7.
Kugandrie Govender, the Chief Commercial Officer at CSA, is looking forward to a thrilling summer. “I’m so excited for our full colour season, a bumper season we have ahead,” she said. “We’ve got an amazing season coming up, starting with England and then Australia, so many of the big names will be here.
“We’re really excited to welcome fans to our stadiums. Ultimately cricket is all about the fans.
“The game is nothing without them…fans in the stands, braais on the side, the cheers, the fours, the sixes, the celebrations…it’s all about summer and cricket.
“It’s not all about cricket, it’s more than cricket. This summer our hashtag #ItsMoreThanCricket stands true as we celebrate fans as part of the game, excellence on the field is great, but it’s nothing if we have no fans to celebrate.
“So, entertainment is the order of the day. Family fun is extremely important, CSA is all about family fun.
“It’s also about safety for fans, a key area for us, and we want to make sure that the stadiums are safe for fans. We want to make it fun days out for everyone.”
The men’s Proteas drew their recent Twenty20 international series against India 1-1, while the women’s team are 1-0 down after two matches in their five-match 20-over series.
Easterns were crowned winners in the first full competition that was concluded on Heritage Day this past week – beating Hollywoodbets KwaZulu-Natal in a thrilling final at Willowmoore Park. The franchise season will begin with the 4-Day Domestic Series in the next fortnight, with South Africa then set to be stormed by Mzansi Super League (MSL) 2.0.
England will then arrive for a full tour, with the Barmy Army expected to paint the country red and white between December and February. Australia also visit our shores during February and March. In between South Africa also host the ICC Under-19 World Cup (50-overs) and there is the Momentum One-Day Cup competition.
“It’s a very exciting season for us at Cricket South Africa, it’s a very challenging one because we’ll be spread very thin due to the number of things that we have going on,” CSA Chief Executive Thabang Moroe, added. “It’s a bumper season for us, we’ve got the franchise season starting shortly, followed by the second year of the MSL.
“We’ve got England coming to our shores, we’ve got the Australians as well, we’ve got the Under-19 World Cup, we’ve got the girl’s World Cup coming up next year as well, so a very difficult one and a very exciting one nonetheless, because as Cricket South Africa we enjoy being this busy.
“Essentially these are seasons we strive for and I’m sure it will be an exciting season ahead. We have some exciting young talent coming through, so we’re all looking forward to that and wish everyone well ahead of the campaign.”
Audio and video of the season launch can be located at the FTP site below
©Cricket World 2019
