New T20 franchise competition unveiled by Cricket South Africa

The first edition of the new competition will be played in January 2023 and includes six privately-owned franchises

Cricket South Africa and broadcasters SuperSport have partnered to launch a new T20 franchise competition starting in January 2023.

Six privately-owned franchises sides will play 10 matches – facing off against each team home and away – before the top three sides move to the play-off stages for a semi-final and final.

In all, 33 matches will be played over a three-to-four week period.

The first edition will take place immediately after South Africa’s tour to Australia, meaning the country’s international stars will be available for the duration of the competition.

A maximum of four overseas players can be fielding in a playing XI, with an auction scheduled to determine the squads.

The new competition does not yet have a name and there is no news on where each of the six teams will be based, but Cricket South Africa say they are in active discussions with private investors and that there is “considerable interest”.

However, CSA have confirmed that the league is "actively looking at the possibility of a women’s T20 event to coincide in the coming years".

Chief executive of CSA, Pholetsi Moseki added: "We are excited by the formation of something this fresh and invigorating, which also offers the opportunity for private investment into the franchises.

^{CSA are keen to add a women's side (Phil Walker/Getty Images)}

CSA has already received interest from a number of potential local and international investors."

A new company formed by CSA and SuperSport will manage the tournament. "The company is looking at a very attractive player salary bill per team that will rival other leagues around the world outside of the IPL," the release said.

SuperSport, the CSA’s domestic broadcast partner, are key to this competition taking place. When CSA made a previous attempt to start a franchise T20 competition in 2017 – the Global T20 League – they were forced to shelve plans when SuperSport were not disinterested and another broadcaster couldn't be secured.

The Mzansi Super League – launched in 2018 – has had similar problems with TV revenue. CSA gave the broadcast rights to the public broadcaster, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), for a small fee.

The MSL ran for two years with CSA footing almost the entire bill, amounting to over R100 million (£5 million) per edition.

But, partly due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the tournament has not been played since 2019 with CSA unable to afford the costs associated with it.

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