South african domestic season.

[brockley]

Zander debruyn captain this year for 1 side.
Ian harvey,taibu and blignaut playing for divisional sides as well.
What kolpak players are going to back up this season,klusener well he is captain i think,be interestinmg how paul harris goes.
Any movements this off season

[Samuel_Vimes]

Namibia will play in the second level this year (in a group with Easterns, Free State, Northerns, North West, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Griqualand West), replacing Zimbabwe U-21. Cricket South Africa got something right there, at least.

Interestingly, they've scheduled the Pro20 thing to coincide with the World Cup, but I suppose the players would be in a training camp for a month after the Pakistan series concludes anyway.

[Langeveldt]

I guess Zander de Bruyn willl be captaining the titans

Ian Harvey and Tatenda Taibu probably gunning it for the "Whatever the Western Cape are now called"

Klusener will be playing for the "My memory of SA franchise gay names has totally escaped me" side

Under the guidance of Robbie P, my home side the Warriors will probably settle for bottom spot.. At least they have some expertise floating around as Gary Kirsten is their batting coach..

Look out for the Eagles (Free State) this year.. I rate them..

Good to see Namibia have something to do and are competing in our competition, good luck to them

[brockley]

Zimbabwe are rebooting their domestic competition this year but without their former domestic sides.
Should be a good experience for namibia.
Will be interested how paul harris does compared to the other spinners in south africa,robin peterson and boje just don't cut it for me.

[Langeveldt]

The SA spin cupboard might be fairly bare, but I can name five SA spinners better than Peterson off the top of my head (Adams, Boje, Johan Botha, Ant Botha Tshabalala and Smith)

[open365]

How does domestic cricket in south africa work?like, how many sides are there?and what comps do they play in?

[Goughy]

Originally Posted by open365

How does domestic cricket in south africa work?like, how many sides are there?and what comps do they play in?

Cant be bothered to look it up yourself?

There are 6 franchises in top level SA cricket.
Dolphins
Eagles
Lions
Titans
Warriors
Cobras

They represent regions with some of the 'old' provincial sides coming together to make stronger teams. It is based on the principle of 'Strength versus Strength' but still has the quota system and a number of cricketers have lost their jobs due to the contraction of the number of teams and there are now far fewer oppotunities. The outcome is a decent standard of cricket and a flood of players to the UK, NZ etc as there are far less chances and positions than there used to be.

The 6 franchises play in 3 competitions. SuperSport Series (The FC Comp), The renamed, MTN Domestic Championship (OD Cricket) and the Standard Bank Pro20 Series (20/20).

When people talk about SA domestic cricket this is what they are refering to.

Below this level (effectively 2nd team cricket) is, the still FC status comp, SAA Provincial Challenge in which the provinces compete and in which Namibia will play. The teams are usually called the Province "Amateurs" and are made up of young guys trying to break into the Franchise team, club cricketers on the fringes of the pro game and University students. Its a good standard of cricket but is no where near professional enough or deserving of FC status. This level also plays a OD comp called the SAA Provincial Cup.

This level, despite its FC status, is virtually unknown in SA apart from the guys that play in it and carries very little prestige and zero press coverage.

Hope this answers your question.

[Langeveldt]

So Standard Bank are no longer sponsering the OD cup?

[Langeveldt]

To clarify where the franchises play

Warriors - Port Elizabeth, East London
Cobras - Cape Town, Paarl
Eagles - Bloemfontein, Kimberley
Titans - Pretoria
Dolphins - Durban
Lions - Johannesburg

[Goughy]

Originally Posted by Langeveldt

So Standard Bank are no longer sponsering the OD cup?

Seemingly not.

http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2006-07/RSA_LOCAL/

[open365]

Originally Posted by Goughy

Cant be bothered to look it up yourself?

There are 6 franchises in top level SA cricket.
Dolphins
Eagles
Lions
Titans
Warriors
Cobras

They represent regions with some of the 'old' provincial sides coming together to make stronger teams. It is based on the principle of 'Strength versus Strength' but still has the quota system and a number of cricketers have lost their jobs due to the contraction of the number of teams and there are now far fewer oppotunities. The outcome is a decent standard of cricket and a flood of players to the UK, NZ etc as there are far less chances and positions than there used to be.

The 6 franchises play in 3 competitions. SuperSport Series (The FC Comp), The renamed, MTN Domestic Championship (OD Cricket) and the Standard Bank Pro20 Series (20/20).

When people talk about SA domestic cricket this is what they are refering to.

Below this level (effectively 2nd team cricket) is, the still FC status comp, SAA Provincial Challenge in which the provinces compete and in which Namibia will play. The teams are usually called the Province "Amateurs" and are made up of young guys trying to break into the Franchise team, club cricketers on the fringes of the pro game and University students. Its a good standard of cricket but is no where near professional enough or deserving of FC status. This level also plays a OD comp called the SAA Provincial Cup.

This level, despite its FC status, is virtually unknown in SA apart from the guys that play in it and carries very little prestige and zero press coverage.

Hope this answers your question.

Thanks Goughy.

It's really weird for me as an English domestic supporter to see that other domestic competitions are so much smaller than ours(in terms of teams i mean).

I know some people over here think there should be a reduction in the amount of county teams, but i think it's much better this way.

Why don't other domestic comps have as many teams as we do? Is it because they have a smaller population? Or that they're not getting enough quality players though coaching systems and academies? Or do they just not have the money? Or do they think it's better?

[Goughy]

Originally Posted by open365

Thanks Goughy.

It's really weird for me as an English domestic supporter to see that other domestic competitions are so much smaller than ours(in terms of teams i mean).

I know some people over here think there should be a reduction in the amount of county teams, but i think it's much better this way.

Why don't other domestic comps have as many teams as we do? Is it because they have a smaller population? Or that they're not getting enough quality players though coaching systems and academies? Or do they just not have the money? Or do they think it's better?

A combination of history, finances and geography.

The CC was up and running from 1890. If it were to be starting now, there is no doubt it would be designed differently but it works pretty well and there is little need to change it and go against all that history.

Cricket in England has always done ok financially (apart from a few dark decades) with a number of influencial backers and has had the resources to pay professionals from the early days. Other countries have always found it more difficult to employ large numbers of full-time pro cricketers.

The UK is a pretty small place and travel is short (though in the pre-motorway days it was a pain) compared to more vast and less densely populated places. This brings the expense of travelling to away games down and allows for many more games to be played as less time is spent 'on the road'. For example, IIRC, Western Aus had to pay the travel expenses of other visiting Austalian teams for a number of years as a condition of entering the FC comp. The other states were not willing to travel that distance and take that amount of time, and incur those expenses. Therefore, on order to play, W. Aus had to pay a lot of money out of their own pocket in order to make it happen.

So as I said in the beginning, its a combination of the 3 factors of history, finances and geography.

[Jungle Jumbo]

Originally Posted by Langeveldt

The SA spin cupboard might be fairly bare, but I can name five SA spinners better than Peterson off the top of my head (Adams, Boje, Johan Botha, Ant Botha Tshabalala and Smith)

Could you add Paul Harris to that list? He's had a bit of success for Warwickshire this season.

Is Botha still allowed to bowl in domestic cricket?

[Goughy]

Originally Posted by Jungle Jumbo

Could you add Paul Harris to that list? He's had a bit of success for Warwickshire this season.

Is Botha still allowed to bowl in domestic cricket?

Harris was also the leading wickettaker in the Supersport Series (SAs main FC Comp) last year

[Jungle Jumbo]

Originally Posted by Goughy

Harris was also the leading wickettaker in the Supersport Series (SAs main FC Comp) last year

How far does he have to go before he gets a go in Tests then? One decent season could do it. It's not as if the fact he can't really bat is going to limit his chances either, given the depth SA already have in the batting department.