SA20 heads into unknown Test territory

Graeme Smith is entirely sure of himself, a quality he has had since his days of walking onto cricket grounds the world over as if he owned them. So on the rare occasion when he seems anything less than rock solid certain, it sticks out. The SA20 captains' press conference in Cape Town on Tuesday was one such lesser spotted instance.

In Smith's defence, four days before the start of the fourth edition of the tournament that has been a roaring success - not least because he is the league commissioner - he was as busy as a human being could be.

No doubt he had more important things to do than answer questions from reporters who could see only the tip of the SA20 iceberg. Who had no clue how hectic things were below the surface. Who couldn't fathom how much still needed to be done to replicate the seamlessly slick show the cricketminded public became accustomed to seeing during the past three summers.

Or maybe he really was a touch uneasy - a brow more furrowed than usual, a barely perceptible shifting in his seat, a smidgen of disconcert in his eyes.

So it should be. Because this year the tournament will go where it never has been.

The inaugural SA20, in 2023, started on January 10. So did the 2024 edition. This January, the first ball was bowled a day earlier.

But that will change in season four. Mumbai Indians Cape Town, the defending champions, and Durban's Super Giants will be on parade at Newlands on Friday to get the SA20 party started. That's at least 15 days earlier than has been case previously. This time, the tournament will be 19 games old by January 10. And that might explain why Smith was perhaps betwixt and between.

Because the last week of December and most of the first two weeks of January have been the preserve of Test cricket in South Africa, not T20s. So much so that the team Smith used to captain didn't play a Boxing Day Test in Australia between 2009 and 2021.

But when the current FTP was drawn up three years ago CSA negotiated an all but empty space 2025/26 home season to allow for the upgrade of the country's grounds ahead of the 2027 men's World Cup, which will be played in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.

The men's team last played at home in a Test against Pakistan at Newlands in January. They will next play in their own backyard in a T20I against West Indies in Paarl on January 27. The women's sides' only home matches this year were six white-ball games against Ireland, all in December.

"We knew for a long time that there wasn't going to be any international cricket in this window," Smith said. "We sat with Cricket South Africa about two years ago and tried to figure out where the FTP was and where we could fit in the calendar cycle.

"Knowing international cricket wasn't going to be here this year, and with the [men's T20] World Cup [in Sri Lanka and India in February and March] it gave us an opportunity to come slightly forward to start on Boxing Day."

Friday's opener will be followed by a double-header on Saturday - between Pretoria Capitals and Joburg Super Kings in Centurion and Paarl Royals and Sunrisers Eastern Cape in Paarl. Kingsmead will host its first match on Sunday, when DSG will be at home to Cape Town.

JSK will be in Durban to play DSG on Tuesday, and next Wednesday - the last day of the year - harbours another double-header: SEC will be up against Paarl at St George's Park, followed by a clash between Cape Town and Pretoria at Newlands. The next day, New Year's Day, JSK will host DSG at the Wanderers. Interesting context is caught up in those first few fixtures.

Cricket and Durban's weather have struggled to get along. Thus Kingsmead officials are no doubt already wincing that a 73% chance of rain has been forecast for Sunday. Happily Tuesday's prediction for rain in Durban is a marginal 21%.

The logic for putting matches at the coast over Christmas and New Year was that a significant chunk of the major conurbations Johannesburg and Pretoria decamp to the coast at that time of year. Maybe that was a valid argument before television arrived in South Africa in the 1970s, but not any more. The internet age has undone that thinking even more. Why bother going to the cricket when you can keep an eye on it from the beach?

Consequently, the sound of ball meeting bat in Boxing Day Tests at Kingsmead would echo off almost empty stands. That said, better crowds are just about guaranteed for the Kingsmead's SA20 games - you can go to the beach as well as spend three or so hours at the cricket, if you so choose. Newlands, often the venue for the New Year Test, has invariably been blessed with bumper crowds.

Still, it remains true that Johannesburg and Pretoria become ghost cities in December. Traffic disappears and many restaurants are shut until deep into January. So a myriad eyes will be on the Wanderers next Thursday - to see the size of the crowd as well as the cricket.

"There are a lot of unknowns," Smith acknowledged. "Having a New Year's Day game in Joburg, and Old Year's Eve and Boxing Day games come with their unique challenges. People are travelling to different parts around the country, and games on the Highveld in the early part of the season...there were a lot of things we had to factor in and consider.

"A tournament at this scale is not something that arrives overnight. You're getting everything ready before the December holidays, making sure we're ready to go. But we're very excited and I think we're starting to see the fans are excited as well."

Indeed. Friday's game is a sell-out. As is the final, at Newlands on January 25. That Smith is not entirely sure of the tournament's prospects as a public spectacle is commendable - far rather that than coming across as complacent. The rest of us have the luxury of being able to relax. We know everything is going to be much better than OK.