IPL and PSL owners snap up South Africa franchises
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IPL and PSL owners snap up South Africa franchises
Two South African
businessmen, two IPL franchises, two PSL franchises, and representatives from
Hong Kong and Dubai were unveiled as the owners of the eight teams in South
Africa's T20 Global League. The owners, the cities and their marquee players
were unveiled at an event in London on Monday.
Durban, Benoni,
Pretoria, Stellenbosch, Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Johannesburg and Port
Elizabeth will each host a franchise, which left no room for the likes of
Kimberley, East London and Potchefstroom, who host franchise cricket. The
Stellenbosch franchise will likely play at Boland Park in Paarl.
International buyers
own three-quarters of the franchises with the biggest name being Shah Rukh
Khan. The Bollywood superstar added to his Knight Riders brand with the
purchase of the Cape Town franchise to add to teams in Kolkata and Trinidad.
There was also a second IPL influence. The Delhi Daredevils' holding company
GMR sports bought the Johannesburg franchise.
The two South
African-owned franchises are based in Pretoria and Stellenbosch and run by
South African businessman Osman Osman, who owns a lifestyle brand, and
Brimstone, a company owned by Mushtaq Brey.
CSA also unveiled
eight ambassadors, all former South African national players: Graeme Smith,
Andrew Hall, Ashwell Prince, Herschelle Gibbs, Paul Adams, Allan Donald, Andrew
Hudson and Paul Harris.
Despite no Indian
players being available for the tournament, its overlap with the BPL, the
chances of Australian players being scant given the clash with their summer and
the ECB's refusal for Eoin Morgan and Jason Roy to attend the launch, CSA
president Chris Nenzani was hopeful the competition would receive global
support.
"We thank all
other cricket boards and we hope that they will support this venture in the
manner that we have helped and supported their leagues. We hope they will help
us to make it a success," he said.
More than 400 players
have registered their interest with a draft scheduled for August.