According to former South Africa captain Graeme Smith, only five or six nations with strong teams will be able to play Test cricket in the future. Smith, who is currently Cricket South Africa’s T20 league commissioner, said he didn’t believe South Africa “have any intent to not play Test cricket” but that the format appears destined to become less popular as a whole on Sky Sports on day three of the first Test between South Africa and England at Lord’s.
He said, “With Test cricket, it’s just iconic nations or the big cricketing nations that are contributing to Test cricket at the moment. I think it’s fantastic especially under Virat Kohli that India really took Test cricket seriously. They lead the way with that. But as long as we’ve got competitive teams, you’re not going to have 10, 11, 12, 13, or 14 competitive teams. You might only be down to five or six nations that play Test cricket at this level.”
Smith made his remarks in response to the ICC’s new FTP, which states that South Africa would play fewer Tests in the upcoming cycle (2023–2027) than it did in the one prior (2019–2023) and that there won’t be any three-Test series during the 2023–2025 World Test Championship (WTC). The CSA CEO, Pholetsi Moseki, said that their schedule was limited by their new T20 league and the costs associated with hosting Test cricket, although he acknowledged that their few fixtures will disappoint some. One of the first groups to express their displeasure was the South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA).
Andrew Breetze, SACA CEO told, “We are disappointed with the lack of Test cricket. For youngsters, it’s the optimum test of your cricket ability. With fewer Tests being played and more two-Test series, Test cricket is being diluted. If you look at what FICA and SACA have been saying for the last five years, we said that the ICC should take ownership of this by looking at how we balance bilateral cricket with T20 events and if they don’t do that we are going to see Test cricket being diminished by the non-big three. We are there. And that’s disappointing.”
Despite this, SACA and its members (South African domestic and international players) will support the new T20 league because they understand the crucial part it will play in ensuring the viability of South African cricket.
Breetzke said, “We’ve got three sources of revenue for cricket in South Africa – broadcast revenue, sponsorship, and ICC revenue. Two of those are reducing, and because of that, we’ve got to find a source of revenue and that is the T20 league.”
He added, “If you are not playing India enough, your broadcast revenue is down. Sponsorship revenue is two-fold because we’re not playing as much and because of the last five years at CSA. No one wants to get involved in our cricket and that’s the sad reality. There is a lot of work for CSA – and to give them the credit they are doing it – to enhance the work of CSA and to get sponsors. That’s more critical than ever. The market has changed post-Covid. You are not getting those 18-million-rand-a-year Standard Bank sponsorships. The market is more about short-term sponsorship deals, smaller sponsorship, and more specific sponsorship. That’s where CSA have to up their game.”
South Africa will not visit Australia for any Tests during the upcoming FTP. In addition, they play the third-fewest bilateral matches overall, behind Ireland and Zimbabwe, and play fewer ODIs than any other Full Member. After further negotiations with additional members, that number might rise.
Moseki stated that the CSA was looking into ways to organize more ODIs prior to the 2027 World Cup, although SACA hoped that extra fixtures might be acquired before then. He said, “It’s placed CSA in a position where they have to go out and negotiate additional white-ball matches. If you look at that FTP and you look at areas there, there’s a negotiation for additional matches. Relationships are going to be critically important as to can we enhance that FTP with white-ball cricket.”
