Mzanzi 2021/2022 canceled

CSA CALLS OFF MSL 2021 VERSION​



Monday, 20 December 2021

JOHANNESBURG: Despite the tournament having secured an official backer (sponsor), CSA can confirm that the Mzansi Super League (MSL) scheduled for February 2022 has been called off owing to the COVID 19 environment which has made it difficult to maintain the brand proposition of being the premium international T20 tournament, due to increased travel restrictions as imposed by many nations on South Africa since the discovery of Omicron variant of the virus.

The MSL was conceptualised as the premium global T20 competition to rival the likes of Indian Premier League (IPL), Pakistan Super League (PSL), Big Bash League (BBL); to name a few. This was done to create a commercial vehicle to attract global and local sponsors as well as to drive interest in cricket amongst non-cricket fans in South Africa. However, restrictions such as stricter travel possibilities, the Bio-Secure Environment frustrations, fear of the new variant, and the weak Rand/US Dollar exchange rate are some of the main reasons why CSA has taken the decision to call off the 2022 version of the MSL.

This is the second edition to be cancelled, as the 2020 edition was also cancelled due to Covid-19 logistical challenges.

Said Pholetsi Moseki, Acting Chief Executive Officer at Cricket South Africa, “The decision to cancel the 2021 edition of the MSL is meant to allow CSA and its strategic partners to revamp and review the tournament post-Covid-19 to regain its market and commercial position. For its purposes, the MSL slot will again be replaced by a domestic CSA T20 Challenge, featuring the 8 (eight) Division 1 teams and this tournament will take place in February 2022.”

ENDS

Issued by: Cricket South Africa - Corporate Communications
 
I fail to see how another csa t20 tournament with again no proteas involved(nz tour) is suppose to keep fans happy.
 
stefan9 said:
The same tournament in one season? They played csa t20 in September.
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Slightly different - this one is the eight top tier teams - the one in Kimberly was 16 iirc.

The MSL wasn't going to be much different this year if you think about it.
 
bwana said:
Slightly different - this one is the eight top tier teams - the one in Kimberly was 16 iirc.

The MSL wasn't going to be much different this year if you think about it.
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Was hoping csa would do their actual job and not agree to nz tours in the msl scheduled and attract actual international talent to the tournament. If Pakistan can manage it for the psl and the west indies can, then there is no excuse for CSA.

16 or 8 doesn't matter. It's still only the domestic talent.
 
stefan9 said:
Was hoping csa would do their actual job and not agree to nz tours in the msl scheduled and attract actual international talent to the tournament. If Pakistan can manage it for the psl and the west indies can, then there is no excuse for CSA.

16 or 8 doesn't matter. It's still only the domestic talent.
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I doubt any international players were willing to come.
 
bwana said:
I doubt any international players were willing to come.
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Which is on CSA. if the cpl and psl can convince players to come during a pandemic then so can the msl...

Edit: I just noticed our genius DOC scheduled the msl to clash directly with psl...
 
It's not use us trying to have a major T20 league. We just don't have the resources and following to run a league which can rival the IPL and Big Bash.

The MSL was considering guys like Bopara and Alex Hales "marquee players" and while talented, they hardly players who would bring in a lot of views.
 
If Bangladesh,Pakistan and the Caribbean can then there is no reason SA can't. It just takes proper planning and management
 
JuliusSeizure said:
It's not use us trying to have a major T20 league. We just don't have the resources and following to run a league which can rival the IPL and Big Bash.

The MSL was considering guys like Bopara and Alex Hales "marquee players" and while talented, they hardly players who would bring in a lot of views.
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The point of these leagues is to create a culture of going to the stadiums. Like in Big Bash: the quality of cricket is not fantastic, and there's fewer marquee players since it goes on for what feels like half the year, but it gets people going to the ground. We need this sort of thing in SA as well.

It's not meant to rival the IPL, that's impossible.
 
3WA said:
The point of these leagues is to create a culture of going to the stadiums. Like in Big Bash: the quality of cricket is not fantastic, and there's fewer marquee players since it goes on for what feels like half the year, but it gets people going to the ground. We need this sort of thing in SA as well.
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It's going to be hard to do that outside JHB and Cape Town. I used to attend games at Kingsmead and attendance was poor.

It's a generational thing. The current youth have easy access to tech so they don't really like to go to the stadiums unless it's the Proteas playing. Even many cricket clubs struggle for players these days so it looks like the popularity of the sport is declining. The coaches always say that the kids prefer to spend their time with tech.
 
JuliusSeizure said:
It's going to be hard to do that outside JHB and Cape Town. I used to attend games at Kingsmead and attendance was poor.

It's a generational thing. The current youth have easy access to tech so they don't really like to go to the stadiums unless it's the Proteas playing. Even many cricket clubs struggle for players these days so it looks like the popularity of the sport is declining. The coaches always say that the kids prefer to spend their time with tech.
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Well, that's what the MSL was meant to address. It got a lot more publicity than the T20 Cup, and the couple of games I went to at the Wanderers had much better attendance than any other local cricket. There was a platform on which to build.

It also helped with bringing publicity to players like Rassie and Nortje.
 
3WA said:
The point of these leagues is to create a culture of going to the stadiums. Like in Big Bash: the quality of cricket is not fantastic, and there's fewer marquee players since it goes on for what feels like half the year, but it gets people going to the ground. We need this sort of thing in SA as well.

It's not meant to rival the IPL, that's impossible.
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If that's the case CSA did the right thing cancelling it this year and last. Who's to say when the government will let fans back in the stands again.

CSA is going to have to spend some major money if they want to resurrect it next season.
 
bwana said:
If that's the case CSA did the right thing cancelling it this year and last. Who's to say when the government will let fans back in the stands again.

CSA is going to have to spend some major money if they want to resurrect it next season.
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Sure, if I remember correctly, it's still loss-making anyways, so would have been a financial drag the past two years, but I hope they pick it up as soon as they can.
 
3WA said:
Sure, if I remember correctly, it's still loss-making anyways, so would have been a financial drag the past two years, but I hope they pick it up as soon as they can.
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So do I.

It's going to be interesting to see how St George's holds up to 31 [T20] matches in 20 days.
 
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