South African cricket has unearthed some of the brightest talent over the past decade with Faf du Plessis, Kagiso Rabada, Vernon Philander and more coming through the ranks of franchise cricket up to the national team.

Six franchises, The Lions, Titans, Dolphins, Warriors, Cobras and Knights currently compete in the senior provincial franchise cricket set up that has been using the six team format since 2004. Over the past 12 years the modus operandi has been to pit strength versus strength  with championship victories to play for in a four day, ODI and T20 competition.

This is all good and well, but what happens to the players who miss out on selection for the franchises, but play quality cricket year in and out for their provincial sides. Here I am referring to the North West Dragons and their quality lineup that includes the likes of Marques Ackerman, Wihan Lubbe and Johannes Diseko to name a few.

There are other teams such as Border, Northern Cape and Easterns who have quality players, but do not get the necessary strength versus strength exposure. Their players more often than not may be lost for international cricket, as they go and ply their trade overseas on the English county circuit or fade out from cricket in favour of another full time job.

Cricket South Africa currently has plans for an eight team franchise system with one franchise possibly going to Potchefstroom and the other one to Kimberley or East London. This will also be a step in the right direction.

Another solution I have is to once again go back to the provincial set up used before 2004. In South Africa we have some of the best cricket facilities and the success of the Africa T20 Cup has shown that there is strength across South Africa.  Introduce two divisions, A and B, and promote the winner of division B to division A. Also have sides in division A battle to avoid relegation, with the last placed team being relegated to division B for the next season. This way there will be much more to play for in both divisions and players can get the opportunity to play cricket, get noticed and gradually make their way into the Protea setup.

Furthermore, a second solution could be to introduce a drafting system before each season, with provincial sides able to buy and transfer players through a pre-determined salary cap and ranking system. The worst performing side of the previous season has the pick of the best player for the current season and vice versa. This will bring some excitement into the game before the action has started.

If more players get opportunities at a higher level, the better for SA cricket in the long term.