Government sink planned unique cricket tournament in Centurion
South African cricket enthusiasts’ excitement about the new Solidarity Cup 3TCricket tournament was short-lived when it was postponed indefinitely barely three days after its introduction.
Cricket lovers can forget about an exciting weekend of action to break the long sport drought caused by the COVID-19 crisis.
After Cricket SA announced their unique Solidarity Cup cricket tournament with great fanfare last week that, these plans were unceremoniously dismissed a few days later.
According to CSA’s plans, the tournament was scheduled to be presented at SuperSport Park this coming weekend. It would also have introduced a whole new format of cricket to the action-hungry sports enthusiasts of South Africa.
According to Cricket SA’s original press release on the tournament cricket fans could have celebrated the return of their favourite game with the innovative and first of its kind 3TCricket format, where three teams would have played in a single match, competing for the inaugural Solidarity Cup on 27 June at SuperSport Park.
The Solidarity Cup was supposed to be the showcase event for the brand-new cricket format, which sees 24 of South Africa’s top cricketers in three teams, playing two halves in one match.
The three teams competing in the Solidarity Cup would have been the Eagles captained by AB de Villiers and sponsored by Takealot, Kingfishers captained by Kagiso Rabada and sponsored by OUTsurance and the Kites captained by Quinton de Kock and sponsored by Mr D Food.
The match would have been the first live sport in South Africa since the lockdown was announced in March this year.
CSA Director of Cricket, Graeme Smith said at the announcement of the tournament this new format will bring back the excitement of cricket.
“It’s been quite some time since the South African public and fans of cricket worldwide have been able to consume the game we all love. I know that the players are itching to get back into action as well, which is why we as CSA are so excited about the Solidarity Cup. It’s a thrilling new format and a match that is working towards a greater good. We are proud to partner with 3TeamCricket on this project,” he said.
However, late on Saturday afternoon, Cricket SA announced in a very brief and concise statement that the operational teams behind the Solidarity match and event met to consider the readiness to host the event on 27th June and it was decided that more work is needed in preparation, “including approval”.
This was the only reason given for the indefinite postponement of the tournament.
Although Cricket SA initially stated during the tournament’s announcement that they had made provision for every possible aspect of safety and all organizational issues in their preparation for the tournament, it was later learned that the Minister of Sport had not yet finally approved the event.
This is apparently the main reason for the later scramble to postpone the tournament.
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