OPINION: After an up-and-down 2022, SA sport can look forward to 2023

What a year it has been. And what a year awaits in 2023.

We ended with a bang with Argentina, and Lionel Messi, winning the World Cup, and before that great sporting moment we had the Stormers winning the inaugural United Rugby Championship title earlier in the year, while there were some highs and lows for the Springboks and Proteas.

The national cricket team promised much at the T20 World Cup but ultimately flopped when it mattered most, while the disappointment continued with Dean Elgar’s Test side suffering back to back Test defeats to Australia in the last few weeks.

READ MORE: Elgar disappointed with ‘pretty weak’ performance by Proteas

Now with 2023 on our doorstep we look forward to another big sporting year.

In the next 12 months we’ll have the Proteas in action at the 50-overs Cricket World Cup, we’ll have the Boks in action at the Rugby World Cup in France, trying to defend the title they won in 2019 in Japan, and we’ll have Bafana Bafana in action at Afcon.

Also, the Proteas women’s cricketers and netball players have World Cup tournaments to look forward to, both in South Africa, so there’s plenty for sports fans to get excited about.

New T20 league

There’s a whole lot on the sporting menu in 2023, but for me the first SA20 cricket competition in the first few weeks of the new year is the biggest and most important item on the calendar.

After many failed attempts to launch a global T20 competition in South Africa over the last few years, it seems that something good and proper will finally be put on in our country.

Considering the work and effort put in to get the competition off the ground, and putting Test cricket on the backburner, I really hope the SA20 competition is a huge and major success.

ALSO READ: Cricket’s latest T20 series offers all the flash that can be expected

The shortest version of the game is now arguably the most popular around the world and I hope to see fans in South Africa getting behind the teams and players and packing out stadiums to support the SA20.

For the sake of SA cricket, on many fronts, it is imperative that this latest competition gets off with a bang.

Here’s hoping for a big, and successful, 2023!