Johannesburg - Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Wednesday congratulated its two franchise representatives, the Highveld Lions and the Titans, on reaching the knock-out phase of the Karbonn Smart CLT20 competition.
The Lions will play the Delhi Daredevils at Kingsmead on Thursday while the Titans take on the Sydney Sixers at Centurion on Friday.
The winners of the two semi-finals will meet in the final at the Wanderers Stadium on Sunday. All three matches will start at 17:30.
“We could not have asked for a better start to our summer,” commented CSA Acting CEO Jacques Faul. “These two teams have created a momentum that will flow into the Proteas squad as they leave for Australia on Saturday to defend their No 1 Test ranking. “It has also been a telling comment on the high standard of our domestic professional cricket which clearly ranks alongside any comparative competition in the world.
“Both the Titans and the Lions have achieved their successes largely with players who are not on the international stage and quite a few of them have grabbed the opportunity to show that they are ready to move up to the international level. With one or two notable exceptions virtually all the top T20 players in the world have been performing here so there has been a good yardstick to measure the quality of our domestic cricketers.
“Aaron Phangiso has been the standout performer in this regard but he is by no means the only one.
“The benefits of the CLT20 for South African cricket have been huge. The cricket benefits are obvious but it has also created commercial opportunities including moving more traffic through our various stadia.
“The public support for both the Lions and the Titans has created a wonderful vibe at their home stadia and is playing an important part in building the brands of our domestic franchises.”
The Lions will play the Delhi Daredevils at Kingsmead on Thursday while the Titans take on the Sydney Sixers at Centurion on Friday.
The winners of the two semi-finals will meet in the final at the Wanderers Stadium on Sunday. All three matches will start at 17:30.
“We could not have asked for a better start to our summer,” commented CSA Acting CEO Jacques Faul. “These two teams have created a momentum that will flow into the Proteas squad as they leave for Australia on Saturday to defend their No 1 Test ranking. “It has also been a telling comment on the high standard of our domestic professional cricket which clearly ranks alongside any comparative competition in the world.
“Both the Titans and the Lions have achieved their successes largely with players who are not on the international stage and quite a few of them have grabbed the opportunity to show that they are ready to move up to the international level. With one or two notable exceptions virtually all the top T20 players in the world have been performing here so there has been a good yardstick to measure the quality of our domestic cricketers.
“Aaron Phangiso has been the standout performer in this regard but he is by no means the only one.
“The benefits of the CLT20 for South African cricket have been huge. The cricket benefits are obvious but it has also created commercial opportunities including moving more traffic through our various stadia.
“The public support for both the Lions and the Titans has created a wonderful vibe at their home stadia and is playing an important part in building the brands of our domestic franchises.”