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Cape Town - Proteas all-rounder JP Duminy has voiced his concern over the loss of sponsorships in South African cricket.
It's been a testing period for Cricket South Africa (CSA) with not only the pressure of the new T20 league but with various sponsorships withdrawing their support from the game.
READ: Proteas set to miss start of new-look T20 league
Ahead of the 2018/19 summer, Sunfoil decided not to renew their partnership and will no longer be the main sponsor of the four-day domestic tournament and Proteas' Test cricket.
Shortly thereafter, Momentum withdrew their sponsorship from the women's national side, which they have occupied for the last five years.
RAM will also no longer be sponsoring the domestic T20 tournament, which will be played in April and May.
Speaking at the Cape Cobras season launch on Wednesday, Duminy believed that South African cricket should be managed well in order to ensure sponsorship deals.
"As a cricket fraternity it is concerning. My belief is that cricket as a brand is quite strong in South Africa and I think it's just got to be managed well and with that management you'll find that guys line-up to partner and align themselves with good cricket," said the Proteas middle-order batsman.
The Cape Cobras announced this week three massive sponsorship deals, which sees Baron, Mitchum and the S Balan Group aligned with the franchise.
Duminy was optimistic, stating that it was an encouraging sign to see sponsorships invest in domestic cricket and believes that it shouldn't be a problem for CSA.
"We've seen it now with the Cape Cobras with the amount of sponsorships that we've managed to bring on board and it's quite exciting to have so many partners and people are willing to invest in us as a franchise," he said.
"If it's happening here at a domestic level then there's no doubt that it will happen in the international stage because that's ultimately where people love watching cricket."
Cape Cobras head coach Ashwell Prince was hopeful over CSA's sponsorship dilemma and stated that they would be able to pull in another sponsor.
"At the end of the day CSA announced that they're close to tying those up and we can only control our environment. Obviously with the three sponsors signed with the Cobras this week, it's really encouraging," said Prince at Newlands.
"What happens in terms of the competition sponsors, hopefully CSA will tie things up in the next few days."
