Peter Robinson cricket
In a month during which nothing much is happening in South African cricket, the silliest row of the year broke out when Gauteng were persuaded to sulk in public at not
being invited to a four-team bunfight at Kingsmead on October 1. SuperSport has put together a 25-over hit-and-giggle tournament as a pre-season appetiser for those in Durban not agonising over the Sharks’ Currie Cup prospects. The participating teams are Northerns, KwaZulu- Natal, Eastern Province and Western Province, who will play each other in two semifinals with the winners meeting in a final, all on the same day.
By its very nature, the cricket played will consist of batsmen trying to hit the cover off the ball, and SuperSport intends to dress up the occasion with all the bells and whistles in its armoury. There will be LBW mats, wired-up umpires and captains and interviewers sticking microphones up batsmen’s noses. As an incentive, the winning team and their partners will get an expenses-paid holiday in Mauritius. SuperSport has invested in both Northerns and KwaZulu-Natal. They are also understood to be sniffing around EP and WP. It is hardly surprising they should have invited those teams. But Gauteng have come over all huffy because they weren’t asked to the party, arguing that they are, after all, the current
SuperSport Series champions. The logic of this will escape most people. Quite why a team
proficient in the four-day game should believe itself entitled to play in an abbreviated limited-overs tournament is not clear.
A possible explanation is that they’re jealous at missing out on a chance of a trip to Mauritius. Which would be understandable, but those people sniffing indignantly at the Wanderers ought to remember this: it’s undignified and a sign of poor breeding to jump up and down angrily if you aren’t invited somewhere. Gauteng’s proper response should be to get on with the business of trying to retain their first-class title and adding the Standard Bank Cup to this. In which case SuperSport would probably find it impossible not to ask them to come along next year. Peter Robinson is editor of CricInfo South Africa