CSA awaits Twenty20 millions
2008-08-08 15:05
Johannesburg - Cricket South Africa may be counting mere coins at the moment in the wake of a R16m loss in the last financial year, but the exciting prospects that Twenty20 cricket holds and their own sizeable cash reserves means the organisation is a long way from rack and ruin.
The consolidated loss of R16m is comprised of a R1.7m loss suffered by the amateur arm of the United Cricket Board and the R14.3m loss of CSA, but the shortfall is far less than budgeted and the organisation's finances are certainly not under threat, according to treasurer, Professor Hentie van Wyk.
"I can never be happy with a loss, but I'm very pleased that it is a small loss. In fact, it is a R55m turnaround because we had budgeted for a R71m loss and we still have very healthy cash reserves of R154m," Van Wyk told the CSA annual meeting in Johannesburg on Friday.
CSA is in the middle of a two-year lean period due to the fluctuating nature of television income, linked to the marketability of the teams touring South Africa.
Van Wyk pointed out that income from television rights had decreased by R100m in the last year, which saw less glamorous teams such as New Zealand and the West Indies visiting our shores.
CSA found some extra income, though, from the additional games they played in Ireland against India - which brought in R22m - and greater interest received on their savings thanks to the higher interest rate.
The next year is also expected to be a lean one, while a slight profit is forecast by the end of the 2010 financial year, but CSA will not have to live off their cash reserves for the next couple of years.
That's because Twenty20 cricket has sailed into port and provided as much relief as Noah's Ark would have to the inhabitants of the ancient world.
It is an accepted fact that South Africa's top-class staging of the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 provided the new format of the game with the impetus to take over the world and CSA will quite rightly cash in on its tremendous popularity - starting with a $250 000 bonus from the ICC.
"It is now well-known that the successful hosting of the tournament resulted in twenty20 cricket becoming the most popular format in cricket and increased the value of this event exponentially. Because of this, the ICC have given us an ex-gratia payment of $250 000," CSA president Norman Arendse told the AGM.
CSA is also one of the founding boards of the new Twenty20 Champions League, along with India and Australia, and Arendse said South Africa's involvement would net them a projected income of R50m a year.
Arendse added that next year's Champions League is set to be staged by South Africa, and even though CEO Gerald Majola contradicted him by saying nothing had been finalised yet, there are also negotiations under way with Cricket Australia over a Super 14 style Twenty20 competition.
Arendse is also mulling over ways of regulating the playing of official and non-official cricket as part of an ICC committee set up in the wake of the terrible dispute between the Indian Premier League and the Indian Cricket League.
"The IPL/ICL issue still haunts us and we need to manage better the formation of two domestic leagues in the same country. It could happen tomorrow to any of the other member countries of the ICC and, like Fifa, we need to have every aspect of the game fully regulated. At the moment, the member countries are left to be autonomous and to decide for themselves what they want to do domestically, but the impact of those decisions affects cricket globally," Arendse said.
The controversial CSA president was all sweetness and light on Friday, praising the national team and Graeme Smith as "the best captain we've ever had".
In more mundane AGM business, Ernest Moletsi, Oupa Kgasisang and Zola Thamae were elected unopposed as the three Black African representatives on the CSA general council and former president Ray Mali was formally congratulated for his "huge role in unifying world cricket" as the outgoing head of the ICC.