Africa-Press – South-Africa. The incessant rain sweeping across northern and eastern South Africa has rendered the SA20 organisers’ decision to have a reserve day in place for Saturday’s final at the Wanderers prudent.
By 10am, Johannesburg was still experiencing steady rainfall ahead of the sold-out blockbuster, which is scheduled to start at 16:30.
Should no play be possible, proceedings are slated to resume at 13:30 on Sunday afternoon.
And if no outcome is still forthcoming, the trophy will be shared between the Pretoria Capitals and Sunrisers Eastern Cape.
However, a member of the tournament’s organising committee confirmed to News24 Sport that first prize is for the match to be decided on Saturday.
“Essentially, the teams, umpires and other stakeholders go into the final with the assumption that there’s no reserve day in place,” he said.
“We need about 54 minutes to complete a 5-an-over contest. So, instead of calling things off early and deciding to come back again on Sunday, we’ll try to get the game in on Saturday.”
The source said scheduling demands are the main reason for attempting to complete everything on Saturday.
Should proceedings spill over to Sunday, the match situation will merely mean a resumption.
No “new” match will be played.
SA20 sent a media notice on Saturday morning that the match was still scheduled to begin at 16:30 as planned but organisers “would continue to monitor the weather and advise on any further updates as the day progressed”.
“If the rain came just after the toss, the outcome of the toss will remain in place for Sunday. If a team is 100/3 after 14 overs, when you resume on that score.”
Meanwhile, Pretoria Capitals skipper Wayne Parnell noted that he had didn’t necessarily have a problem with the SA20’s traditional playoff structure of two straight semifinal knockouts, but prefers the modern template of “eliminators” found in the IPL and Big Bash.
“When we finished top of the log, it would’ve been easy for us to have just said we deserved to automatically be in the final,” he said.
“We said from the outset that there’s a risk of a team finishing first on the log, playing a semi on the Highveld on a good wicket where the team that finished fourth might have a good day and suddenly find themselves in the final.
“When you play a 10-match campaign and finish first, you’ve done well and should be rewarded. I think, in future, all teams would be in agreement that you deserve a second chance to make a final [through an eliminator structure].”
The SA20’s semifinal structure for 2023 was dictated purely by scheduling, notably the Proteas-England ODI series, as well as the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.
It’s understood next year’s edition will have an eliminator structure in place.
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