Cricket coup for South Africa
Brad Morgan
25 March 2009
South Africa, which was recently asked to host the International Cricket Council's 2009 Champions Trophy, has now been named host of the 2009 DLF Indian Premier League. The second edition of cricket's most lucrative league was moved from India due to security concerns.
Elections will be taking place in India at the same time as the Indian Premier League (IPL), making it difficult for the Indian government to provide the amount of security required by the organisers.
The league will feature 59 matches, starting on 18 April. The fixtures list has not yet been released.
The decision to host the tournament in South Africa followed a meeting between Cricket South Africa CEO Gerald Majola and IPL chairman Lalit Modi in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
"We are very happy to confirm that South Africa will host the 2009 DLF Indian Premier League tournament," Modi said in a statement after the meeting. "We would like to thank Cricket South Africa (CSA) very much for the support they have given us over the past few days, which has helped us to come to this decision.
'South Africa loves T20 cricket'
"The South African public loves T20 cricket and CSA successfully hosted the inaugural ICC World T20," Modi said. "Both these factors weighed heavily in South Africa's favour, and we look forward to a successful and exciting tournament being held at venues throughout South Africa."England had been the initial venue of choice to host the league, according to reports coming out of India, but South Africa swiftly replaced England as the number one choice for a number of reasons, the most important being the weather.
Cricinfo reports that another big factor in South Africa's favour was that the country's government also gave assurances that the IPL would "receive the full red carpet treatment".
In addition, South Africa's time zone suits prime time Indian television audiences better. The IPL wants matches to start at 16:00 Indian Standard Time. That translates to 12:30 in South Africa. In England, it would be at 11:30.
Broadcast rights
The cricket rights are also less complicated in South Africa, says Cricinfo, as SuperSport owns the rights for the IPL, as well as the rights for international cricket played in South Africa.
A big factor, too, is that the costs of running the tournament in South Africa will be substantially lower than they would be in England.
"CSA is delighted to accept the invitation from Mr Modi to host the 2009 DFL Indian Premier League tournament," Majola said. "This is a great compliment to both CSA and our nation to be shown this confidence in our ability to hold one of the world's top sporting events at short notice.
"The organisers can be assured that they have the full support of CSA's structures and the South African public to stage a successful tournament.
Strengthen ties
"This event will strengthen the ties even further between South African and Indian cricket, as well as binding our nations even closer together," Majola added.
"We are looking forward to hosting some of the world's best cricketers, and we can assure them they will be provided with the very best facilities to show their skills."
Champions Trophy
South Africa was recently asked to host the International Cricket Council's (ICC's) 2009 Champions Trophy. The event was originally scheduled to take place in Pakistan, but a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team on 3 March led to a decision to move the tournament.
Sri Lanka was going to take over from Pakistan, but the event was then offered to South Africa after the ICC decided that the 12-day tournament would be at substantial risk of being badly affected by the weather in the island nation at that time of year: late September into early October.
In September 2007, South Africa hosted the first Twenty20 World Championships, which were widely lauded as an overwhelming success.
Would you like to use this article in your publication or on your website? See: Using SAinfo material
