CSA T20 League: Lance Klusener appointed head coach of Durban
Former South African all-rounder Lance Klusener has been appointed as the head coach of the Durban-based franchise in Cricket South Africa's (CSA) new T20 league. Durban is one of six franchises in the tournament, which is slated to take place in January-February 2023. Klusener, 50, started his coaching career with the Dolphins, a Durban-based franchise, in the mid-2010s. Here's more.
Klusener has a wealth of coaching experience!
Klusener worked as an assistant batting coach for the Proteas in late 2019. He re-joined Zimbabwe's men team as a batting coach this year, having served from 2016-18. He then served as the head coach of Afghanistan's men cricket team till late 2021. He has had stints with Rajshahi Kings and Khulna Tigers in BPL, and Bangla Tigers in the Abu Dhabi T10 League.
Why does this story matter?
Klusener was a man ahead of his time. He was noted as a ferocious batter, who could hit the deck hard and pocket a few crunch wickets. To bring in a person of Klusener's competence could do wonders for the franchise in the maiden edition itself. Plus, he has prior coaching experience up his sleeves which makes his appointment all the more welcoming.
A legend of South African cricket!
Klusener made 171 appearances in 50-overs cricket. The southpaw amassed 3,576 runs at an average of 41.16. Most notably, he bossed the show while striking at 89.91. He smacked two hundreds and 19 fifties. The right-armer also claimed 192 wickets. In Tests, Klusener amassed 1,906 runs at 32.86. He struck four hundreds and eight fifties. He also pocketed 80 wickets (BBI: 8/64).
CSA attempts to resurrect franchise-based T20 League
Earlier this month, CSA announced the launch of a new franchise-based T20 league in association with broadcaster SuperSport. The first season of the tournament is scheduled to get underway in January 2023. The new tournament comes as another effort from CSA to popularize franchise-based T20 cricket in the country. Six team owners from the Indian Premier League have acquired franchises in the league.
A look at the teams
Mukesh Ambani of MI, N Srinivasan of CSK, Parth Jindal of DC, the Marans of SRH, Sanjiv Goenka of LSG, and Manoj Badale of RR have bought six franchises in South Africa's T20 league. A look at the teams - MI: Cape Town, CSK: Johannesburg, DC: Pretoria Capitals, LSG: Durban, SRH: Port Elizabeth, and RR: Paarl.
Format of CSA's T20 league
Six teams will face each other twice in a round-robin stage before the top three progress to the playoffs. Overall, 33 games will be contested over a period of nearly four weeks. As per CSA, the tournament will also feature overseas players.Like the IPL, each team will be able to field up to four foreign players in the XI.
A player auction will take place shortly
CSA and SuperSport will form a new company to manage the competition. A player auction will take place at a later date, while the tournament will be held in January every year. The first season will begin immediately after South Africa's Test tour of Australia.
