Lions coach Wandile Gwavu is happy that the playing structures for next season have not been tampered with too much.
Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced last week that the flagship 4-Day Domestic Series and Momentum One-Day Cup will be played in group formats rather than a combined six-team all-in-one pool competition that will include play-offs.
The new system will see the six teams divided into two sections of three teams, who play home and away as well as a single round against the teams in the other group. The two group winners will then play-off for the title.
Gwavu is satisfied with the change:
The changes to the structure do mean that each franchise will play a minimum of seven matches per competition, down from 10 in the previous years, while the two group winners will have an eighth game when they play-off for the title.
Meanwhile, the Lions can take plenty of heart from the past campaign, that prematurely ended two weeks ago due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
All cricket was cancelled for 60 days, handing the four-day title to the Lions and the One-Day crown to the Dolphins, who finished just ahead of Gwavu’s charges.
The Lions coach concedes it was an extremely satisfactory campaign:
Gwavu began 2019/20 in interim charge of the Lions after their head coach at the time, Enoch Nkwe, was placed in interim charge of the Proteas.
That post turned into a permanent assistant coach role with the national team, meaning Gwavu was elevated to the role of interim coach for the Lions.
In the audio below, he hopes to get the role on a permanent basis in the coming days or weeks.
– Report by Thahir Asmal
