RAM SLAM RETURNS

Ram return as title sponsors for CSA T20 Challenge

by Tristan Holme • Published on

Ram Hand to Hand Couriers return as title sponsors of South Africa's domestic T20 competition © Getty

The CSA T20 Challenge, South Africa's less-loved Twenty20 competition that has been brought back in from the cold following the postponement of the T20 Global League, regained its former sponsor on Tuesday (November 7). At an event in Johannesburg, Cricket South Africa announced that Ram, a courier company, had come back on board as a title sponsor, returning the tournament name to the Ram Slam T20 Challenge.

"It is great news for our cricket to welcome Ram Hand to Hand Couriers back as one of our naming rights sponsors," said CSA's acting chief executive Thabang Moroe. "We are particularly grateful to them for coming aboard at unavoidably short notice."

The competition had not had a sponsor since a match-fixing scandal in the 2015/16 season led Ram to withdraw its support for the following year. With CSA's eyes fixed firmly on launching a new T20 league with privately-owned franchises, its existing property fell by the wayside and no sponsor was secured for the 2016/17 season.

That looked likely to be the case again for 2017/18 until last month when the inaugural season of the T20GL, which was scheduled to begin on November 3, fell to pieces. Left with a hole in their calendar, CSA made the obvious move of shifting the T20 Challenge from its original starting date in March.

The competition will now benefit from the presence of South Africa's national players, who are all available for the full six weeks. The tournament starts this Friday when the Warriors host the Knights in Port Elizabeth, and concludes with the final on December 16, which is a public holiday.

With the event becoming more attractive, Ram have now returned and their sponsorship will provide some welcome income for CSA, who are set to lose hundreds of millions of Rands from the breakdown of the T20GL. Ram also confirmed that they would be reviving a popular competition in which spectators taking a one-handed catch in the crowd earn a share of a prize money pool, with that pool increased from R1 million to R2 million this season.

"I don't think any of us need reminding of the recent feats by the likes of David Miller and AB de Villiers in the recent international matches against Bangladesh," said Moroe. "We now have the three quickest centuries in T20 International cricket all having been scored by Proteas in Miller, Richard Levi and Faf du Plessis and our fans are not going to be short of opportunities to bid for their share of the Catch Two Million prize money.

"It reminds one of the quote by one of our revered former players, Shaun Pollock, on TV that the 'players are now becoming the spectators and the spectators are becoming the fielders'."

It was telling that the sponsorship event took place at SuperSport's studios. Relations between CSA and the broadcaster had become frosty during negotiations over a deal for the T20GL - which did not fall within SuperSport's existing rights - but have now begun to thaw.

SuperSport did own the broadcast rights for the T20 Challenge, and interest in the tournament locally will rise now that it falls within a prime summer slot and will feature the Proteas players.

© Cricbuzz

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