Cricket South Africa (CSA) has announced the launch of the Standard Bank Schools Pro20 Challenge that will see over 300 schools participating nationally. The  inaugural edition got underway at schools around the country on Wednesday,  January 20. 

CSA CEO Gerald Majola said: “CSA is proud to announce that Standard Bank, one of our longtime supporters of cricket development, will partner us and sponsor this exciting new National Schools Pro20 Challenge.

 “The youth are our future and CSA is delighted that Standard Bank has come on board to help us take the game forward among this emerging market. We are constantly asking ourselves what we can do today to shape a better tomorrow for the youth of South Africa and we hope this tournament will go a long way towards helping make cricket a truly national sport of winners.

“This is our sixth cricket sponsorship initiative and one which extends our existing sole sponsorship of the twenty-over format in South Africa” said Clement Motale Director Group Sponsorships at Standard Bank. “Worldwide school cricket is highly competitive, and South Africa is no different.  In keeping with international trends, we’ve joined forces with CSA to launch this Pro20 programme for local schools, strengthening the existing structures that nurture the “development pipeline” of cricket in South Africa.” 

Participating schools were chosen by CSA’s 16 affiliates who nominated the cricket-playing schools in their region. All schools (private and government) need to be registered under government legislation.

The Standard Bank Schools Pro20 Challenge will be an annual event staged over a few months. The format will see an initial round robin regional phase followed by a provincial eight-team play-off, culminating in a Final.

Regional  games get underway on January 20 until 3 March, followed by Provincial Finals on 6 and 7 March, Franchise Finals on 20 March, with the final taking place in early April.

Prize money will be allocated to winning schools at the different levels of competition with the understanding that the money must be used for the development of cricket at these schools.

CSA’s Youth Cricket manager, Niels Momberg, is excited about the new tournament and says all amateur managers around the country are raring to go.

“It is exciting to be launching a Pro20-format tournament at school level. The twenty-over game is gaining popularity at all levels around the world and CSA wants to better equip our young stars as they progress through our cricket development pipeline.”