Morris in the money for 2020 IPL

Six South Africans in IPL squads have not played a single game.

TELFORD VICE in Cape Town

CHRIS Morris could buy a luxury villa in South Africa’s most exclusive neighbourhoods with the Rs. 10 crore Royal Challengers Bangalore pledged for his services in the 2020 Indian Premier League player auction in Kolkata on Thursday.

The lanky allrounder with a wingspan to match went for more than R20-million, and almost seven times his base price of Rs. 1.5 crore. But he was among only three Saffers who found buyers for their wares. The others were Dale Steyn, who was snared — at the third time of asking — by RCB for Rs. 2 crore — and David Miller, who went to the Rajasthan Royals for Rs. 75 lakh. Steyn and Miller sold for their base prices.

South Africans will no doubt read the fact that the money earned by Morris, Steyn and Miller can’t touch Pat Cummins’ Rs. 15.5 crore — the IPL record for a foreign player — as a further sign of decline in a game plagued by damagingly inept administration that has been a significant factor in the wilting of performances at international level.

Closer to the truth is that the South African IPL contingent have punched above their weight. Fifty-four Saffers were on the books of the tournament’s franchises in its first dozen editions. There were 10 in the inaugural event and one more than that last year, but of the first intake only AB de Villiers and Steyn made it to 2019. Of those originals, Graeme Smith, Mark Boucher and Jacques Kallis now hold prominent positions in South Africa’s administrative and coaching structures.

De Villiers is the only South African among the four foreigners — Dwayne Bravo, Chris Gayle and Shane Watson are the others — who have featured in all 12 IPLs. At the other extreme are the six Saffers who were on rosters but never got a game: Ashwell Prince and Loots Bosman (both with the Mumbai Indians in 2008), Robbie Frylinck (Delhi Daredevils in 2011), Jonathan Vandiar (Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2011), Gulam Bodi (Delhi in 2012 and, impressively in its own way, 2013) and Cameron Delport (Kolkata Knight Riders in 2018).

Six South Africans were retained by their franchises this year — Quinton de Kock, De Villiers, Faf du Plessis, Kagiso Rabada, Imran Tahir and Hardus Viljoen. That’s one fewer than those who were released — Beuran Hendricks, Colin Ingram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Morris, Anrich Nortjé and Steyn. Their IPL-minded compatriots will be happy that Miller and Steyn landed deals to swing the national equation into positive territory. But there will be disbelief that players of the stature of Ingram and Nortjé went unsold, as did Klaasen and Andile Phehlukwayo.

The IPL is despised and delights in almost equal measure in South Africa. It is a monster that feeds on the energies of the national team’s best players, as well as a showcase for the calibre of cricketers the nation produces. But it will not be ignored, not least by estate agents who work in South Africa’s most exclusive neighbourhoods.

First published by Cricbuzz.