With the way franchise cricket is gathering steam in today’s sporting landscape, perhaps it doesn’t come as a shocker that a lot of cricketing boards are deprioritizing Test cricket and giving more momentum to the T20 excursion.
After all the moolah rests in franchise T20 tournaments with the sponsorships, the television revenue and the in stadia ticket sales.
Perhaps the so called cricketing faithful at large want a quick three-hour adrenalin boost over investing in the purity of the game which lasts a good five days or at least it did in erstwhile times.
Also, most of the cricketing boards barring the famous ‘Big Three’ are cash strapped and these necessary albeit entertainment focussed T20 tournaments give the much-needed financial injection which brings me to the title that serves as the talking point of this article.
Have Cricket South Africa deprioritized the 2025-26 home Test cricket season for the aforementioned reason?
Well, the answer is an astounding yes with the Mzansi for the first time since readmission which was almost 30 years to date are not hosting home Test matches.
The vibe and flavour of the famous Boxing Day Test matched with the festive cheers of The New Year Test will be grabbedaway from the true cricketing supporters who possibly are stillinvested in the five-day format.
Perhaps a sorry state of affairs if a pure cricketing faithful were to reckon!
What the fans would instead witness will be an early start of the SA20 on December 26 which make no mistake has been doing wonders for South African cricket both from a financial and talent perspective.
With this being said, does this mean that there should be no home Tests to make this T20 window even bigger?
Isn’t this a tad bit unfair to folks still looking forward to the Proteas playing the five-day format at home?
Perhaps these are questions every purist of the South African game should seek answers to.
Cricket South Africa has said the reason for this rather lean schedule which will only see the Proteas men’s side play a five match T20 series against the West Indies at home, is to use this time to refurbish the stadiums for the 2027 ODI World Cup which will be co-hosted by the Mzansi, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
Perhaps the argument of refurbishing the stadiums does seem fair but truth be told this can also happen in South Africa’s off season.
Well, it is what it is but as they say every dark cloud does have a silver lining!
Yes, with the men’s home window being rather small, there is more emphasis on the women’s game with the Protea ladies hosting Ireland and Pakistan for three T20Is and three ODIs each.
What’s even more heartening is the women will compete across the big five venues in South Africa i.e. Wanderers, Centurion, St. George’s Park, Kingsmead and Newlands which truth be told doesn’t happen often enough.
Certainly, a silver lining in the otherwise dark home season for the Proteas in the international fold if one were to reckon.
With only five Test matches on the horizon for the Proteas this season, cricket fans are left to wonder if this is merely an anomaly or the start of something far more troubling?
Perhaps not as the 2026-27 season as it is forecasted has more to offer with inbound tours from Australia, England and Bangladesh.
After all, as the WTC finalists – the Proteas are far too brilliant to be relegated to the sidelines for long.
image courtesy– EspnCricinfo
