As per the latest reports coming in, African cricket administrators are planning a new T20 tournament which is set to feature teams from Africa and involve teams like South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe. This was discussed during the ICC Africa Regional Conference in Namibia with officials looking to commercialize the sport in the African region. The plan includes featuring at least six competitive teams from Africa and has a similar concept as the Asia Cup. However, no official from statement from any of the boards regarding this has come out yet
The African region is one of the most popular and stronger regions in terms of cricket with plenty of home-grown players fighting toe to toe. A tournament like the Africa Cup would help the smaller nations grow and also make the sport more popular in the African continent.
One major issue could be the FTP cycle where South Africa are having a busy calendar but if this concept does go ahead there are chances for South Africa to play their A side in the tournament. Zimbabwe and Namibia are other two teams who will feature and have improved a lot in the past few years. There are a lot of exciting teams in the African region and this tournament could put the limelight on them.
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According to reports from Cricket Financial Journal, African administrators initially thought of a ten-team competition before deciding that six teams would be the ideal format. The first expanded Africa Cup will not be taking place this year and authorities have planned to launch this Africa Cup as a tri series between South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe initially as a soft launch and in the coming years we could see a six team Africa Cup similar to the Asia Cup and this move will make cricket in Africa much stronger.
