The first ever season of the Mzansi Super League will kick-start from 2018 with the Cricket South Africa having finally been able to get things rolling in terms of their own T20 league. All the latest information on the Mzansi Super League, including its live streaming options, predictions, squads, schedule for this first season and how you can buy tickets for this edition can be found below.
Why Mzansi Super League & its History?
This is the first ever season of his South African T20 competition, which is why there isn’t much history to talk about. However, it must be said that even before it’s gotten off the ground there have been a lot of things that have happened in the background.
For one, this South African T20 competition was expected to be called the Global Destination League T20 when it was about to be launched with much fanfare in 2017. The only problem was that the CSA did not get any broadcaster on board for the price they wanted and as a result, the tournament had to be shelved weeks before it was to begin. The lofty plans around it were also put to bed and this season, a watered-down version of the original league has gotten a go-ahead.
This Mzansi Super League will have six teams and much like most other tournaments in the world, like the PSL and APL and the others, will have a round-robin competition followed by a knock-out stage in the tournament. The first ever season will be played from November 16, 2018.
Mzansi means South Africa, a way of ensuring the tournament will be African in nature.
Current Mzansi Super League Format & Schedule
As mentioned above, six teams will take part in this opening season of the Mzansi Super League. These six teams are as follows:
- Nelson Mandela Bay Giants
- Tshwane Spartans
- Jozi Stars
- Durban Heat
- Cape Town Blitz
- Paarl Rocks
Each of these six teams will play each other twice, on a home and away basis, to make it 30 matches during the league stage of the competition. This will be followed by the knock-out stage in which the top three sides will qualify - the top team will directly make the final while teams ranked second and third will feature in the semis.
A total of 32 matches will be played this year as a result and the bigger grounds like Kingsmead in Durban or the New Wanderers in Johannesburg will be used for the matches.
Mzansi Super League Schedule for 2018:
The 32 games in the Mzansi Super League schedule for the first season of the competition will be divided into two sets - 30 matches in the main round and 2 matches during the knockouts. The tournament begins on November 16 with the opener to be played at Cape Town between the Cape Town Blitz and Tshwane Spartans. The final will be played on December 16.
Nov 16, Fri (D/N), Cape Town Blitz vs Tshwane Spartans, PPC Newlands, Cape Town
Nov 17, Sat (D/N), Jozi Stars vs Nelson Mandela Giants, Bidvest Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
Nov 18, Sun (Day), Durban Heat vs Cape Town Blitz, Kingsmead, Durban
Nov 18, Sun (Day), Paarl Rocks vs Tshwane Spartans, Eurolux Boland Park, Paarl
Nov 20, Tue (D/N), Paarl Rocks vs Jozi Stars, Eurolux Boland Park, Paarl
Nov 21, Wed (Day), Durban Heat vs Tshwane Spartans, Kingsmead, Durban
Nov 21, Wed (D/N), Cape Town Blitz vs Nelson Mandela Giants, PPC Newlands, Cape Town
Nov 23, Fri (Day), Nelson Mandela Giants vs Durban Heat St George’s, Port Elizabeth
Nov 24, Sat (D/N), Jozi Stars vs Cape Town Blitz, Bidvest Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
Nov 25, Sun (Day), Tshwane Spartans vs Nelson Mandela Giants, SuperSport Park, Centurion
Nov 25, Sun (Day), Paarl Rocks vs Cape Town Blitz, Eurolux Boland Park, Paarl
Nov 27, Tue (D/N), Nelson Mandela Giants vs Cape Town Blitz, St George’s, Port Elizabeth
Nov 28, Wed (Day), Tshwane Spartans vs Jozi Stars, SuperSport Park, Centurion
Nov 28, Wed (D/N), Durban Heat vs Paarl Rocks, Kingsmead, Durban
Nov 30, Fri (Day), Nelson Mandela Giants vs Paarl Rocks, St George’s, Port Elizabeth
Nov 30, Fri (D/N), Jozi Stars vs Durban Heat, Bidvest Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
Dec 1, Sat (D/N), Tshwane Spartans vs Cape Town Blitz, SuperSport Park, Centurion
Dec 2, Sun (Day), Paarl Rocks vs Durban Heat, Eurolux Boland Park, Paarl
Dec 2, Sun (Day), Nelson Mandela Giants vs Jozi Stars, St George’s, Port Elizabeth
Dec 4, Tue (D/N), Cape Town Blitz vs Jozi Stars, PPC Newlands, Cape Town
Dec 5, Wed (Day), Tshwane Spartans vs Paarl Rocks, SuperSport Park, Centurion
Dec 5, Wed (D/N), Durban Heat vs Nelson Mandela Giants, Kingsmead, Durban
Dec 7, Fri (Day), Durban Heat vs Jozi Stars, Kingsmead, Durban
Dec 7, Fri (D/N), Cape Town Blitz vs Paarl Rocks, PPC Newlands, Cape Town
Dec 8, Sat (D/N), Nelson Mandela Giants vs Tshwane Spartans, St George’s, Port Elizabeth
Dec 9, Sun (Day), Jozi Stars vs Paarl Rocks, Bidvest Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
Dec 9, Sun (Day), Cape Town Blitz vs Durban Heat, PPC Newlands, Cape Town
Dec 11, Tue (D/N), Jozi Stars vs Tshwane Spartans, Bidvest Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
Dec 12, Wed (Day), Paarl Rocks vs Nelson Mandela Giants, Eurolux Boland Park, Paarl
Dec 12, Wed (D/N), Tshwane Spartans vs Durban Heat, SuperSport Park, Centurion
Dec 14, Fri (D/N), Play-off 2 vs 3, Venue of 2
Dec 16, Sun (Day), 1st vs Winner of Play-Off, Venue of 1
How to watch the 2018 Mzansi Super League Live Streaming & other Broadcast Options?
The Mzansi Super League, in its earlier avatar was called the Global League T20 and was expected to be broadcast by the SuperSport TV but the deal fell through and the tournament needed to be postponed to 2018. Now, the CSA have found a TV broadcaster in local network SABC which will telecast the competition live in South Africa.
The tournament will also be televised in the rest of the world but more information on that will be released later and we will update that as soon as there’s anything around it.
Mzansi Super League Predictions
We will update the match by match predictions for the 2018 Mzansi Super League here before the start of and during the tournament.
Mzansi Super League Squads
All the six teams named their squads at the end of a Draft process that was held earlier this year. The Mzansi Super League squads are as follows:
Neson Mandela Bay Giants:
Imran Tahir, Jason Roy, Junior Dala, Jon-Jon Smuts, Aaron Phangiso, Christiaan Jonker, Sisanda Magala, Ben Duckett, Heino Kuhn, Ryan McLaren, Dyllan Matthews (rookie), Marco Marais, Rudi Second, Lizaad Williams, Carmi le Roux
Tshwane Spartans:
AB de Villiers, Lungi Ngidi, Eoin Morgan, Jeewan Mendis, Robbie Frylinck, Rory Kleinveldt, Theunis de Bruyn, Gihahn Cloete, Sean Williams, Tony de Zorzi (rookie), Lutho Sipamla (rookie), Dean Elgar, Sikandar Raza, Andrew Birch, Shaun von Berg, Eldred Hawken
Jozi Stars:
Kagiso Rabada, Dane Vilas (Kolpak), Chris Gayle, Daniel Christian (Australia), Rassie van der Dussen, Reeza Hendricks, Beuran Hendricks, Eddie Leie, Dwaine Pretorius, Duanne Olivier, Pite van Biljon, Sinethemba Qeshile (rookie), Ryan Rickelton, Calvin Savage, Simon Harmer (kolpak), Alfred Mothoa
Durban Heat:
Hashim Amla, David Miller, Rashid Khan, Kyle Abbott (Kolpak), Heinrich Klaasen, Khaya Zondo, Keshav Maharaj, Marchant de Lange (Kolpak), Albie Morkel, Brandon Mavuta, Vernon Philander, Morne van Wyk, Temba Bavuma, Okuhle Cele (rookie), Sarel Erwee, Tladi Bokako
Cape Town Blitz:
Quinton de Kock, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dawid Malan, Samuel Badree, Dale Steyn, Farhaan Behardien, Asif Ali, Janneman Malan, Anrich Nortje, George Linde, Malusi Siboto, Jason Smith, Ferisco Adams, Kyle Verreynne (rookie), Sibonelo Makhanya, Dane Piedt
Paarl Rocks:
Faf du Plessis, Tabraiz Shamsi, Dwayne Bravo, Aiden Markram, Dane Paterson, Patrick Kruger, Bjorn Fortuin, Mangaliso Mosehle, Grant Thomson, Vaughn van Jaarsveld, Tshepo Moreki, Paul Stirling, Cameron Delport (kolpak), Eathan Bosch (rookie), Henry Davids, Kerwin Mungroo
Mzansi Super League Tickets
Since this is the first ever season of the tournament, the Mzansi Super League tickets prices have been kept at a low price. In fact, the the lowest-costing ticket is just R50 - which is less than $4 and these tickets have gone on sale from Friday, October 26. These MSL tickets can be bought from www.ticketpros.co.za, where you need to choose cricket.
The other option is to call 0861 008 277 or visit any of the TICKETPRO retail outlet that include Edgars, Jet, CNA and Spar.
Head to Head Comparison
No head-to-head games available at the moment.