Former South African captain and chairman of the SA20 league, Graeme Smith opened up on the criticism that CSA faced after they named a weak South African side for the two-match Test series against New Zealand. The series is clashing with the SA20 league and the star South African players are all being retained by the franchises as well. While many in the cricketing fraternity have raised concerns over the future of Test cricket, Smith said that SA20’s scheduling will only get better with time as well. He also stated that all are on the same page when it comes to saving the future of Test cricket.

Speaking to Betway, Graeme Smith said: “The clash with South Africa’s tour of New Zealand isn’t ideal, but scheduling is a challenge for everyone in the game and I expect that every year we’ll get better at it. Test cricket is a format that we all love. I played 116 Tests myself, so I want to see it protected. I’m part of the MCC Committee and, after our previous meeting at Lord’s, we came out and said we believed the ICC needs to create a fund to protect it for the six or seven nations that play it.”

READ MORE: “I want to play cricket for as long as I can” – Nathan Lyon

However, South Africa also kept a two-match Test home series against India recently instead of having three Tests and this also didn’t go down well with many. Graeme Smith also shared the importance of SA20 being a success as a full-fledged tournament as well.

“We wanted to avoid an exhibition-style tournament and have really focused on making sure the cricketers are the best on show. There’s a quality group of young South African players and some outstanding international stars so, from a cricket perspective, it’s going to be very competitive. SA20 can raise standards across the game,” Graeme Smith concluded.