So it took a gamble on the Proteas’ place at the next Cricket World Cup for Cricket South Africa (CSA) to break their silence on their new T20 league.
Last week, we were talking about how we knew niks about a new competition that was taking precedence over a qualifying series in Australia and seven days later, die tel is aan.
And while I think they are trying to spin the new money-spinner into a positive, I’m not bowled over.
Having failed twice to launch this product, they have turned to the Indian Premier League (IPL) to help them out.
Before I get into the Indian influence, let’s take a look at those previous failures - the Global League T20 and the Mzansi Super League.
Both those competitions banked on local expertise, mostly backed by South African money and was broadcast by the SABC to cater to the vast majority.
This time around, they’ve gone for the full Bollywood production to be screened exclusively on SuperSport.
Now before I’m accused of xenophobia of iets, let me be clear: I can see why CSA have gone done this road.
The IPL is a roaring success. It has millions of viewers, it has the best players and it makes a ton of geld.
And it would be great to tap into their market, have those stars play on our soil and bring some of their money into the local economy.
Hell, who won’t get caught up in the excitement of it all?
It gives me goosebumps just thinking about getting to watch Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar lit up Newlands for the Mumbai Indians when I covered their clash with Matthew Hayden and MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings when SA hosted the IPL in 2009.
But let’s be real, how much of this is going to benefit South Africans and the game here?
In the end, it’s South African players who must get the most benefit from playing and learning from the top international stars.
I want to see more of up-and-coming players like Thando Ntini, Dewald Brewis, Tristan Stubbs and exciting allrounder Khaif Patel, who made news this month by scoring 249 off 87 balls - breaking youth records held by Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers.
Then, for me, in this particular exercise, is the exchange of skills on a corporate level.
While the ethics of administrators of sport is maar always going to concern, I want to see people become more competent at accomplishing their mission.
With Graeme Smith running the show and his track record of irregularities in appointment of chommie Mark Boucher as coach just indicates that not all is as it seems.
Rather than hoping this new IPL-lite tournament is a success, let’s just pray the Proteas don’t miss out on the next World Cup.
Then, I guess, it will all be worth it.