Cricket SA revealed on Tuesday it had introduced a Players of National Interest PONIs payment structure to help alleviate some of the financial burden on provincial unions after talks last December regarding the ever-increasing SA A schedule.
The four biggest unions, the Central Gauteng Lions, the Northerns Titans, Western Province and KwaZulu-Natal Dolphins, were particularly aggrieved about losing players to the Proteas and especially the SA A team last summer. In the case of the Titans and WP, both were in danger of relegation to Division 2 at stages of the season, which, had it occurred, would have proved significantly costly and led to the loss of jobs.
Those four unions were hit hardest by call-ups to the Proteas and SA A sides, which played Tests, ODIs, T20 Internationals, Four-Day and One-Day fixtures in Pakistan and India, in the middle of the South African domestic season.
