Although the beginning of SA20 conflicts with the Big Bash League’s final stages in Australia, Smith said arrangements have been made for BBL players who have signed for SA20 to go and play in South Africa
The league announced on Wednesday that the new Twenty20 league in South Africa will be called SA20. The six teams have already started the hiring process, and a player auction will be held later this month to finalize the rosters.
In a virtual press conference, league commissioner and former South Africa captain Graeme Smith said the player auction for SA20’s inaugural season will take place on September 19.
Each of the six IPL franchise-owned teams—Sunrisers Eastern Cape, Pretoria Capitals, Paarl Royals, MI Cape Town, Johannesburg Super Kings, and Durban franchise has already signed up to five players (Pavel has signed four, Pretoria and Eastern Cape have each signed two) through a direct-acquisition process.
According to Graeme Smith, teams would be allowed to feature a maximum of four foreign players per match when the league gets underway next year.
It will begin on January 23 and last for one month as South Africa makes a belated debut into the highly lucrative T20 market.
“We’ve got an extensive list of international players that we’re sorting out for the auction. We’re still finalizing some of the auction details and we’re sorting out the player registration because of the large number of players,” Smith said
He added,“There has been an element of pre-signing that has been taking place and the teams have a purse of $2 million that already includes the pre-signed players.” “A lot of work has gone into it and we’re very excited with what we’ve done and what we can create going forward,” he added.
England internationals Moeen Ali, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran and Liam Livingstone have already been signed along with West Indians Jason Holder and Kyle Mayers.
Although the beginning of SA20 conflicts with the Big Bash League’s final stages in Australia, Smith stated arrangements have been made for BBL players who have signed for SA20 to go and play in South Africa.
“They have a different structure this season, so the players in our league who have signed up will be there up until the early days of January so that they will be available,” Smith told a virtual news conference. ”They’ll be released to come and play here, from where they’ll be fully available for the South African league.”
This will be South Africa’s third effort to establish a franchise T20 league in the nation with SA20. The 2017 attempt to launch the Global League T20 failed after prior tries.
The Mzansi Super League, which took its place, was held in 2018 and 2019, but didn’t receive the major broadcast rights. Instead, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), a public broadcaster, obtained broadcast rights for a considerably smaller amount. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the league hasn’t been played since 2020, and it will now make room for the SA20.
