Photo Credit: SA20 League
The third Betway SA20 player auction will take centre stage in Cape Town on Tuesday, as the six franchise teams finalise squads ahead of the anticipated Season 3 starting on 9 January 2025.
With only 13 picks available plus the six Rookie draft picks, there is expected to be fierce competition to close out some of the quality local and international players on the list.
Some of the star names who have entered the auction are West Indies fast bowling phenomenon, Shamar Joseph, the England international fast bowling quartet of Jake Ball, Saqib Mahmood, Ollie Robinson and Josh Hull, New Zealand’s record-breaking T20I opener, Martin Guptill, along with the finest homegrown talent and upcoming rookies.
“The auction is always an exciting time of year,” League Commissioner, Graeme Smith said. “As a League, you put together all the player regulations and framework to allow the teams to do what they do best, and that’s to put together world-class squads.
“We are really proud of the list of players that have come in this year. Ultimately, it’s for the teams to decide, they’ve gone out to the world and the market and got some of the best talent available. It’s important that we create a platform where teams are balanced, and each game has context. That is what has made the current squads so exciting, I am looking forward to seeing how they are all finalised.”
AUCTION PROCESS EXPLAINED
There will be 13 picks available from the 188 registered local and international players.
There will be five sets of players presented in the first phase of the auction. There will be a separate round for each of the 5 specialist skills:
- Batters
- Wicketkeepers
- Allrounders
- Fast bowlers
- Spin bowlers
Each set will have 7-10 players presented per set which will make up 40 players
Each set will have a mix of South African and Overseas players.
After the first 40 players are presented, should franchises still be requiring further players to complete their squads, an eXXpress round will commence.
Franchises will be asked to provide a list of players (from the remaining unsold players already presented and the remaining players on the auction list).
The players listed by the franchises will then be presented for auction until teams are filled with 17 players.
Should the eXXpress round finish with teams not yet complete, there will be a last call for players and those players will be presented.
Once teams are complete with 17 players each, the Auction part will conclude, and a break will be taken before the Rookie Draft commences.
ROOKIE DRAFT
After its inception in Season 2, the Rookie draft is back again.
Each team must sign a rookie player in the draft, a South African player who is 22 years of age or younger at the date of the auction and has not been contracted to SA20 previously. A total of 89 players have registered for the Rookie draft, which will take place at the conclusion of the player auction.
REMAINING TEAM SALARY PURSES
The salary cap for Season 3 will remain at R39.1 million.
Below is a breakdown of the remaining purse for each team along with the numbers of players they will be targeting.
For Season 2 all teams must have 19 players in total in their registered squad.
This is broken down as follows:
- 17 ‘normal’ squad players (pre-signings + retained players + players picked at Auction),
- 1 Wildcard (can be signed anytime until 30 December 2024, can be an overseas or SA player and does not count as part of salary cap) and
- 1 Rookie player (definition is included below).
The normal squad (17 players) may have a maximum of 7 overseas players.
The Wildcard can be overseas or South African.
The Rookie must be a South African player who is 22 years of age or younger at the date of the auction who has not been contracted to SA20 previously.
‘THE HAMMERMAN’ IS BACK
Renowned auctioneer, Richard ‘The Hammerman’ Madley, is back for the Season 3 player auction, with his experience and signature style once again at the helm of the gavel.
Madley pioneered the legendary Indian Premier League (IPL) player auctions for a decade and was the man with the hammer for the inaugural SA20 auction ahead of Season 1.
SUPERSPORT’S INNOVATIVE PRODUCTION TO BRING ALL THE LIVE COVERAGE
SuperSport’s dream team of cricket legends are back to lead the live coverage from Cape Town. The quartet of Pommie Mbangwa, Chris Morris, Mark Boucher and Ashwell Prince will provide expert insights and analysis, making sure fans don’t miss a moment of the action.
Joining the broadcast are some of the leading names in sports and entertainment content creation. Kooks Sonkosi and Nqobile Khwezi will be on hand to deliver live updates, behind-the-scenes coverage, and exclusive interviews from the venue.
WHERE TO WATCH
The auction will be broadcast live on SuperSport (Sub-Saharan Africa), Viacom (India) and Sky Sports (UK) from 16h15 SAST on 1 October. Follow the rolling coverage across all Betway SA20 social media platforms.
The show will also be live-streamed on the Betway SA20 YouTube Channel.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Stay ahead of the latest cricket industry trends by subscribing to our free cricexec “daily briefing” newsletter.
Name of Author: SA20 League
SA20, officially known as the Betway SA20 for sponsorship reasons, is a Twenty20 franchise cricket tournament in South Africa organized by Cricket South Africa (CSA). First held in the 2023 season, the league features six city-based teams. Sunrisers Eastern Cape won the first two editions of the tournament.
