Graeme Smith T20

Former South Africa captain and director of cricket Graeme Smith will head up the new T20 league. Photo: Backpagepix

OFFICIAL: Name of new T20 league, auction day confirmed

South Africa’s new T20 league, the ‘SA20’, will hold its player auction for the inaugural season on 19 September.

Graeme Smith T20

Former South Africa captain and director of cricket Graeme Smith will head up the new T20 league. Photo: Backpagepix

It’s already been confirmed that over 30 marquee international players will be involved in the new T20 league in South Africa.

The six franchises of the inaugural T20 League in South Africa are able to sign players from a world-class pool made up of some of the best local and international cricketers, it was confirmed earlier this month.

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Over 30 marquee international players have been signed, with the numbers set to increase as players enter the auction taking place in the next few weeks. This is in addition to all contracted Proteas and domestic players who have committed to the League.

The league is working through player registrations and will present the franchises with a shortlist of candidates prior to the auction.

“It’s going to bring financial support that hopefully will benefit all forms of the game in South Africa and keep us relevant in the international game,” SA20 commissioner Graeme Smtih commented, as quoted by Cricinfo.com. “We don’t see it as an issue for Test cricket. We see it as an issue of growing South African cricket and keeping it strong”

“We’ve been able to attract some big international names to our league. You can see in the pre-signing with Rashid Khan, Jos Buttler, Liam Livingstone and the like. We’ve got some real quality but the difference for us is that we focus on South African talent as well. There will be 60 or 70 SA players on a global platform with their storylines. We’ve seen how that’s benefitted Indian cricket in the IPL and it’s gone to benefit their all-format cricket. We are hoping we will be able to create the same in South Africa.”

There is an overlap with the Australian BBL, the UAE’s ILT20 as well as the BPL in Bangladesh, but Smith confirmed that the Big Bash structure would allow players in that league to play for a portion of that competition before heading to South Africa.

Previously Smith revealed that because the franchise owners of the new tournament also own IPL teams, contracted Indian stars are not expected to be released.

“We have a great relationship with the BCCI and they have supported us as we build our league. At the moment contracted Indian players are not released to participate in foreign leagues outside the IPL,” Smith said, as quoted by TimesLive.

“We want to make it a competitive league, and to have a competitive league you need to have the players. We have worked hard to sign some global T20 superstars and coupled with our world-class SA players, I have no doubt we will be able to showcase competitive and entertaining cricket. We have a rich player base that we are committed to investing in and nurturing.”

The six franchises will have a squad of 17 players, and will be able to pre-sign up to five players made up of three international players, one Proteas player and one uncapped South African player prior to the auction.

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The six successful bidders who will be part of this significant chapter of South African cricket are:

 Venue, CitySuccessful Bidder
 Newlands, Cape TownReliance Industries Limited, owners of Mumbai Indians
 Kingsmead, DurbanRPSG Sports Private Limited, owners of Lucknow Super Giants
 St George’s Park, Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth)Sun TV Network Limited, owners of Sunrisers Hyderabad
 Wanderers, JohannesburgChennai Super Kings Cricket Limited, owners of Chennai Super Kings
 Boland Park, PaarlRoyals Sports Group, owners of Rajasthan Royals
 SuperSport Park, PretoriaJSW Sports, co-owners of Delhi Capitals

All six successful bidders have extensive experience in operating franchises across multiple sports and deep cricketing expertise through their ownership in the world’s leading T20 tournament, the Indian Premier League.

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The new T20 competition will take place early next year

“The countdown to January 2023 gets more thrilling with each major milestone that we cross and today is another step towards that first ball being bowled,” Smith said. “We hope fans will be able to relate to our brand as we work towards making the SA20 a world-class tournament South Africans can be proud of.”

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