Cricket South Africa’s ambitious project SA20 league has its countdown laid down – 100 days away from kicking off. A total of 33 matches will be played in the tournament, beginning on January 10 and running into February.
The SA20 league comprises six teams – Durban Super Giants, Johannesburg Super Kings, MI Cape Town, Paarl Royals, Pretoria Capitals and Sunrisers Eastern Cape. All six franchises are acquired by groups that own the respective Indian Premier League teams.
The CSA held a player auction for SA20 on September 19, which garnered plenty of interest from around the world. The young sensation Tristan Stubbs became the most expensive player after being bought for approximately USD 520,000 by the Sunrisers franchise.
Also read 👉 CSA T20 league auction: Stubbs ends as the most expensive buy; Donavon Ferreira attracts intense bidding war
Each team consists of 17 players in the side, with a maximum of seven international recruits. A total of 33 matches will be played in the tournament, beginning on January 10 and running into February. All teams will play each other twice in the group stage – on a home-away model, followed by semi-finals and final.
Johannesburg Super Kings will be led by Faf du Plessis, who was for long associated with CSK. Albie Morkel – another former Chennai player – will be the assistant coach at JSK and seemed happy with the squad.
“The player auction was a huge success for us as Jo’burg Super Kings and for the league itself. There were a lot of quality local and international cricketers picked up. We have already started doing work behind the scenes and can’t wait for the action to start come January 10,”
Morkel said.
The former South African spinner Robin Peterson – who is the general manager at MI Cape Town – believed the league would be very crucial for the development of cricket in the rainbow nation.
“The SA20 is going to have a massive impact on South African cricket. It is going to revolutionise the game in our country. Being on the ground working at domestic level, there is a certain level of excitement from cricketers that there is a league within our own country,”
he stated.
