Cricket South Africa is looking for new and innovative ways to keep their loyal fans tuned in to the sport and one of the recent innovations is the SA20 auction. The concept is spearheaded by former captain and now SA20 commissioner, Graeme Smith who believes that the initiative is an attempt to showcase that Cricket South Africa can be different and non-conventional as it has been for decades.  The auction was televised which is just a small portion of the SA20. The auction precedes several events such as the Global T20 league, Mzansi Super League and lastly the SA20 tournament made up of thirty-three (33) matches. 

 

The idea of the tournament preceded by an auction is one that has been in the pipeline for a few years and has even taken precedent over the ODI series in Australia which was cancelled by the Cricket South Africa (CSA) board. 

 

The tournament is set to commence in January-February 2023 and the six participating teams are: MI Cape Town, Durban Super Giants, Johannesburg Super Kings, Paarl Royals, Pretoria Capitals, and Sunrisers Eastern Cape. The concept of an auction was inspired by the IPL and it is all an attempt to create a wholesome dream team ahead of the SA20 tournament. 

 

On auction, there are a total of 533 players up for bidding and 22 players have already been selected through a pre-auction acquisition process, this then means that of all the 533 players, not all of them will be selected by at least one of the six enlisted teams. 

 

Of the 22 pre -selected players, MI Cape Town has selected 5 players, one of which is Kagiso Rabada; Durban Super Giants has selected 5 players as well including Quinton de Kock; Johannesburg Super Kings has selected 5 players including Faf du Plessis; Paarl Royals selected 4 players including David Miller; Pretoria Capitals has selected 2 players including Anrich Nortje and lastly Sunrisers Eastern Cape also selected 2 players one of which was Aiden Markram. 

 

Although the ultimate objective would be to acquire a dream team, there are limitations with regards to number of players chosen by the respective teams. A team can bid for a maximum of seventeen (17) players and of those 17 players the breakdown goes as follows: a maximum of seven (7) international players and ten (10) South African Players. 

 

Although there are limitations to the number of players a team can select, there are no limitations to how much a team can spend, so it’s anyone’s ball with the base prices ranging from R850 000 all the way up to R1 750 000. 

 

CSA will communicate further information about the SA20 tournament.