Amid the SA20 auctions for Season four is set to begin in few hours, the management is avoiding the word mega for the auction, reported Cricinfo.
The report mentioned that 84 of the 114 player spots across the six franchises are available for the auctions.
Management has permitted no more than six retentions or pre-signed players for the auctions who fall outside the R41 million (approximately USD 2.31 million) salary cap.
To prevent a high turnover of young players, the auction body has kept no rookie draft in place and the franchises must sign a minimum of two under-23 players in their final squads.
As per the details, the squad composition remains the same from the previous three seasons, with 19 players per squad and a maximum of seven overseas players.
Franchises’ pocket:
Pretoria Capitals: Led by a new coach, Pretoria Capitals has the biggest purse of R32.5 million (approx. USD 1.85 million) and the most spots to fill-16.
They are the only franchise to have two Right to Match (RTM) cards available, a rule similar to the IPL’s actions. Pretoria Capitals have Will Jacks, Sherfane Rutherford and wildcard Andre Russell as overseas players and they only have four international spots left.
Durban’s Super Giants: With a pocket of R29.5 million (approx. $1.68 million), Durban’s Super Giants have 5 spots available with one RTM card. The franchise have Jos Buttler, Sunil Narine, Noor Ahmed (retained) and Heinrich Klaasen (wildcard) as overseas players.
Sunrisers Eastern Cape: The franchise have a pocket of R21.5 million (approx $1.2 million). They also have 14 player spots available, four for overseas players, with one RTM card each.
Joburg Super Kings: The franchise have the same situation as Sunrisers Eastern Cape.
Paarl Royals: The Paarl Royals have R14.5 million (approx. $826,000) and 13 spots, including five overseas players. They don’t have an RTM card.
MI Cape Town: The last franchise had R11.5 million ($650,000) and only 12 places to fill, four of which were for overseas players. They didn’t have an RTM card.
Base price:
For the fourth season, the base prices range from R200,000 (approx $11,400) to R1.5 million (approx $85,500). But this is for high-profile international names such as Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Mustafizur Rahman, Moeen Ali, Jason Roy, Maheesha Theeksana and Johnson Charles — which they have kept for themselves.
While the base price for 32 players including James Anderson, Shakib Al Hasan, Reece Topley, Craig Overton, Logan van Beek, Corey Anderson and Bhanuka Rajapaksa have set their base prices at R1 million (approx $57,000), added the report.
Though most of the 549 players on the auction list have opted for the lowest base price, but South Africa’s premier bowlers have rated themselves slightly higher with a host of them opting for base prices of R500,000 (approx $28,500). These players include Lungi Ngidi, Kwena Maphaka, Gerald Coetzee, Anrich Nortje, Lizaad Williams, Nandre Burger and allrounder Wiaan Mulder.
Last but not the least, a few others have opted for a R500,000 base price. They include Keshav Maharaj, veteran Imran Tahir Tabraiz Shamsi, Aiden Markram, Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen and Dewald Brevis.
Overseas names to look out for:
England: Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, James Anderson and 96 English names on the auction list.
Australia: D’Arcy Short and Peter Hatzoglou.
West Indies: 28 players in the auction list.
Sri Lanka: 24
Afghanistan: 19
Bangladesh: 15
New Zealand: 6
Ireland: 5
Zimbabwe: 5
Pakistan: 0
USA: 16
Netherlands: 16
Scotland: 6
Namibia: 4
UAE: 4
Nepal 1
SA Auction 2025: Place and date
The report added that the auction will take place on September 9 from 2pm South African time (5.30 pm IST) and will be held in Johannesburg.