The tournament’s commissioner, Graeme Smith, revealed the name of the new franchise-based T20 competition for the CSA during a press conference on Wednesday. Additionally, he declared that September 19 will be the day of the player auction for the inaugural season, which will take place in January and February 2023. It will be called SA20
The six clubs have already signed between two and five players from a pool of marquee players as part of the direct-acquisition procedure. All six teams are owned by organisations that already operate IPL teams. The franchises can add as many players as they want or can with a total budget of US$2 million, although the maximum squad size is set at 17.
“I was in the UAE last week networking with their league, and we’ve agreed a way of handling it,” Graeme Smith, the SA20 commissioner, told a press conference on Wednesday. “There needs to be a way for both of us to coexist. I’m looking forward to further engagement with them on that.” Regarding Moeen specifically: “We have aligned on a strategy in terms allowing the player to be comfortable on what he does and where he decides to play. I’m dealing with the UAE league on that.”
“When a league requires the amount of international talent that they do, it makes the player market interesting and tough,” Smith said. “We’ve been able to attract some exciting names – the likes of Rashid Khan, Jos Buttler, Liam Livingstone. But we focus on South African talent as well. Being able to put 60 or 70 South African players on a global platform is something we’re excited about. We’ve seen how that’s benefitted Indian cricket in the IPL.”
