All systems go for second annual Betway SA20 player auction

It’s all systems go for the second annual Betway SA20 player auction taking place in Johannesburg on Wednesday, 27 September.

Over 250 local and international T20 players will go under the hammer for an opportunity to be a part of South Africa’s premier T20 League. With only 21 picks available, the auction promises fierce bidding wars, unexpected surprises and exciting new additions to the competition.

A host of international T20 stars including Kane Richardson, Colin de Grandhomme, Robin Uthappa, Angelo Mathews, Romario Shepard and Mohammad Nawaz are up for grabs, along with some of the best homegrown local talent and upcoming rookies.

New face to auction proceedings

There will be a change to the face of the auction for this year, with renowned auctioneer, Ariella Kuper, presiding over the auction proceedings. Her wealth of experience and charismatic style is set to thrill the audience tuning in around the world.

SuperSport’s cutting-edge production to bring all the live coverage

SuperSport’s dream team of cricket legends are back to lead the live coverage from Johannesburg. The trio of Shaun Pollock, Pommie Mbangwa, and Ashwell Prince will provide expert insights and analysis, making sure fans don’t miss a moment of the action.

Joining the broadcast are some of the leading names in sports and entertainment content creation. Hope Mbele, Lemi Loco, Kooks Sonkosi, Nqobile Mahlambi and Andre Tshizubu will be on hand to deliver live updates, behind-the-scenes coverage and exclusive interviews from the venue.

Auction process explained

The live auction will be shorter than in Season 1, with 15 picks on the market as teams look to finalise their squads. There are a total of 265 local and international players on auction. There will be 5 sets of players presented in the initial phase of the Player Auction. There will be a separate round for each of the 5 specialist skills:

1. Batters

2. Wicket-Keepers

3. Allrounders

4. Fast bowlers

5. Spin bowlers

Each set will have 7-9 players presented per set

Each set will have a mix of South African and Overseas players.

After the first 40 players are presented, should franchises still be requiring further players to complete their squads, an eXXpress round will commence.

Franchises will be asked to provide a list of players (from the remaining unsold players already presented players and the remaining players on the auction list).

The players listed by the franchises will then be presented for auction until teams are filled with 17 players.

Should the eXXpress round finish with teams not yet complete, there will be a last call for players and those players will be presented.

Once teams are complete with 17 players each the Auction part will conclude and a break taken before the Rookie Draft commences.

Rookie Draft

One of the most exciting additions to Season 2 is the introduction of the Rookie Draft. Each team must sign a rookie player in the draft, a South African player who is 22 years of age or younger at the date of the auction and has not been contracted to SA20 previously. A total of 80 players have registered for the Rookie draft, which will take place at the conclusion of the player auction.

Remaining team salary purses

The salary cap for Season 2 has been raised from R34 million in Season 1 to R39.1 million, an increase of R5.1 million. Below is a breakdown of the remaining purse for each team along with the numbers of players they will be targeting.

Season 2 Squad Requirements

For Season 2 all teams must have 19 players in total in their registered squad.

This is broken down as follows:

o 17 ‘normal’ squad players (pre-signings + retained players + players picked at Auction),

o 1 Wildcard (can be signed anytime until 30 December 2023, can be an overseas or SA player and does not count as part of salary cap) and

o 1 Rookie player (definition is included below).

The normal squad (17 players) may have a maximum of 7 overseas players.

The wildcard can be overseas or South African.

The Rookie must be a South African player who is 22 years of age or younger at the date of the auction who has not been contracted to SA20 previously.

Where to watch

SuperSport will be broadcasting live to the Sub-Saharan audience, with Viacom18 broadcasting live in India on JioCinema, Etisalat in the MENA region and Fox Sports in Australia. The broadcast will start at 16h00 (SAST) in Southern Africa,19h30 (IST) in India, 18h00 in the UAE and 00h00 in Australia (AEST). The show will also be live-streamed on the Betway SA20 Youtube Channel.