The CTICC played host to the inaugural SA20 player’s auction, where the six franchises from around South Africa had the opportunity to bid for the 318 cricketers on the bill. However, only a maximum of 80 spots were available, which saw some talented crickets left on the cutting room floor.
While there were disappointed cricketers, the ones that secured a place in the South African T20 spectacle will see a couple of pretty zeroes show up in their bank account.
The management teams of the competing franchises gathered in Cape Town on Monday, 19 September 2022, where they had to compete for the services of the talented cricketers. They had to manoeuvre through many obstacles to fill their respective sides. One of those hurdles was the salary cap of R34 million, to buy 17 players.
Some of the teams didn’t wait on the SA20 auction to start working on getting players on board. Of the teams that made pre-auction deals, MI Cape Town has the most balanced and dangerous team. They have strike bowlers in Kagiso Rabada and Sam Curran, a skilled Right-arm leg-break bowler in Rashid Khan, and batters in Liam Livingstone and Dewald Brevis.
That meant that they had the least amount of money to pick up some more talent. The Cape Town franchise and Durban’s Super Giants both had R17 million left. In contrast, the Sunrisers Eastern Cape and Pretoria Capitals had the most, R28,05 million left in the piggy bank.
They made the money work, as the two franchises were responsible for the biggest purchases of the day.
The Snubs
Temba Bavuma
This should be an eye-opener to Cricket South Africa, with the snub not at all unexpected.
The Captain of the Proteas failed to get picked up by any of the teams at the SA20 auction. The man that’s going to lead our national team to the T20 World Cup next month generated ZERO interest from six franchises.
As a fan, it is concerning as the national selectors fail to see what many others do.
Bavuma is a fantastic cricketer in the longer format of the game but struggles to strike and make an impact in the shortest format.
Dean Elgar
That makes two South African captains who failed to earn a spot in the inaugural SA20 tournament.
To be fair to the test captain, he’s not known for his skills in the T20 arena. In fact, the 35-year is yet to represent South Africa in the shortest format of the game.
on a domestic front, he has 81 caps to his name, striking at 111.13, but averages 34.16.
Andile Phehlukwayo
Appearing in the fourth set, in the All Rounders category, the franchises’ management teams made not make a peep.
It might have been a different story if he came up in the bowler’s category. Even though he has his moments with the bat, he averages just under 10 over 21 innings batted for the Proteas.
On a domestic front, the 26-year-old averages 12.37 over 72 innings.
While his bowling stats in the shortest format aren’t the greatest, Phehlukwayo has proved a valuable asset when it comes to bowling at the death.
He has a massive arsenal of bowling variations and gets the job done for whomever he represents more often than not.
The Earners
Marco Jansen – R 6.1 million
Jansen has had a stellar year so far. He has been a proper force for the Proteas in the longest format of the game but has struggled to inflict the same amount of damage on the T20 scene. Still, the 2.06-meter tall pace bowler was a much sought-after commodity at the SA20 auction.
The bidding process started off slow, and for a moment it seemed that the Paarl Royals would come away with a steal, as bidding stalled at his base price of R175K.
Four of the other five teams then showed their desire for the 22-year-old. The management teams from Joburg, Pretoria, Eastern Cape and Durban joined Paarl as they engaged in a bidding war.
Jansen was the last player in the first set, which was filled with the most wanted players, and became the most valuable player after selling for R6.1 million, where he will do his thing for the Sunrisers Eastern Cape.
Rilee Rossouw – R6.9 million
It was expected that the former Kolpak player would earn a pretty penny for his services.
When his number came up, the bidding process started off ominously slow. however, the spark soon turned into a roaring fire.
Rossouw’s value rocketed from his base price of R850k to over R5 million in less than a minute.
From a bidding war between MI Cape Town and Joburg Super Kings to a battle between the Kings and the Pretoria Capitals. The latter put in the winning bid, at R6.9 million.
The 32-year-old’s time spent in Somerset helped shape him into quite the talent for South African cricket, and proved his worth in the past couple of T20I series’ for the Proteas.
Tristan Stubbs – R9.2 million
This youngster was extremely undervalued at a base price of R175K. Anyone with even the most basic of cricket knowledge could have told you that.
So, it was no surprise that Stubbs soon turned into a hot ticket at the SA20 auction.
MI Cape Town was desperate to add the 22-year-old to their squad, alongside the already acquired Dewald Brevis. The teams head coach, Simon Katich kept his auction paddle raised throughout as the bids were rolling in. However, they bowed out as the asking price approached the R5 million mark.
The Cape Town side let Sunrisers Eastern Cape and Joburg Super Kings engage in a bidding war, and as the Kings stepped back, MI jumped back in.
They would, however, concede to the Sunrisers, as the R9.2 million price tag was too rich for their taste.
A promising start for the SA20
Cricket South Africa have tried and failed at getting the country it’s own high-profile tournament. Now, with the assistance of the Indian Premier League team owners, the league is set to be an incredible asset.
“I said in my speech that from a South African perspective, SA20 is a platform where we want to put 60 to 70 players on a global platform every season and that is exciting,” said the league commissioner, Gream Smith.
“We have seen how the IPL has strengthened the base of Indian cricket across the board.
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