SA20 Teams Allowed Up to Six Player Retentions, Salary Cap Increased for Upcoming Auction

The SA20 league has announced that franchises will be permitted to retain up to six players ahead of the upcoming auction for the fourth season. The auction is scheduled to take place in Johannesburg on September 9.

All the franchises will see an increase in the purse to USD 2.3 million © Sportzpics

With a minimum of 72 slots available across the six teams, the salary purse has been significantly increased to USD 2.3 million for each franchise. This increase aims to bolster team compositions and attract top talent.

Each franchise can retain a maximum of six players or pre-sign them. Among these retentions, a maximum of three can be overseas players.

Here's a breakdown of the squad composition rules:

• Maximum overseas players: 7
• Minimum local players: 11
• Total squad size: 18

Additionally, each team has the option to sign a 'wild card player', either South African or foreign, whose league fee will not count towards the salary cap.

A key new feature this season is the introduction of the Right To Match (RTM) card. This allows a franchise to match the winning auction bid for a player who was part of their team in the previous season. The number of RTM cards available to each franchise will depend on how many South African players they have retained.

The Rookie Draft has been eliminated for the fourth season. Instead, franchises are now required to include a minimum of two Under-23 players in their final 19-player squads.

Stephen Cook, Head of Cricket Operations at SA20, commented: "The SA20 Season 4 Player Auction is setting up to be the most exciting yet, with about 60% of player slots available for the franchises to fill. Mechanisms such as RTM cards, Wildcard players and an increased salary cap are sure to create interesting situations for teams and will allow them to strategically select their squads. We have seen some life-changing transactions already in the past few years and the upcoming auction should see plenty more."

Richard Madley will return as the auctioneer for the fourth season, which is scheduled to commence on December 26th.