SA20 Teams Granted Six Player Retentions Ahead of Season 4 Auction

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

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

Each team will have a significantly increased salary purse of USD 2.3 million to build their squads. A minimum of 72 slots are available across the six teams participating in the league. Franchises can retain a maximum of three overseas players among their six retentions.

Each franchise can field a squad of 18 players, including a maximum of seven overseas players. At least 11 slots must be filled by local South African talent. Furthermore, each team will have the option of signing a 'wild card player', either South African or foreign, whose league fee will not count towards the salary cap.

The auction will introduce the Right To Match (RTM) card for the first time. This allows a franchise to match the winning bid for a player who played for them in the previous season, ensuring they can retain the player for the 2025-26 edition. The number of RTM cards available to each franchise will depend on the number of South African players they have retained.

Another key change for the fourth season is the removal of the Rookie Draft. 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 continue his role as the auctioneer for the fourth season, which is set to commence on December 26th, Boxing Day.