SA20 Teams Allowed Six Player Retentions Ahead of Auction; Salary Cap Jumps to $2.3M

The SA20 league has announced that the player auction for its fourth season will take place in Johannesburg on September 9th. The announcement, made on Tuesday, June 24th, also revealed that teams will be allowed to retain up to six players ahead of the auction.

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 upcoming mega auction promises significant changes. The salary purse for each team has been substantially increased to USD 2.3 million.

Franchises can retain a maximum of six players or pre-signings before the auction, including no more than three international players.

Here's a breakdown of the squad composition rules:

• Maximum overseas players: 7
• Total squad size: 18
• Minimum local players: 11
• Wild Card player: 1 (South African or foreign)

Each of the six teams can also sign a South African or foreign cricketer as a 'wild card player'. Their league fee will not count toward the salary cap.

A significant addition to this year's auction is the introduction of the Right To Match (RTM) card. This allows franchises to match the winning bid for a player who was on their team in the previous season. This would retain their services for the 2025-26 edition. The number of RTM cards each franchise possesses will depend on the number of South African players they retain.

The auction ahead of the fourth season will no longer feature a Rookie Draft. Instead, franchises must sign a minimum of two Under-23 players in their final 19-player squads.

Stephen Cook, Head of Cricket Operations at SA20, stated: "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 as the auctioneer for the fourth season, which is scheduled to begin on Boxing Day, December 26th.