With six franchises looking to fill the remaining spots in their squads at the SA20 Auction, we look at how the process works.
The third player auction of the SA20 will take centre stage in Cape Town on Tuesday (1 October), as the six franchises look to finalise their squads ahead of the anticipated third season which gets underway on 9 January 2025.
There are 188 players up for grabs at the auction – 115 South Africans and 73 overseas – but only 13 regular picks are to be filled plus six Rookies. That translates to just 10% of the entire pool which means there is going to be fierce competition among the franchises to find their missing pieces.
Some of the star names who have entered the auction are West Indies fast bowling phenomenon, Shamar Joseph, the England seam bowling quartet of Jake Ball, Saqib Mahmood, Ollie Robinson and Josh Hull, and New Zealand’s record-breaking T20I opener Martin Guptill.

“The auction is always an exciting time of year,” League Commissioner, Graeme Smith said. “As a League, you put together all the player regulations and framework to allow the teams to do what they do best, and that’s to put together world-class squads.
“We are really proud of the list of players that have come in this year. Ultimately, it’s for the teams to decide, they’ve gone out to the world and the market and got some of the best talent available. It’s important that we create a platform where teams are balanced, and each game has context. That is what has made the current squads so exciting, I am looking forward to seeing how they are all finalised.”
How will the SA20 Auction work?
Based on their skill set, there will be five sets of players presented in the first phase of the auction. There will be a separate round for each of the five specialist skills:
1. Batters
2. Wicket-keepers
3. Allrounders
4. Fast bowlers
5. Spin bowlers
Each set will have 7-10 players presented per set which will make up 40 players.
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 express round will commence.
Franchises will be asked to provide a list of players (from the remaining unsold players already presented 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 express 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 will be taken before the Rookie Draft commences.
What is the Rookie Draft?
Having been introduced ahead of the second season of the SA20, the Rookie Draft is back for the third edition as well. The objective is for the franchises to name young South African players in their squads.
Each team must sign a rookie player from 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 89 players have registered for the Rookie draft, which will take place at the conclusion of the player auction.
How much purse do franchises have remaining?
The remaining salary cap for Season 3 is R39.1 million. The Paarl Royals have the largest purse remaining at R11.95 million for the auction, followed by MI Cape Town with R8.275 million, and Pretoria Capitals with R4.575 million.
Joburg Super Kings have R3.925 million, while back-to-back champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape hold R2.845 million in their bank balance. Durban’s Super Giants have R2.35 million remaining in their kitty.
Purse remaining:

Slots remaining:
Durban’s Super Giants

Joburg Super Kings

MI Cape Town

Paarl Royals

Pretoria Capitals

Sunrisers Eastern Cape