The South African opening batter, Reeza Hendricks, who had a hard time in the SA20 league last season with a strike rate of only 111, has bagged the highest bid of Rand 4.3 million for the MI Cape Town at the auction ahead of the 2025 season. His back-to-back centuries in the recent T20I series against Ireland put demand on his name.
The opener will reunite with the Lions teammates, Rassie van der Dussen and Ryan Rickelton. The day after the SA20 auction, the Joburg Super Kings confirmed their wildcard player, Matheesha Pathirana, who has enjoyed success with the Chennai franchise in the IPL.
The not-so-surprising news of the afternoon was the captain of the Proteas, Temba Bavuma, and Tony de Zorzi, going unsold, with the six teams having only 13 spots to fill. Durban Super Giants collected the services of West Indies pacer Shamar Joseph for R 425000, who went unsold at the first stage.
However, the Caribbean pacer is expected to miss the chunk of SA20 because of their Test tour to Pakistan in the last two weeks of January in 2025. However, if he comes, the youngster will have the chance to work under Allan Donald, the bowling coach of Durban.
JSK bags Doug Bracewell; and Dane Piedt to turn up in his maiden SA20
The MICT franchise has also added the batter, Colin Ingram, for a base price of R 175000, while Dane Piedt will have the opportunity to work with coach Robin Peterson, who was his teammate at the Cobras. The off-spinner, who ended his career for the Proteas moving to the USA, will be featuring in his first SA20 season.
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The champions of the first two seasons of the league, Sunrisers Eastern Cape, who has a knack for going after the fast bowlers, has shown consistency by going after England’s Richard Gleeson, besides spending R 175000 for Dolphins fast bowler Okuhle Cele.
Gleeson will turn 37 this December but has been at his peak in the last few months. He was the joint-highest wicket-taker of the Zim Afro T10 with 12 scalps in eight games. The Super Kings have gone for Wihan Lubbe and Evan Jones, both of whom were part of the Paarl Royals in the past seasons of the SA20.
The Kiwi all-rounder will join the likes of Devon Conway and Stephen Fleming in the Super Kings side for a base price of R 175000, expecting to be a possible retention for Romario Shepherd in the 2024 season.
“I think all six teams look very strong. From a league perspective, we want to see all six squads competitive. It’s a nice mix of some quality South Africans and superb international names that have joined us for season three.” The former Proteas captain and the current commissioner of the SA20 league, Graeme Smith, highlighted.
Paarl Royals, notably, has already announced the Indian wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik as their wildcard player. JP King is the rookie player of the JSK side, while his brother, CJ King, has joined the Super Giants team for the same section.
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The Capitals, who missed grabbing Hendricks in the fight with Cape Town, spent R 80000 on Dolphin’s Marque Ackerman before grabbing the services of the West Indies opening batter, Evin Lewis, for a price of R 1.50 million.
“I think we saw that progression last year with the likes of Ottneil Baartman. He had a great World Cup, and we are starting to see those types of players come through.” Smith shaded light.
The third season of the SA20 league will get underway on January 09, 2025.