Star England batter Jos Buttler has signed up for the second season of SA20 scheduled to take place in January. All-rounders Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran and Moeen Ali will also feature in the domestic T20 competition of South Africa. Buttler, England’s white-ball captain, will return to Paarl Royals, while Moeen will join Essex seamer Sam Cook in Joburg Super Kings.
On the other hand, MI Cape Town have held back Curran and Livingstone, while Tom Banton is also likely to feature on their roster for the new campaign. Liam Dawson and Dawid Malan have been picked up by the defending champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape. Left-arm seamer Reece Topley is headed for Durban Super Giants.
Livingstone will be making his first appearance in the SA 20 having missed the previous season due to an injury. Moeen, Banton, Dawson and Malan will also mark their first appearance as they were all involved in the ILT20 in the UAE during the last season of the tournament.
According to a report in The Cricketer, the tournament is likely to clash with England’s Test series against India in 2024. Hence Moeen and Curran might have to leave the tournament midway with chances of the duo getting picked for the tour.
Meanwhile, the pre-signing window for SA20 is now closed, ahead of September’s draft. However, the six teams still have the option of trading South African players, retaining overseas players from their 2023 squads, or buying out players on multi-year deals, until July 21.
In the upcoming season, SA20 franchises have also been allowed to increase their salary pots and now have an additional £250,000 available to assemble their squad.
Here are what the squads look like for each time as of now:
Durban Super Giants: Quinton de Kock, Prenelan Subrayen, Kyle Mayers, Naveen-ul-Haq, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Reece Topley
Joburg Super Kings: Faf du Plessis, Gerald Coetzee, Moeen Ali, David Wiese, Sam Cook, Zahir Khan
MI Cape Town: Kagiso Rabada, Dewald Brevis, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Rashid Khan, Tom Banton
Paarl Royals: David Miller, Corbin Bosch, Jos Buttler, Obed McCoy
Pretoria Capitals: Migael Pretorius, Anrich Nortje, Jimmy Neesham
Sunrisers Eastern Cape: Aiden Markram, Ottniel Bartman, Dawid Malan, Liam Dawson