Former New Zealand captain Kane Williamson and England international Chris Woakes joined Duban Super Giants for the third edition of SA20. Right after the T20 World Cup, Williamson announced relinquishing his white-ball captaincy to play more franchise cricket, especially in South Africa and eventually signed for Durban, which finished as runner’s up in the last edition of the competition.
Woakes, on the other hand, is not a part of England’s scheme of things as far as white-ball cricket goes, which made room for him to feature in South Africa’s premiere T20 league. He also wasn’t part of England’s T20 World Cup 2024 squad and is very likely to make it into the Champions Trophy team but is a regular in Test set-up, especially at home. The Ben Stokes-led side also considers him as James Anderson’s replacement in the longest format.
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He is optimistic about playing franchise cricket and signing for Durban is one such step. The all-rounder was also part of Punjab Kings in IPL 2024 but couldn’t break into the first team. He has played 33 T20Is in his career and picked up 31 wickets at an economy of 8.07. He is likely to feature in the first squad but a lot depends on how Durban performs in the market.
Kane meanwhile wanted to focus on franchise cricket after opting out of the central contract and would be gunning to prove himself in SA20 to land a good contract in the IPL. He was part of the Gujarat Titans squad in IPL 2024 and scored just 27 runs in two matches. The 33-year-old is unlikely to be retained a good SA20 can open new doors for the cricketer.
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Apart from Williamson and Woakes, star cricketers such as Joe Root and Ben Stokes too will feature in SA20 2025. Root signed for Paarl Royals while Stokes has a contract from MI Cape Town but he is yet to pen the deal. Notably, July 21 was the last day for retention while the franchises have time till August 31 to sign direct players.