SA20 teams given R39.1 million salary purse to build their squads

The second season of the SA20 will see one additional match - a mirror of the IPL's knockout phase - and a salary purse increase of R5.1 million (USD 276,000 approx) - per team. That takes the total number of fixtures to 34, with each side playing the other five teams both home and away before the knockout stage. Instead of two semi-finals and a final, as was the case in the inaugural edition, the SA20 will have two qualifiers and an eliminator before the final.

Each of the six teams can contract an additional player, bringing the total squad size to 19. The additional player must be a South African rookie, who is 22 or younger and has not played in the SA20 previously.

These changes have been made after what league commissioner Graeme Smith told ESPNcricinfo was a debut season that "exceeded expectations across the board," and with a view to growing the league "in a way that benefits South African cricket."

Smith envisages a "mini-auction" towards the end of September 2023 and no major changes to the franchises, most of whom contracted local players on two-year deals. "The position around that was that we wanted the fan base to get to know their teams," Smith said. "And that was one of the major successes we had in season one - how fast fans got behind their teams. But with teams also getting to know South African cricket, you want a bit of space to manoeuvre and so we expect some South African players will move between franchises."

To accommodate that, an official trading window for South African players opened on June 1. Teams can pre-sign, trade, buy-out or retain players until the end of July when the SA20 will have a full audit of the squads and plan for the auction.

There is a mixture of one and two-year deals for international players contracted to the SA20 and there is also expected to be some movement in that area, albeit likely before the auction. Teams will be allowed to pre-sign four overseas players in their squad, an increase by one from the last edition. This means that players who were unavailable previously can be contracted even before the auction. There will also be the opportunity to contract a wildcard player as was the case last season.

With some player movement likely, teams will need to dip into the extra salary allowance, which has gone up from R34 million (USD 1.84 million approx) last season to R39.1 million (USD 2.1 million approx) for the edition. The organisers feel the extra incentive will allow squads to "attract the best talent" and help assemble "powerhouse squads". Smith foresees another big auction ahead of the third season.

In total, each of the six teams is required to have a minimum of 11 South African players in their squads. On match day, the teams can field a maximum of four overseas players and a minimum of seven local players.

The inaugural SA20 season was a roaring success in South Africa, which saw Sunrisers Eastern Cape crowned as champions. The second season will be played in the same January window in 2024 and could also see some changes to the playing conditions.

After the SA20 became the first league to allow teams to name 13 players at the toss and whittle that down to 11 afterwards, it is now mulling whether to keep that or explore an IPL-style Impact Player Rule instead. "The committee will debate strategies on how we think the game can move forward," Smith said. "The regulations today are related to squad composition and how teams can build their squads and we will look to other matters in the months to come."