South Africa opener Reeza Hendricks fetched the highest bid of Rand 4.3 million at the SA20 auction ahead of the 2025 season. MI Cape Town won a fierce bidding war against Pretoria Capitals to scoop up the batter.
Hendricks had a wretched T20 World Cup earlier this year and was released by Joburg Super Kings ahead of the auction, but his recent form - he had scored back-to-back half-centuries against Ireland in the UAE - meant he was still in demand for SA20 2025. Hendricks will reunite with his Lions team-mates Rassie van der Dussen and Ryan Rickelton at Cape Town.
"Reeza Hendricks adds a lot to the group in terms of his skill," MICT coach Robin Peterson said. "He is an international, quality cricketer with lots of experience at the top of the order."
A day after the auction, Super Kings unveiled Sri Lanka slinger Matheesha Pathirana as their wildcard player. Pathirana has had success with Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, but this will be his first time at the SA20.
Temba Bavuma and Tony de Zorzi went unsold at the auction with six franchises having only 13 spots to fill on Tuesday.
Durban's Super Giants filled up their only slot by snapping up West Indies fast bowler Shamar Joseph (R 425,000), who had originally gone unsold. Joseph has already played for Lucknow Super Giants, Durban's parent franchise, in the IPL. He is currently in action for defending champions Guyana Amazon Warriors in the CPL. If Joseph makes himself available to West Indies for their two-Test tour of Pakistan in January, he will miss a chunk of the SA20. The Test tour will run from January 16-28, clashing with the SA20, which will get underway on January 9.
The SA20 will be Joseph's second T20 stint in an overseas league after IPL 2024. Joseph will work with Allan Donald, the new bowling coach of Super Giants.
MICT also added batter Colin Ingram to their roster, picking him for his base price of R 175,000. Offspinner Dane Piedt will shore up Cape Town's spin attack, having been picked up for R 175,000. This will be the 34-year-old's first stint in the SA20 and will he work with coach Peterson, who had been his team-mate at Cobras.
Piedt had ended his South Africa career in 2020 and moved to the USA but a SOS from South Africa red-ball coach Shukri Conrad brought him out of retirement from South Africa cricket earlier this year.
Back-to-back champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape, who are usually big on fast bowlers, continued in the same vein, forking out R 2.3 million for England's Richard Gleeson, who had represented Super Giants in SA20 2024. Super Giants were keen to buy him back, but Sunrisers eventually won the bidding war. They also spent R 175,000 on Dolphins' fast bowler Okuhle Cele.
Gleeson will turn 37 this December but was among the very few fast bowlers at the auction who could clock 140kph. Gleeson also has the yorker and bouncer in his repertoire and could potentially slot in for Dan Worrall, who has signed up for ILT20 2025, and complement Craig Overton. Gleeson's recent form is also encouraging: he was the joint-highest wicket-taker in the Zim Afro T10 with 12 strikes in eight matches.
As for Cele, he was Dolphins' leading wicket-taker in the 2023-24 T20 challenge with 17 wickets in 14 games at an economy rate of 8.14.
Super Kings spent R 175,000 each on allrounders Wihan Lubbe and Evan Jones in set three. Both Lubbe and Jones had been part of Paarl Royals in the past. Super Kings also recruited New Zealand allrounder Doug Bracewell for his base price of R 175,000 in the express set. Bracewell will return to Super Kings, having been part of their side as a replacement player for Romario Shepherd in SA20 2024. The 34-year-old had recently given up his domestic contract with Central Districts to become a T20 freelancer and hence will not feature in New Zealand's Super Smash, which will also overlap with the SA20.
Royals, who had just one spot open, filled it by picking wicketkeeper Rubin Hermann for R 175,000.
Capitals, who missed out on Hendricks, spent R 800,000 on Dolphins' Marques Ackerman, who was previously with Sunrisers in the SA20, and R 1.50 million on West Indies opening batter Evin Lewis. Royals completed their business with the signing of former Super King Kyle Simmonds for R 175,000 in the express round.
"I think all six teams look very strong," Graeme Smith, the former South Africa captain and current SA20 commissioner, said. "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.
"As a cricket competition, we want to see the South African players get stronger every year. We have seen the success of the IPL and the number of players that can be picked for India. 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."
Super Kings selected Warriors' allrounder JP King as their rookie player, having invited him to their training sessions last season. JP King's brother CJ King, meanwhile, went to Super Giants as their rookie player.
With Super Kings signing Pathirana all six teams have locked in their wildcard players. Notably, Royals had picked former India wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik as their wildcard player. Having retired from Indian and international cricket in June earlier this year, Karthik will become the first Indian to feature in the SA20.
Full squads
Durban's Super Giants: Brandon King, Quinton de Kock, Naveen-ul-Haq, Kane Williamson, Chris Woakes, Prenelan Subrayen, Dwaine Pretorius, Keshav Maharaj, Noor Ahmad, Heinrich Klaasen, Jon-Jon Smuts, Wiaan Mulder, Junior Dala, Bryce Parsons, Matthew Breetzke, Jason Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Shamar Joseph, CJ King (rookie)
Joburg Super Kings: Faf du Plessis, Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Maheesh Theekshana, Devon Conway, Gerald Coetzee, David Wiese, Leus Du Plooy, Lizaad Williams, Nandre Burger, Donovan Ferreira, Imran Tahir, Sibonelo Makhanya, Tabraiz Shamsi, Wihan Lubbe, Evan Jones, Doug Bracewell, Matheesha Pathirana, JP King (rookie)
MI Cape Town: Rashid Khan, Ben Stokes, Kagiso Rabada, Trent Boult, Azmatullah Omarzai, Dewald Brevis, Ryan Rickelton, George Linde, Nuwan Thushara, Connor Esterhuizen, Delano Potgieter, Rassie van der Dussen, Thomas Kaber, Chris Benjamin, Corbin Bosch, Colin Ingram, Reeza Hendricks, Dane Piedt, Tristan Luus (rookie)
Pretoria Capitals: Anrich Nortje, Jimmy Neesham, Will Jacks, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Liam Livingstone, Will Smeed, Migael Pretorius, Rilee Rossouw, Eathan Bosch, Wayne Parnell, Senuran Muthusamy, Kyle Verreynne, Daryn Dupavillon, Steve Stolk, Tiaan van Vuuren, Marques Ackerman, Evin Lewis, Kyle Simmonds, Keagan Lion-Cachet (rookie)
Paarl Royals: David Miller, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Sam Hain, Joe Root, Dinesh Karthik, Kwena Maphaka, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Bjorn Fortuin, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Van Buuren, Keith Dudgeon, Nqaba Peter, Andile Phehlukwayo, Codi Yusuf, John Turner, Dayyaan Galiem, Jacob Bethell, Rubin Hermann, Dewan Marais (rookie)
Sunrisers Eastern Cape: Aiden Markram, Zak Crawley, Roelof van der Merwe, Liam Dawson, Ottneil Baartman, Marco Jansen, Beyers Swanepoel, Caleb Seleka, Tristan Stubbs, Jordan Hermann, Patrick Kruger, Craig Overton, Tom Abell, Simon Harmer, Andile Simelane, David Bedingham, Okuhle Cele, Richard Gleeson, Daniel Smith (rookie)
7.05am GMT: The story was updated after Joburg Super Kings announced Matheesha Pathirana as their wildcard