Dayyaan Galiem (Joburg Super Kings) and Matthew Boast (Pretoria Capitals) headlined the 2023 SA20 auction as joint most-expensive buys at R1.6-million.
The much-anticipated auction took place at the Wanderers Club yesterday with 250 local and international players going under the hammer.
Former SA Under-19 all-rounder Boast set the six franchises alight, promising the teams high pace and handy capabilities with bat in hand in the lower order.
The Super Kings were the first to bid for the youngster with the base price set at R175 000, but quickly after that bid, the Pretoria Capitals also showed interest and eventually won the bidding war with the youngster walking away with R1.6m.
The Super Kings were determined to secure the services of an allrounder in the auction and when the auctioneer called Cape Townborn Galiem, they quickly made their intentions clear and ended up winning the bid for the joint most expensive buy of the auction.
West Indies international Romario Shepherd also joined JSK for a base price of R850 000, which was a steal for such a powerful and invaluable all-rounder.
While the auction was ongoing, JSK announced 44-year-old Imran Tahir as their wildcard pick after the Proteas legend led the Guyana Amazon Warriors to the Caribbean Premier League title this week.
Josh Turner (R425 000, Paarl Royals), Chris Benjamin (R175 000, MICT) and Wayne Madsen (R950 000, JSK) were some of the internationals who secured contracts in South Africa’s premier T20 competition, while India’s Robin Uthappa missed out.
Most refreshingly for the future of South African cricket, the auction introduced a mandatory rookie slot where the six teams had to bid for one rookie, an under 22-year-old South African cricketer who had not received an SA20 contract last season.
There were 80 rookies who had put their names forward, hoping for an SA20 contract that will change their lives and set up their careers.
Andile Simelane (Sunrisers Eastern Cape), Steve Stolk (Pretoria Capitals), Ronan Hermann (JSK), Lhuan-dre Pretorius (Paarl Royals), Bryce Parsons (Durban Super Giants) and Connor Esterhuizen were the six youngsters who earned life-changing contracts.
As in any auction, there were shocking omissions, and this time around it was Janneman Malan who went unsold, despite being part of the JSK squad in the first edition of the competition.
Lutho Sipamla, who is capped across all-formats for South Africa, also missed out on a contract.
All six teams have confirmed their 19-player squads and all that is left is to wait for January 10 when the competition gets underway in Gqeberha.