Following the failures of their two previous T20 competitions, T20 Global League, and Mzansi Super League, the CSA aim to learn from their mistakes and maintain a profitable and captivating tournament.
As opposed to their former tournaments, teams acquire their players through an auction, thus joining the Indian Premier League (IPL) in becoming the second competition to adopt the auction method.
Another difference in their new competition is the introduction of multiple stakeholders. The CSA maintain a 50% share, and the remainder of shares belong to broadcaster SuperSport, 30%, and Indian sports businessman, Sundar Raman, 20%.
Continuing the IPL theme, six IPL team owners have purchased the franchises on offer in South Africa. The franchise locations include, Durban, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Paarl, Pretoria, and Gqeberha (Eastern Cape).
The owners also opted to include the same branding as their Indian Cricket teams. Durban’s Super Giants, Joburg Super Kings, MI Cape Town, Paarl Royals, Pretoria Capitals, and Sunrisers Eastern Cape make up the six teams competing in the inaugural SA20.
The cohort of players features a variety of international superstars, primarily from South Africa, England and the West Indies.
England’s white ball captain, Jos Buttler, cemented his loyalty to the Royals franchise as he was purchased by the Paarl Royals. Moreover, MI Cape Town were treated to housing the comeback of England’s dearly missed paceman, Jofra Archer.
The tournament as a whole is scheduled to take place over a month period. It began with an MI Cape Town eight wicket victory over the Paarl Royals, and concludes with the final on February 11th, taking place at The Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg.
Each team plays each other twice in a league set up, and the top four from the league proceed to a semi-final, and the winners of the respective semi-finals will battle it out to be crowned the first SA20 champions.
Former legendary captain, Graeme Smith, was named as the commissioner of the SA20, following his three-year incumbency as the director of the South African cricket team, he hopes to apply his expertise into promoting the SA20 as a global powerhouse of franchise cricket.
