SA20 teams announce pre-signed and retained players ahead of season 4 auction

By Nasri Alexander
23rd July 2025

Aiden Markram, Lungi Ngidi and Keshav Maharaj will be the big-name Proteas in the SA20 auction after all six teams announced their pre-signed and retained players ahead of season 4.

Markram captained Sunrisers Eastern Cape to back-to-back titles in the first two seasons while they also made the final of the tournament in season 3.

Ngidi has been with Paarl Royals since the inception of the tournament but the paceman will now be a sort-after player when the auction takes place on 9 September.

Similarly, Maharaj played for Durban Super Giants in all three previous seasons and captained the team in the last two campaigns.

South Africa's top young talent Dewald Brevis and Kwena Maphaka will be available in the auction along with T20 specialists Quinton de Kock, Anrich Nortje and Tabraiz Shamsi.

The focus now will be on the remaining slots and the collective maximum purse of R131 million, to be spent on the 84 available slots at the auction.

SA20 league commissioner, Graeme Smith said: "When the League first drafted its regulations in Season 1, we always saw this forthcoming season as an opportunity for a strategic reset - and this is exactly where we envisioned being.

"There's now a strong balance between pre-signed and retained international and Proteas players, alongside a significant purse available for the auction. After three seasons, the franchises have developed a good understanding of the South Africa cricket ecosystem and adopted a distinct strategy which sets the stage for the most exciting auction yet."

MI Cape Town

Retained: Trent Boult, Rashid Khan, Ryan Rickleton, Kagiso Rabada, George Linde, Corbin Bosch

Pre-signing: Nicholas Pooran

Sunrisers Eastern Cape

Pre-signing: Jonny Bairstow, AM Ghazanfar, Adam Milne

Retained: Tristan Stubbs

Wild Card: Marco Jansen

Johannesburg Super Kings

Retained: Faf du Plessis, Donovan Ferreira

Pre-signing: James Vince, Akeal Hosein

Pretoria Capitals

Pre-signing: Will Jacks, Sherfane Rutherford