SA20: Six retentions per team for next season

The fourth season of the SA20 is set for a major shake-up with almost two-thirds of the player pool available for the auction, which will be held on September 9. Franchises will be permitted no more than six retentions or pre-signed players, the least in the tournament's short history.

That means 72 player slots are available for auction, which represents 63% of the 108 places across the six franchises.

Squad composition is unchanged from the previous editions with a maximum of seven overseas players, and a minimum of 11 South Africans. The salary cap has been increased to R41 million (US$2.31 million) from R39.1 million (US$2.2 million) and teams can sign one wildcard player whose fee is not included in the salary cap. The amount of money available means that the SA20 is the league with the second-highest salary cap in the world, after the IPL. All six SA20 franchises are owned by IPL teams.

Franchises will be allowed to use a Right to Match (RTM) card which will allow them to match the winning bid for a player who represented them in season 3. The number of RTMs will be determined by the number of the South African players franchises have retained.

The rookie draft has been cancelled and teams will be required to sign a minimum of two under-23 players.

With no home Tests in the 2025-26 summer (due to the national men's team playing abroad until mid-December and stadium refurbishment for the 2027 ODI World Cup) the SA20 has been moved forward from its usual January start date. It is due to kick off on Boxing Day and reach its conclusion by January 26. The SA20 will revert back to a January to mid-February window for 2027 and 2028, when it will also have a slightly longer playing window. The number of franchises (6) and matches (34) remains unchanged.