The CSA asks the SA20 franchises to fill Wildcard slots by December 30
The inaugural SA20 will take place in January of next year.
Cricket South Africa (CSA) has recommended the SA20 franchises sign a Wildcard apiece, with no upper limit on the new player’s salary.However, the minimum amount should be R175,000, and the signing must take place by December 30.
The initial salary cap was set at $2 million based on the auction held in Cape Town on September 19. However, everything changed when the CSA decided to implement the Wildcard rule.
According to this law, the wildcard player can be a South African representative, any unsigned overseas player, or even a player who did not participate in the auction.
SA20 franchise to be allowed to fill wildcard slots
“Each Franchisee may increase its Registered Squad for the 2023 Season to 18 Players through the selection and contracting of an additional Player. The Wildcard Player may either be a South African Player or an Overseas Player”, a report in Cricbuzz read.
“The Wildcard Player need not have been registered for the Player Auction. Each Franchisee shall accordingly be permitted to have a maximum of 8 Overseas Players in its Registered Squad (if a Wildcard player is taken by the Franchise). The maximum number of Overseas Players (currently 4) on the field of play at any time during any Match remains unchanged (sic),” it added.
“These Wildcard Rules form part of the Regulations with which all Franchisees, as per their Franchise Team License and Playing Agreement (“Franchise Agreement”) must comply, and should be read in conjunction with, the Player Regulations. Unless otherwise defined herein, defined terms shall have the meaning assigned to them in the Player Regulations and Franchise Agreement,” it further added.
When the Wildcard Player rule was adopted, CSA promised that no regulators would be involved in the recruitment process and, more crucially, that the players’ pay caps would not be altered in any way.
Meanwhile, the SA20 tournament would follow the same IPL rule of fielding abroad players. A maximum of four foreign players may be included in a team’s playing XI for a certain match, according to this rule.
