South Africa re-launches T20 league

JOHANNESBURG: Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Wednesday started a recruitment process for a re-launched Twenty20 league which will run from November 9 until December 16.

Foreign and local players have been invited to apply to play in the SA T20 League, which will be staged a year after an aborted Global T20 League, which cost the South African governing body an estimated US$14 million (11.9m euros), including compensation paid to 144 contracted players.

The new league will be played by six teams, with venues to be decided after a bidding process.

Each team will have 16 players, with a minimum of three and maximum of four overseas players. South Africans who have signed Kolpak contracts in England, making them ineligible to play for South Africa, are classed as overseas players.

There will be a league phase of 30 matches, followed by an eliminator play-off and a final.

The deadline for player applications is Oct 2 and a draft will be held on Oct 17. The planned Global league was beset by problems and led to the axeing of former chief executive Haroon Lorgat in September 2017, with no television deal or sponsorship in place. The tournament was called off in Oct 2017, three weeks before it was due to start.