Teams move into 'competition mode' as preparations ramp up.
The six franchise teams have gathered and started their preparations for Season 4 of Betway SA20.
The League has confirmed all the updated squads ahead of the competition opener between MI Cape Town and Durban’s Super Giants at Newlands on Friday, 26 December.
Durban’s Super Giants welcome a familiar face to Kingsmead in Kane Williamson. The former New Zealand captain was DSG’s leading run-scorer last season and replaces Bangladesh left-arm spinner Taijul Islam.
Joburg Super Kings have called up Matt de Villiers, Jared Bacher and Duan Jansen to the Wanderers.
De Villiers replaces West Indian opener Brandon King, while Bacher is a temporary replacement for English left-armer Reece Topley.
Teenager Jorich van Schalkwyk initially replaced English batter James Vince, but has since been called up to the SA Under-19 squad for the ICC Men’s Under-19 World Cup with Jansen filling the void. Jansen has previously played for MI Cape Town.
Topley and Vince will return to the JSK squad at a later stage of the competition.
Defending champions MI Cape Town have completed a like-for-like replacement with legspinner Thomas Kaber returning to Newlands for Tabraiz Shamsi. Kaber is no stranger to the MI Cape Town family after being part of the squad the previous two seasons.
Paarl Royals have once again placed their faith in the fearlessness of youth with English teenager Thomas Rew called up as temporary replacement for Dan Lawrence, while former Sunrisers Eastern Cape fast bowler Okuhle Cele replaces ICC Men’s Under-19 World Cup-bound JJ Basson.
Pretoria Capitals coach Sourav Ganguly has been shuffling his cards since the auction with West Indian duo Shai Hope and Roston Chase called up for Will Jacks and Bayanda Majola.
England seam bowlers Sajid Mahmood and Craig Overton have also been replaced by their compatriots Jordan Cox and Tymal Mills. Cox is a previous Betway SA20 winner with Sunrisers Eastern Cape, while the explosive left-armer seamer Mills is set to debut in the competition.
Cox and double West Indies T20 World Cup winner Andre Russell will be late arrivals at Centurion with Keith Dudgeon and Daniel Smith named as the temporary replacements.
Sunrisers Eastern Cape will not have Afghanistan mystery spinner AM Ghazanfar available for the opening stages of the competition with Sri Lankan Tharindu Rathnayake named as a temporary replacement.
© SA20