A number of England stars are hoping to earn big-money paydays in the player auction for South Africa's new T20 franchise tournament.
The inaugural edition of the SA20 competition is set to begin in January next year and all six franchises have been bought by groups that also own IPL teams. A total of 22 players have already been signed by the six teams pre-auction, including England internationals Jos Buttler, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran and Reece Topley.
Buttler has joined Paarl Royals, who are owned by his IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals, while Livingstone and Curran will be teammates at MI Cape Town and Topley will represent Durban Super Giants.
In total, 318 players are set to go under the hammer, with five England players - Eoin Morgan, Jason Roy, Adil Rashid, David Willey and Tymal Mills - listing themselves at the second-highest base price of Rand 1,700,000 (£85,000).
West Indies internationals Jayden Seales and Odean Smith are the only players to have listed themselves at the top base price of Rand 1,750,000 (£86,600). Graeme Smith is the league's commissioner and believes it is key for the future of South African cricket.
"It's very important for a nation like South Africa to own something that, commercially, could be a big thing," the former South Africa captain told the Daily Mail. "Cricket in South Africa has lost a bit of its gravitas.
"What world cricket doesn't need is for South Africa to fall back. To keep that strength, there had to be something South African cricket had that they could grow.
"Hopefully it will benefit us like the IPL has benefited Indian cricket. These [IPL] brands are getting stronger.
"I've been really impressed with their care for the game. They're not coming to South Africa on a jolly. They're here, they're investing and they want the cricket to be successful."
