‘I would have loved to play for anyone, so just being a part of it is quite awesome,” Stubbs said.

“I didn’t want to watch it, but I was forced to watch it,” Stubbs said of the bidding war at the SA20 auction.

“There is nothing better than playing in front of a full crowd, and hopefully we can put on a spectacle for everyone and the crowds will pull in. I am open to whatever the team needs.”

MI Cape Town and Sunrisers Eastern Cape had a bidding war for the big-hitting Stubbs, but ultimately Stubbs’ home Eastern Province side prevailed.

“I just worked with [Stubbs] at the Hundred in Manchester. I said to the guys here, I’ve got two sons at home, but I also feel like I’ve got a third son here in South Africa with Tristan. That’s how much we enjoyed working together at the Hundred,” said MI Cape Town head coach Simon Katich.

“He’s a special talent — that’s why we went so hard. We took a long-term view to this auction as well, given that the local talent is in high demand and there’s plenty of it around.”

“We knew that some of the other teams had big budgets. He’s also with Mumbai in the IPL (Indian Premier League) as well so there was already that connection, but ultimately the bigger purse won out.”

South African bowler Marco Jansen. (Photo: Gareth Copley / Getty Images)

Sunrisers Eastern Cape also went into battle for 22-year-old Marco Jansen with Joburg Super Kings, but ultimately rose to the top with a R6.1-million bid for the player — the third-highest amount of the day.

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“Very cool to be playing with ‘Plank’ … I mean Jansen. Playing at St George’s will be really cool,” said Stubbs.

Meanwhile, Pretoria Capitals, under the stewardship of Graham Ford, secured the services of Rossouw who swooped in after a bidding war between MI Cape Town and Joburg Super Kings.

“Really exciting for us and everybody knows what a good player he’s become… He’s matured and played around the world and played in various competitions and wherever he’s gone he’s made an impact. [He is] important for us and the left-hander factor is always important, particularly at the top of the order,” said head coach Ford.

“When it comes to this sort of thing everybody has a similar shopping list and you can’t necessarily get the guys you really want. But he was certainly somebody we did want and we did get him, we’re chuffed with that,” he said.

Surprises

A month out from the T20 World Cup, South African captain Temba Bavuma went unsold in the auction at his base of R850,000 in the second set of the day and again in the express round at the end of the day.

Temba Bavuma of South Africa plays a shot during the 1st T20 International match against India at Arun Jaitley Stadium on 9 June 2022 in Delhi. (Photo: Pankaj Nangia / Gallo Images / Getty Images)

Likewise, Test captain Dean Elgar also went unsold in set seven at his base price of R175,000.

A surprise was when Proteas allrounder Andile Phehlukwayo was totally ignored by bidders, although his base price of R850,000 might have scared a few off.

Sisanda Magala, surprisingly placed in the all-rounder category, was picked up for a mammoth R5.4-million by Sunrisers Eastern Cape as they continued their trend of big spending.

Donavon Ferreira was another big-money man, having signed for Joburg Super Kings for R5.5-million after a fight with Pretoria Capitals, who tried to purchase the hard-hitting batter despite not having the funds in the express round of bidding.

Retained players 

All the teams came into the auction today with three to five players already retained.

The likes of Liam Livingstone, Rashid Khan, Jos Buttler and Kagiso Rabada were among those retained and were reportedly paid $500,000 (almost R9-million) to sign for their respective franchises before the tournament.

There were also some shrewd purchases throughout the day with Joburg Super Kings purchasing Nandre Burger and Kyle Verreyne going for their base prices of R175,000.

The Stephen Fleming-led team also captured the services of Janneman Malan for R2.7-million, despite a base price of R850,000.

Paarl Royals, led by JP Duminy, picked up exciting Wiaan Lubbe for only R350,000, a bargain for the hard-hitting opener.

Big start 

In the first set of the day, Proteas Lungi Ngidi (R3.4-million at Paarl Royals), Tabraiz Shamsi (R4.3-million at Paarl Royals), Dwaine Pretorius (R4.1-million at Durban Super Giants), Rassie van der Dussen (R3.9-million at MI Cape Town), and Heinrich Klaasen (R4.5-million at Durban Super Giants) set the tone for the rest of the day.

“It was up to the teams to decide on their strategy. You sit there and you watch the opening period unfold and I couldn’t be prouder that the six South Africans got sold, that they went for substantial numbers. It sets the platform for SA20,” said Graeme Smith, SA20 league commissioner.

“When setting up the tournament, the primary focus is always the South African players,” said Smith at the start of the day. DM