CSA announces Proteas contract squads for 2020/21

Cricket South Africa (CSA) today announced the Standard Bank Proteas Men’s squad and the Momentum Proteas National Women’s squad players to be awarded national contracts for the 2020/21 season.

The major men’s engagement over the next 12 months is the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia in October while other scheduled tours include home series against Sri Lanka (Tests), Australia (Tests only), Pakistan (T20 only) and India (T20 only) and away tours to West Indies and Sri Lanka.

The women’s major upcoming commitment is the ICC Women’s World Cup to be played in New Zealand in early 2021. They also have scheduled away tours to the West Indies and England plus the postponed home series against Australia.

Warriors fast bowler Anrich Nortje and the Imperial Lions duo of all-rounder Dwaine Pretorius and batsman Rassie van der Dussen all earned contract upgrades during the course of the past season.

Imperial Lions fast bowler Beuran Hendricks earns his first national contract.

The upgrade system will again be in place this year. Those players performing and selected for the Proteas during the 2020/21 season and who are not contracted can qualify for a National Contract upgrade.

Nadine de Klerk and Sinalo Jafta who earned contract upgrades during the course of the past season have been retained on the list of women’s contract players.

“We have contracted 16 men’s players and 14 women’s players which we feel is the appropriate number to maintain our national squads across the various formats,” commented CSA Acting Chief Executive, Dr. Jacques Faul. “This enables us to contract both our Test players as well as those who are limited overs specialists.

“We have decided to keep the 17th men’s contract open for the moment and players can qualify for it through performance.”

CSA contracted Standard Bank Proteas men’s players: Temba Bavuma (Imperial Lions), Quinton de Kock (Momentum Multiply Titans), Faf du Plessis (Momentum Multiply Titans), Dean Elgar (Momentum Multiply Titans), Beuran Hendricks (Imperial Lions), Reeza Hendricks (Imperial Lions), Keshav Maharaj (Hollywoodbets Dolphins), Aiden Markram (Momentum Multiply Titans), David Miller (Hollywoodbets Dolphins), Lungi Ngidi (Momentum Multiply Titans), Anrich Nortje (Warriors), Andile Phehlukwayo (Hollywoodbets Dolphins), Dwaine Pretorius (Imperial Lions), Kagiso Rabada (Imperial Lions), Tabraiz Shamsi (Momentum Multiply Titans), Rassie van der Dussen (Imperial Lions).

CSA contracted Momentum Proteas women’s players: Trisha Chetty (KZN Coastal), Nadine de Klerk (WP), Mignon du Preez (Northerns), Shabnim Ismail (KZN Coastal), Sinalo Jafta (WP), Marizanne Kapp (EP), Ayabonga Khaka (Gauteng), Masabata Klaas (North West), Lizelle Lee (North West), Sune Luus (Northerns), Zintle Mali (Border), Tumi Sekhukhune (North West), Chloe Tryon (KZN Coastal), Dane van Niekerk (EP), Laura Wolvaardt (WP).

WP Women crowned T20 Champions

Western Province Women enjoyed a productive season by winning the Women’s T20 League before narrowly missing out on the double with North West clinching the CSA Women’s Provincial 50-over League trophy by just one point.

The Imperial Lions and Hollywoodbets Dolphins have been crowned franchise champions for the 2019/20 season.

The business end of the season was poised for an exciting finish before it was brought to an abrupt halt following the global COVID-19 pandemic that caused the cancellation of the knock-out rounds of the Momentum One-Day Cup as well as the final two rounds of the 4-Day Domestic Series.

CSA’s Board of Directors and Members’ Council have both endorsed the recommendation of the Interim Director of Cricket, Graeme Smith, that tournament titles will be awarded in accordance with log standings across the men’s franchise and senior provincial tournaments as well as the women’s leagues.

The Lions retain the 4-Day Domestic Series trophy after finishing top of the table with all teams having completed eight of the 10 rounds of red-ball cricket. Their route to the top – with a margin of 8.46 points ahead of runners-up, the Momentum Multiply Titans – came via four wins, three losses and one draw.

The Dolphins have been rewarded for their gritty efforts in the 50-over arena with their second Momentum One-Day Cup title in three years following a top of the group stage finish.

The tournament sponsor, Momentum, agreed that the prize money would be split amongst the semi-finalists, with the Dolphins, Lions, Warriors and Knights respectively receiving a 40-30-15-15 percentage share.

Having topped their Pools, Free State (Pool A) and Northern Cape (Pool B) finish joint winners of the CSA Provincial One-Day Challenge while Easterns (Pool A) and Kwa-Zulu Natal (Pool B) share the spoils in the CSA Provincial Three-Day Cup.

Border secured their promotion into the National League while relegation to the Regional Pool has been confirmed for Free State.

“This is undoubtedly the fairest way to decide the various winners,” commented Smith. “In the provincial competitions where some teams have played more games than others, we have taken the average number of points per game to decide on final log positions.

“In the Momentum One-Day Cup it was also important that we put extra weight on the performances of the teams that earned home ground advantage for the knock-out stage.”

CSA Acting Chief Executive Dr. Jacques Faul congratulated all the franchise and provincial winners. “Congratulations to all the winners and indeed to all our franchises and provinces for making our domestic cricket once again highly competitive and providing an important pipeline of talent to our Standard Bank Proteas men’s team and Momentum Proteas women’s team.”

Full List of Winners

4-Day Series

Imperial Lions

Momentum One-Day Cup

Hollywoodbets Dolphins

CSA Provincial Three-Day Cup

Easterns and KwaZulu Natal joint winners

CSA Provincial One-Day Challenge

Free State and Northern Cape joint winners

Women’s T20 League

Western Province

Women’s Provincial 50-over League

North West