The third season of South Africa’s SA20 tournament in 2025 will be played from January 9 to February 8. The six-team 34-game competition will run in a window similar to the first two seasons. It will overlap partially or completely with Australia’s Big Bash League, the ILT20 in the UAE and the BPL in Bangladesh during a packed December-February window for league cricket.
“Following two successful seasons, our plan is to continue to own the South African summer and provide an opportunity for everyone to enjoy some of the biggest names in world cricket, whether in packed stadiums or via the global broadcast,” Graeme Smith, SA20 commissioner, said in a press statement. “Our fixtures, auction, and player announcements will be revealed over the coming months and planning is already fully in motion. We can’t wait to bring another incredible sport and entertainment event to life for players and fans.”
With the SA20 ending on February 8, there may not be a lot of time until the start of a proposed ODI tri-series in Pakistan, where South Africa and New Zealand would be the other two teams. The dates for that series or the 2025 Champions Trophy in Pakistan also in February 2025 have not been officially announced.
Last year, the SA20 clashed with South Africa’s proposed Test tour of New Zealand, and Cricket South Africa (CSA) prioritised the franchise competition, choosing to send a second-string squad for the away tour.
In 2023, the first season, CSA withdrew from a three-game ODI series in Australia that was clashing with the SA20 and gave up the opportunity to earn 30 points in the erstwhile World Cup Super League table, a choice that had briefly put their qualification into the 2023 ODI World Cup in doubt, although they comfortably qualified in the end.
Sunrisers Eastern Cape, owned by India-based Sun Group which runs Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL, have won both seasons of SA20. Trying to stop them from completing a hat-trick of titles will be last season’s losing finalists Durban’s Super Giants, Pretoria Capitals, Joburg Super Kings, MI Cape Town and Paarl Royals.
