Ben Stokes is the star signing at MI Cape Town for the upcoming season of the SA20, with Azmatullah Omarzai the other big overseas name joining them as they look to put up a better show after finishing bottom of the table in both the previous editions.
They join Rashid Khan and Trent Boult, the pre-signed overseas players for 2025, as well as Nuwan Thushara and Chris Benjamin, who have been retained. The roster of domestic players is as impressive: Kagiso Rabada, Dewald Brevis, Rassie van der Dussen, Ryan Rickelton and George Linde are joined by Delano Potgieter, Thomas Kaber and Connor Esterhuizen.
For Boult, it’s the fourth Mumbai Indians-owned team he is a part of, having previously played for Mumbai Indians in the IPL, MI New York in MLC, and MI Emirates in the ILT20.
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SA20 in 2025 will run from January 9 to February 8
As ESPNcricinfo had reported last month, the SA20 franchises have been targeting top Test players from England for the third edition in 2025 after many of them were busy with the tour of India during the 2024 season. Joe Root has been signed by Paarl Royals, Pretoria Capitals have Ollie Pope, Jonny Bairstow and Chris Woakes have gone to Joburg Super Kings and Durban’s Super Giants respectively, while Zak Crawley has been acquired by Sunrisers Eastern Cape, who have won both editions of the competition.
England are down to play both T20I and ODI series in India at the start of next year, but both their winter Test tours – to Pakistan in October and New Zealand in December – will be over before Christmas. Therefore, players not involved in the limited-overs games in India will be available to play full seasons at the ILT20 and SA20. The 2025 edition of the SA20 runs from January 9 to February 8.
Stokes’ England contract is due to expire at the end of September, after he turned down a three-year deal last year. He hasn’t played a white-ball game for England since the 2023 ODI World Cup, and hasn’t played a T20I since November 2022, when he scored 52 not out to take England to the World T20 title in the final.
He is out of action at the moment, a hamstring tear putting him out of Northern Superchargers’ campaign at The Hundred. The ECB has said in a statement that Stokes is aiming to return for the Test tour of Pakistan, which will start in Multan on October 7.
If he takes part in the SA20, it will be a rare appearance for England’s Test captain at a franchise league. His last few appearances at the IPL were disrupted. In 2021, he broke a finger in Rajasthan Royals’ first game of the season and was ruled out for the tournament. Then in 2023, he played just two games for Chennai Super Kings all season, partly because of the long-standing knee condition, which had forced him to start the season as a specialist batter. He subsequently opted out of IPL 2024 to manage his workload.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo
