Next season's SA20 likely to begin on Boxing Day – T20 IPL 2024

The next edition of the SA20, season four, is set to kick off on Boxing Day 2025. This was announced on Monday, with the league firming up windows for the next three editions ahead of this season’s playoffs. Bringing the start of the league forward to Christmas week – prime time in the South African cricket calendar – was possible because South Africa do not have any home Tests scheduled over the 2025-26 summer.

Seasons five and six will revert to second-week-of-January starts, likely beginning on January 9 in both 2027 and 2028, with the season stretching five to six days longer than the ongoing one. CSA confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that the dates announced were not specific start and end dates, but windows within with the league will be played.

In 2025-26, South Africa travel to India for an all-format tour in November-December before returning home for the SA20, which will conclude by January 26. Then, South Africa host West Indies for a T20I series.

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Starting the SA20 on Boxing Day would have an impact on player availability, with the Ashes on in Australia, running till January 8. Joe Root for one, who was on the podium this season for most runs ahead of the playoffs, will be one of the players to almost surely to miss the start next time.

Bringing next season up should ease the competition for players with the ILT20 a bit – for their first three seasons, both tournaments ran concurrently almost from start to final – but there will still be a significant clash with the Big Bash League in Australia and the Bangladesh Premier League, both of which usually begin in December.

“Confirming the Betway SA20 window for a three-year period allows the League to bring certainty to all stakeholders and assists in securing our place when planning the global calendar,” SA20 commissioner Graeme Smith said. “We know fans respond particularly well to weekend and holiday fixtures, and with the ICC T20 World Cup in early February next year, our Season 4 dates provide the unique opportunity to capitalise on South Africa’s peak cricket season and key public holidays.

“Early planning has also meant that we are able to look at an extended window from 2026-27 and this will optimise scheduling, logistics and the fan experience.”

Spacing the games out more would be welcome by most players and support staff. Robin Peterson, MI Cape Town’s head coach, said on Sunday night after his team gave their bench game time in a dead rubber against Pretoria Capitals: “Definitely more space should be helpful, to be honest with you. It feels as though we play, we’re on a plane and then next day we play again. That’s one of the challenges of this tournament.

“It’s not only that it’s tough cricket on the field; it’s the scheduling, the planning, who needs to take a break, how you put your squad together that adds an extra dimension to the thought process. I do feel that a little bit more downtime would be helpful.”

A SA20 media release said decisions on the windows were taken into account by “a working group made up of representatives from both the League and Cricket South Africa”.

SA20 windows for the next three seasons

SA20 season four: December 26, 2025, to January 26, 2026
SA20 season five: January 9 to February 14, 2027
SA20 season six: January 9 to February 13, 2028

Source: ESPN Crickinfo

SA20 windows for the next three seasons

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