A number of South African cricketers are smiling all the way to the bank after being bought for good amounts at the first The Hundred auction held in the UK this week.
The Hundred, England’s version of T20 cricket, but with each team facing just 100 balls, takes place in July and August with both men’s and women’s teams in action in match-day double-headers.
The teams are Birmingham Phoenix, London Spirit, Manchester Super Giants, MI London, Southern Brave, Sunrisers Leeds, Trent Rockets and Welsh Fire. Some of the teams have been renamed and rebranded this season.
Proteas men’s T20 captain Aiden Markram and Proteas women’s all-rounder Nadine de Klerk were the two big winners among the South Africans at the auction this week.
Markram was bought by the Manchester Super Giants for £200,000 (R4.4m) while De Klerk was snapped up by London Spirit for £170,000 (R3.8m).
Miller, Rickelton also in the bucks
Veteran batter David Miller was also bought for a good amount, namely £110,000 (R2.5m) by the Southern Brave while Ryan Rickelton went for £150,000 (R3.4m), bought by Sunrisers Leeds.
The London Spirit saw good value in grabbing Luan-dre Pretorius for £31,000 (R694,000).
It was surprising that Lungi Ngidi, one of the world’s top white-ball bowlers and a star of the recent T20 World Cup, wasn’t bought, and neither were Anrich Nortje and Keshav Maharaj. Former Proteas skipper Faf du Plessis also failed to land a team.
Besides De Klerk, the other South Africans to find a home in The Hundred were former Proteas opener Lizelle Lee who was bought for £27,500 (R616,000) by the Southern Brave and rising all-rounder Annerie Dercksen who was purchased for £15,000 (R336,000) by Birmingham Phoenix.
Tazmin Brits, Sune Luus and Chloe Tryon went unsold at the auction held in London over two days this week, on Wednesday and Thursday.
A number of South Africans already had contracts with teams before this week’s auction, or were pre-picked, and they include Dewald Brevis (£185,000, London Spirit), Donovan Ferreira (£210,000, Birmingham Phoenix), Heinrich Klaasen (£250,000, Manchester Super Giants), Tristan Stubbs (£100,000, Southern Brave) and Marco Jansen (£250,000, Welsh Fire), and on the women’s side, Marizanne Kapp (£130,000, London Spirit) and Laura Wolvaardt (£75,000, Southern Brave).
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