The inaugural edition of the SA20 will be underway from January 10, 2023. The tournament will feature, among others, three innovative playing conditions.

Each captain can nominate 13 players to take the field before the toss

“Each captain shall nominate his/her players in writing to one of the umpires before the toss,” decrees Law 1.2.1. In the SA20, the teams are allowed to name a ‘shortlist’ of 13, from which they can name 11 after the toss.

The ICC had introduced the concept of the Supersub in the first decade of the millennium. The teams were allowed a full substitute in ODIs – but they had to nominate the XI before the toss, which put the team winning the toss at an obvious advantage. The concept had to be scrapped. The SA20 playing conditions are a logical improvement on the Supersub.

Bonus points for big wins

Yet another innovation ICC had introduced for ODIs, only to discard it for reasons unknown. As per the SA20 playing conditions, a team will get a bonus point (apart from the four for a win) if they score at a rate 1.25 times quicker than the opposition.

No bye if the ball ricochets off the stumps

If there is a free hit, the batter can run byes as per the ICC Playing Conditions. Brad Haddin did that off Shoaib Akhtar once, as did – more famously – Virat Kohli, off Mohammad Nawaz at the 2022 T20 World Cup. In the SA20, these runs will not be rewarded.

Interestingly, it is not very clear what will happen if the ball hits them, or their bats, en route to the stumps. The conditions prevent byes, not runs off the bat or leg-byes.

The SA20 will feature 102 players, who will represent six franchises. In all, there will be 33 matches.

The teams include Durban’s Super Giants (based out of Kingsmead), Joburg Super Kings (The Wanderers), MI Cape Town (Newlands), Paarl Royals (Boland Park), Pretoria Capitals (SuperSport Park) and Sunrisers Eastern Cape (St George’s Park in Gqeberha).