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.
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.
Royals add Mujeeb to 2025 squad
Paarl Royals have added
Mujeeb Ur Rahman to their squad for the third season of SA20. Dinesh Karthik, who retired from “representative cricket” in June and was appointed Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s batting coach and mentor in July, had
been signed earlier, as were the English trio of Root, Jacob Bethell and Sam Hain.
“Mujeeb is an impressive young man who has performed in the best leagues around the world. He has the ability to deceive batters with his variety and pick up crucial wickets, and as his stats state, he can be very economical as well,” Royals’ director of cricket
Kumar Sangakkara said in a statement. “He adds a lot of depth and variety to our spin bowling department, and we are all very excited to have him make a real impact at the Paarl Royals.”
Mujeeb had earlier represented another of the group’s teams, Barbados Royals, in the CPL.
Paarl Royals squad for SA20 2025: David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Dinesh Karthik, Joe Root, Bjorn Fortuin, Andile Phehlukwayo, Mitchell van Buuren, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Codi Yusuf, John Turner, Jacob Bethell, Sam Hain, Keith Dudgeon, Nqaba Peter, Kwena Maphaka, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Dayyaan Galiem
Content Source: www.espncricinfo.com
