Mzansi Super League reveal team names, SA marquee players

The six Mzansi Super League (MSL) T20 tournament teams, their names and official logos were unveiled at a Media Briefing at the Cricket South Africa (CSA) offices on Monday.

The competing teams (and their home venues) are:

Cape Town Blitz (Newlands, Cape Town)

Durban Heat (Kingsmead, Durban)

Jozi Stars (The Wanderers, Johannesburg)

Nelson Mandela Bay Giants (St George’s Park, Port Elizabeth)

Paarl Rocks (Boland Park, Paarl)

Tshwane Spartans (Centurion, Tshwane)

Six marquee Proteas players have already been assigned to the teams: Faf du Plessis (Paarl Rocks), AB de Villiers (Tshwane Spartans), Hashim Amla (Durban Heat), JP Duminy (Cape Town Blitz), Kagiso Rabada (Jozi Stars) and Imran Tahir (Nelson Mandela Bay Giants).

The MSL T20 will run from 16 November to 16 December with the 32-match competition fixtures and tickets set to be announced shortly.

“It was a thorough and well audited process that led to the six winning bids from our Members as well as the collective contribution from all stakeholders involved that led to the final names and logos which we also had to make sure met our objectives for this event,” said CSA chief executive Thabang Moroe.

“What was clear throughout this definitive process was that these are completely new entities and names that will operate separately from the current franchise teams.

“We welcome the six new additions to the South African and international cricket family.”

On Monday, the Draft Matrix was also completed, detailing the steps that will be taken at the highly-anticipated Player Draft that will be held at the in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

The teams heading into this American sports-styled player draft will have a pick of:

Six Marquee players: Eoin Morgan, Jason Roy and Dawid Malan (all England), Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo (both the West Indies) and Rashid Khan (Afghanistan).

“We have receiving applications from over 200 top international players who expressed interest in playing in this inaugural tournament and will have their names in the hat ahead of the Player Draft process on Wednesday,” Moroe added.

“There were expected challenges in the process, of course, with some players available for a particular period because of other cricket commitment clashes elsewhere, including our Standard Bank Proteas, who also have to fulfil our tour to Australia for a One-Day International series.”

 

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