The SA20 Auction for season six, held in Johannesburg on Wednesday, saw four of the six teams bidding to fill vacant squad spots. With the Paarl Royals and Durban’s Super Giants’ squads already finalised before the auction, it was left to the Joburg Super Kings, MI Cape Town, Pretoria Capitals, and Sunrisers Eastern Cape to battle it out for the available players.
Some big-name marquee players were on the block, including renowned T20 superstars like Faf du Plessis, New Zealand’s Trent Boult, and the West Indian duo of Shimron Hetmyer and Kieron Pollard.
The highest bid, however, went to the 18-year-old South African rookie Jason Rowles, who will play for Joburg Super Kings in his first stint in the SA20.
Rowles, who recently made 45 off 31 balls
Rowles, who recently made 45 off 31 balls for the CSA High Performance Team against Western Province in his first professional T20 game, fetched a bid of R2.9-million, the highest sum for the 2027 edition of the competition.
Apart from the aforementioned players, he also beat out other big-name players like Wiaan Mulder, Nandre Burger, and Rassie van der Dussen.
The young cricketer caught the spotlight when he scored a double century for the South Africa U19 team in a Youth Test against England U19 in July. He captained the side and performed consistently well, also bowling handy left-arm spin. Rowles also represented South Africa at the 2026 ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup,co-hosted by Namibia and Zimbabwe, where he topped the run-charts for South Africa, with 280 runs in five innings at an excellent average of 70 and strike rate of 112.
Cricket’s latest Rand millionaire is in his final
Cricket’s latest Rand millionaire is in his final year at St David’s Marist Inanda, the alma mater of South Africa’s Test captain Themba Bavuma, and will be writing his final matric exams soon.
It was a great day for Jason. He was awarded his Honours Blazer and Cricketer of the Year award at St David’s Marist at almost the exact same time as he was bought at the auction.
Jason Rowles: R2.9-million (JSK)
Faf du Plessis: R2.7-million (JSK)
Wiaan Mulder: R2.6-million (MICT)
Shimron Hetmyer (West Indies): R1.5-million (MICT)
Trent Boult (New Zealand): R1.5-million (MICT)
Craig Overton (England): R1.5-million (SEC)
Kieron Pollard (West Indies): R1.5-million (JSK)
Andries Gous (USA): R1-million (JSK)
Rassie van der Dussen: R500 000 (PC)
Blessing Muzarabani (Zimbabwe): R500 000 (PC)
Nandre Burger: R500 000 (SEC)
Click here to read all our coverage of South African u19 cricket.
Source: superschoolsnews.co.za
