The Pretoria Capitals will spend their R17.5 million runners-up check on whatever they like, Wayne Parnell said, chuckling. However, in between all the laughter, he still made the pertinent point that some players can change their careers with the SA20 purse.
Career-changing payday for local players after SA20
It is comfortably the largest payout in domestic cricket’s history, with franchises sharing R70 million in prize money. It was won by Sunrisers Eastern Cape, which bagged a R35 million share.
At last year’s auction, several emerging local players were purchased only for the lowest base price of R175 000, even though some players were paid mega bids such as Tristan Stubbs (R9.2 million), Rilee Rossouw (R6.9 million), Marco Jansen (R6.1 million), Parnell (R5.6 million) and Donovan Ferreira (R5.5 million).
There is no doubt that a share of bonus checks is beneficial. However, what is even more important is that it should inspire other provincial officials to step up in the future to improve their chances for a share of the pie. “Some players will benefit from this,” Parnell said.
” It is important to keep in mind that some of these guys were only bought at their base price. In some cases, the bonus is greater than the employee’s salary. The benefits are obvious from a financial standpoint for players. In all honesty, we haven’t been talking about it, like saying: ‘Hey, if we win here, our share is half if we win, if we lose it’s a quarter.’
“Maybe one of these [younger guys] will take me out for coffee!”
In the meantime, the wily and experienced Proteas all-rounder hopes the tournament continues to grow in the future, but cautions that given the standards set in the first year of the league, Graeme Smith and his team need to keep up their game.
“From here on out, only up,” said Parnell. However, topping this will require something special.
” I have been blown away by this inaugural edition. It is important to give credit to everyone who was involved. We all agreed earlier that this is probably the biggest day for domestic cricket in South Africa in history. That’s tough to beat.”
According to Aiden Markram, parnell’s counterpart, the Sunrisers have not discussed how their winnings will be divided.