Tristan Stubbs becomes the costliest player in the SA20 player auction

On September 19, the first-ever player auction for the SA20 tournament was conducted. The player auction and tournament are inspired by the successful model of the Indian T20 League. More than 500 players were registered to go under the hammer. A lot of superstars from the South Africa cricket team were sold to different teams. However, the highest bid was made for one, Tristan Stubbs who has played only six T20Is.

He was bought by Sunrisers Eastern Cape for a whopping amount of 9.2 million R after batting with MI Cape Town and Joburg Super Kings. Notably, the right-hander was signed by Mumbai in the Indian T20 League 2022. The same franchise, which owns MI Cape Town, kept bidding for the 22-year-old till the bid reach 4.3 million. After this, they let Eastern Cape and Joburg bid for the wicketkeeper batter.

Surprisingly, Cape Town returned after the bid reach seven million. However, Easter Cape managed to hold firm and nabbed the player. During the latter stages of the Indian T20 League 2022, he was signed as the replacement player by the Mumbai side. Now, he is the first-ever costliest player in the history of the tournament. Talking about Stubbs' international career, he has played six T20Is and has 119 runs to his name including the highest score of 72.

Talking about the Eastern Cape, they have signed the likes of Aiden Markram and Marco Jansen. They played for the Hyderabad franchise a few months ago and also play for the Proteas. They have also signed Roelof van der Merve who is the former South Africa player and now the Netherlands international. Sarel Erwee is a notable inclusion in the team. The left-hander opens the batting for the Proteas in Test cricket

Sunrisers Eastern Cape squad:

Aiden Markram, Ottniel Baartman, Marco Jansen, Tristan Stubbs, Sisanda Magala, Junaid Dawood, Mason Crane, JJ Smuts, Jordan Cox, Adam Rossington, Roelof van der Merwe, Marques Ackerman, James Fuller, Tom Abell, Aya Gqamane, Sarel Erwee, Brydon Carse