Zak Crawley is the latest England player in the mass exodus from his country to get involved in the SA20, in particular, the ones who play Test cricket predominantly since the white-ball team will be in action in January in India and they have a vacant window. Crawley will link up with the two-time defending champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape for the third season of the SA20.
Crawley is the fourth England player among the direct signings before the August 31 deadline ahead of SA20 2025 after Joe Root (Paarl Royals), Chris Woakes (Durban's Super Giants) and Ben Stokes, who has been offered a sizeable contract by MI Cape Town. Craig Overton was the second English signing for the Sunrisers ahead of the third season with the all-rounder returning to the Gqeberha side. Crawley, who has branched out previously in the Big Bash League for the Hobart Hurricanes, will be playing in the SA20 for the first time.
With the aggressive game-play he has shown for England amid the Bazball approach and for Kent in the T20 Blast and the London Spirit in the Hundred, will make a good fit in the Sunrisers top-order, which features the likes of Jordan Hermann, Tom Abell, Aiden Markram and Tristan Stubbs. Crawley was the second direct signing for the Sunrisers ahead of the 2025 edition, alongside Roelof van der Merwe, who returns to the SA20 fold after missing the sophomore year.
Van der Merwe was the joint-highest wicket-taker in the inaugural edition of the SA20 but made himself available for the ILT20 in 2024, which runs along the same January timeline. Brandon King and Kane Williamson are the other direct signings for the season thus far, both for the Durban's Super Giants.
Trott gets his first major T20 league contract following success with Afghanistan
Former England international and current Afghanistan head coach, Jonathan Trott has replaced Graham Ford as the head coach of the Pretoria Capitals franchise in SA20. Trott, who had his contract with the Afghanistan national side renewed in January this year, has been at the helm of the side since 2022. Afghanistan beat Pakistan, England and nearly Australia if not for Glenn Maxwell special last year in the ODI World Cup and under Trott, they qualified for the T20 World Cup semi-finals for the first time in an ICC event.
Trott is currently part of the Trent Rockets' setup in the men's Hundred and will hope to resurrect the Capitals' outfit in the SA20 after a below-par season with uncertainty over his future with the Afghanistan side. Trott's contract with Afghanistan is set to end in December this year.
