Buttler, Roy, Holder among 25-plus names signed up by SA T20 league; CA offers BBL contract to top names to hold them back

Cricket South Africa (CSA) and scheduled to get underway in January next year. Around 10 cricketers from the Caribbean islands, 10 from Sri Lanka and close to a dozen names from England have come on board. Meanwhile, TOI has learnt that Cricket Australia (CA) is in the process of handing Big Bash contracts to their leading white-ball cricketers including David Warner, Steven Smith, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Cameron Green among others.

This means, top Australian cricketers will not be available to play in these new T20 leagues unless some of them decide to retire from the format altogether post the T20 World Cup this year and turn 'free-agents'. Cricketers from New Zealand too, barring a few who are learnt to be contemplating a move, will stay away from the new T20 leagues. New Zealand Cricket (NZC) is in the process of drafting fresh contracts for their cricketers to remain committed to local First-Class cricket back home.

Meanwhile, below are some of the big names who have signed up for the league in South Africa already while some others are about to. Jos Buttler, Liam Livingstone, Eoin Morgan, Jason Roy, Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, Tymal Mills from England; Jason Holder, Alzari Joseph, Obed McCoy, Dushmantha Chameera, Maheesh Theekshana, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Harry Tector are among the names already on board. This is in addition to all the top South African T20 cricketers who are already on board for their own 'domestic' league.

The list is work in progress right now. Mumbai Indians have Kieron Pollard on board but it is unclear if the Trinidadian will make himself available for the league in South Africa or the UAE. The Kolkata Knight Riders have signed Sunil Narine and Andre Russell while GMR - the 50% owner of Delhi