Local knowledge key for SA20 teams ahead of inaugural auction

The six co-owned by Indian Premier League (IPL) teams gear up for the SA20 auction set to be held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on Monday.

The SA20 auction sees the teams fill out the squads with 17 players, 10 of which will be local and seven international.

A $2 million purse will help teams finalise their squads for the inaugural January event with 318 players set to go under the hammer.

Already we've seen 22 players pre-signed by their respective franchises, but there's no denying the excitement of Monday's auction in Cape Town.

Adrian Birrell will coach the Sunrisers Eastern Cape, based at St George's Park, and hopes to make the most out of their bigger salary cap.

The Sunrisers Eastern Cape has only signed up Proteas batter Aiden Markram and fast bowler Ottniel Baartman.

"You're playing half of your games at home and you want to maximise advantage and have the right players for the right venue. We'd be looking at St George's Park and get the best we can buy for that ground. There'll be a lot of attention from there," Birrell told reporters in Thursday's press conference.

"It gives us the opportunity to go for one or two South African players that we'd like to have in our team. That's the reason why we didn't spend the money upfront, so we're going into the auction, along with Pretoria Capitals, have the most money, so we're able to go for one or two players."

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Former Proteas coach Eric Simons will work as one of New Zealand great Stephen Fleming's assistant coaches at the Joburg Super Kings.

The Joburg Super Kings have already acquired Proteas batter Faf du Plessis, who will captain the franchise, along with Moeen Ali (England), Maheesh Theekshana (Sri