In a continuing sign of T20 franchise owners gravitating towards players they already know and trust, Paarl Royals snapped up the South African duo of David Miller and uncapped allrounder Corbin Bosch, England’s new white-ball captain Jos Buttler and West Indies fast bowler Obed McCoy. All four have worked for these owners before – in the IPL with Rajasthan Royals – and will continue to do so now in the upcoming CSA T20 League

According to tournament rules, a team can sign a maximum of one capped South African, three overseas players and an uncapped player ahead of the players auction. So far, the Durban franchise – owned by the same group that manages Lucknow Super Giants and comprising the same core of players who helped take LSG to the knockout stages of IPL 2022 – and MI Cape Town have announced their picks. Buttler bossed this year’s IPL for the Royals, scoring a whopping 863 runs, an average of 57.53 and a strike rate of 149.05. He hit four centuries and smashed 45 sixes and was also the leading run-getter of the competition.

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Royals now stepping into CSA league, Buttler, McCoy big names

Miller, who was part of the IPL title-winning Gujarat Titans, amassed a total of 449 runs at a strike rate of 141.19. He was eighth in the list of leading run-getters this season – and second behind captain Hardik Pandya for the Titans. McCoy, who represented Royals in the IPL this year, chipped in with 11 wickets from seven matches at an economy over nine. Early this month, he picked up his career-best figures for West Indies against India in the second T20I which the hosts won by five wickets.

The uncapped South African Bosch joined the Rajasthan franchise this IPL as a replacement for injured fast bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile, but didn’t get to play a single match. The 27-year old, who plays for the Titans in domestic cricket, is a seam-bowling allrounder who bats in the lower-middle order. Having made his T20 debut in 2014, he has played only 30 games, scoring 151 runs at a strike rate of 120.80 and picking up 18 wickets at an economy of 8.16. He has also played 24 first-class games and 21 List A games.

The CSA release on Wednesday also said the player auction would take place “in the next few weeks” before the league begins in January 2023. All six franchises have been bought by groups that own teams in the IPL and the league is likely to allow four overseas players in the playing XI with no requirements for transformation as of now.