Tristan Stubbs and Marco Jansen won big at the SA20 player auction held at the Cape Town Convention Centre on Monday.
Going for a helse R9.2m, 22-year-old Stubbs revealed an hour or so after he was signed by the Eastern Cape Sunrisers that he was still shaking.
The big-hitting top-order batsman tells SuperSport: “It’s crazy, I’m still shaking.”
Playing for the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League, MI Cape Town drukked hard for Stubbs.
But he is off the St George’s Park instead and says: “I played most of my cricket there [at St George’s Park], so I really enjoy playing there.
“It’s just awesome to be part of the tournament, I would have loved to play for anyone.”
Sunrisers also spent big bucks on Jansen, signing the 22-year-old left arm seamer for R6.1m.
Of having Jansen as a teammate, Stubbs says: “It will be really cool to be playing with “Plank” erm Jansen at St Georges.”
Proteas teammate and seamer Lungi Ngidi was the first player to be auctioned off yesterday, fetching R3.4m from. The Paarl span followed up that purchase with a R4.3m kopie of SA spin bowler Tabraiz Shamsi, while Proteas captain Temba Bavuma went unsold in the first round.
Closer to home, Mumbai Indians (MI) Cape Town bought Rassie van der Dussen for R3.9m in round one and then added Ryan Rickleton for just R1m, before also keeping spinner George Linde innie Kaap with a bid of R3.9m
Tristan Stubbs is ours to keep 🧤#OrangeArmy #SEC #SunrisersEasternCape #SA20Auction pic.twitter.com/6CCzLHc0vk
Further up the coast, coach Lance Klusener’s Durban Super Giants bought Proteas allrounder Dwaine Pretorius for R4.1m, Heinrich Klaasen for R4.5m and Keshav Maharaj for R2.5m.
Inland, Pretoria Capitals splashed R6.9m on Rilee Rossouw and R5.6m on Wayne Parnell. Their neighbours Joburg Super Kings then added Janneman Malan to their roster for R2.7m and also snapped up Reeza Hendricks for R4.5m.
The inaugural SA20 is set to start in January next year.
dudley.carstens@inl.co.za