Aussie pair sign on for post-Big Bash splash in SA20

Mitch Marsh and Matt Short will be available for the entire KFC BBL|16 season before being released to play in the South Africa's domestic T20 tournament.

Marsh and Short were overnight announced as marquee signings for next year's SA20, joining Sunrisers Eastern Cape and Pretoria Capitals respectively.

The pair are set to play in the South African competition for the first time, with Australia's men's T20 captain Marsh joining the franchise that also owns his current Hundred team, Sunrisers Leeds.

The SA20 season begins on January 17, 2027, the night after Short's Adelaide Strikers host Marsh's Perth Scorchers in both teams' final match of the BBL|16 regular season.

Coincidentally, the duo's South African franchises will also face off in the opening game of the tournament in Gqeberha – typically at least a 20-hour journey from Adelaide involving multiple connecting flights.

Marsh and Short will only be a chance of playing in that match if their Big Bash teams fail to make the finals, which run from January 19-26.

While Short currently doesn't hold an Australian national or state contract after opting to go freelance when his CA deal wasn't renewed for 2026-27, International Cricket Council regulations dictate that every player seeking to play abroad in a domestic competition requires clearance from their home board "whether they are contracted to the relevant member or not, or whether they have retired from cricket or not".

CA said the pair would only be granted a 'No Objection Certificate' once their BBL|16 commitments with their respective teams have concluded.

A Scorchers spokesperson also said Marsh would be "with Perth until the season ends, whatever stage of the tournament that is".

Marsh is contracted to the reigning champions until the end of BBL|17 after penning a bumper three-year extension in 2025.

The 34-year-old has been in scintillating form ever since last BBL season where his 360 runs and destructive opening stand with Finn Allen (a tournament-leading 466 runs) helped the Scorchers claim a record-extending sixth men's title.

After an injury interrupted T20 World Cup campaign, Marsh continued his hot streak in the Indian Premier League with 563 runs at an average of 43 for Lucknow Super Giants and has kicked off his maiden stint in England's Hundred competition with 290 runs in five innings for Sunrisers Leeds.

Short, who is also contracted to the Strikers until 2028, has also been in fine touch of late with consecutive knocks of 60 not out and 71 for Welsh Fire in the Hundred, which followed a dominant end to his Major League Cricket campaign where he hit back-to-back scores of 94no and 121no in the playoffs for San Francisco.

Tim David, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, Ashton Turner and Mitch Owen are among several Australians to have featured in the South African competition in recent years after their BBL commitments.