The Mzansi Super League (MSL) was a Twenty20 cricket (T20) franchise league held in South Africa. The competition was established in 2018 by Cricket South Africa (CSA) as a replacement for the failed T20 Global League, but only two editions were played before the competition was itself canceled. The SA20 competition, first held in 2023, could be seen as a successor to the MSL.
The league consisted of six franchise teams representing different South African cities.[3] Two editions were played under this format before changes were proposed to reflect the wide structural changes that were announced for South African domestic cricket in 2021, but the competition did not run in 2020 or 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was then cancelled.[4][5]
Format
League structure
Each team played each other twice in a home-and-away round-robin format in the league phase. At the conclusion of the league stage, the top three teams qualified for the playoffs, with the team that topped the table after the league phase progressing to the final as the home side and the second and third placed teams played against each other in a play-off match, with the winner advancing to the final.
Player draft
Franchises acquired players by means of a player draft. A series of marquee players from the South African national team were drafted first, and teams could also select one international marquee player. After these picks, teams were allocated fourteen picks each with player salaries determined by the round in which they were selected.[6]
Teams
Six franchise teams representing different South African cities competed in the competition.[3] These sides were loosely affiliated with the six franchise teams that played First Class and List-A cricket in the domestic circuit. The sides were:
