On Tuesday, September 9, the renowned T20 franchise league in the rainbow nation - SA20 completed its auction ahead of the 2025-26 edition, which is scheduled to get underway later this year. The auction saw
the six franchises get into intense battle to secure services of some star players, including the likes of limited-over prodigy Dewald Brevis, pace sensation Kwena Maphaka, along with several marquee players including Aiden Markram, Keshav Maharaj and others.
In the high-octane auction in Johannesburg, Brevis went on to become the most expensive player in SA20 history, the two-time champions and 2025 runners-up Sunrisers Eastern Cape also went all out to secure some key players in their ranks after their had retained Tristan Stubbs and secured Marco Jansen as their wildcard pick.
Tristan Stubbs to lead Sunrisers Eastern Cape in SA20 2025-26
Just minutes after the auction, the former champions announced their skipper for the upcoming edition. They took to social media to confirm Stubbs as their skipper after the franchise let go off the services of Aiden Markram ahead of the auction. “Starboy to Captain, a journey made in Gqeberha! �� Go well, Captain Stubbo �� ” the franchise posted on X.
Earlier during one of the mid-auction interaction, the franchise’s batting coach Russell Domingo confirmed of this development, stating, "I did get the clearance from the owners and from Adi to announce that Tristan Stubbs will be leading the Sunrisers going forward.” "He's a local boy, I think he loves nothing more than playing for the Sunrisers and for the Warriors back in Port Elizabeth. So, really excited to work with him over the next couple of seasons and we know he is going to do a magnificent job," he added.
Sunrisers Eastern Cape 2025-26 Full Squad:
Jonny Bairstow, Matthew Breetzke, James Coles, Quinton de Kock, Allah Ghazanfar, Lewis Gregory, Jordan Hermann, Marco Jansen, CJ King, JP King, Patrick Kruger, Adam Milne, Senuran Muthusamy, Anrich Nortje, Lutho Sipamla, Tristan Stubbs, Beyers Swanepoel, Mitchell van Buuren, Chris Wood.
