SA20 auction decimates Shukri's already thin Test cricket stocks for Proteas tour to NZ

• The SA20 auction on Wednesday evening further decimated the resources at Proteas Test coach Shukri Conrad's disposal for the contentious tour to New Zealand early next year.
• Kyle Verreynne, Daryn Dupavillon, Beyers Swanepoel and possibly Dayaan Galiem were all removed from the equation after being picked up at auction.
• Conrad, from the outset, would have had to take an unheralded squad because CSA decrees that the SA20 takes preference in terms of player availability. 
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Wednesday evening's admittedly low-key SA20 "mini auction" - which only required 28 slots across the six franchises to be filled for this season's edition - dealt another significant blow to Proteas Test coach Shukri Conrad's available resources for next year's controversial red-ball tour of New Zealand.

The trip to the country, a two-Test engagement with the Black Caps, has (at least to date) been a dampener on the second campaign of CSA's glitzy and encouragingly successful T20 league because the two events overlap.

With the local governing body decreeing that the SA20 enjoys preference in its fenced-off window, no player of national interest contracted to a franchise will be released for Conrad to utilise.

The 56-year-old, known for being frank and forthright, has understandably expressed his frustration on various occasions because he virtually has no first-choice player at his disposal.

CSA previously confirmed to News24 that it had tried to engage with its New Zealand counterpart on finding an alternative window for the series - which was agreed on for the February 2024 date when the latest future tours programme (FTP) was ratified - but a congested playing calendar meant a compromise wasn't possible.

READ | Cricket SA scrambling to somehow avoid NZ Test series clash with 'sacrosanct' SA20

News24 understands that Conrad has engaged with CSA at various stages to at least have the alternative players he identified ring-fenced before the tour.

Instead, the auction yanked several viable options - and possibly even shoo-ins - out of the reckoning.

Western Province skipper Kyle Verreynne, undoubtedly a key cog in Conrad's machine beforehand given how well he performed in Australia last season, was snapped up by Pretoria Capitals at a base price of R175 000.

Yet Conrad's real shortage is viable bowling options and that has been eroded further.

Shukri Conrad. (Photo by Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images)

Gallo Images

The Capitals again raided his stocks by bidding R600 000 for lion-hearted Dolphins seamer Daryn Dupavillon, who has played two ODIs, before Sunrisers Eastern Cape waited for the express round to enlist the highly regarded Beyers Swanepoel, a Warriors star and SA 'A' representative to Sri Lanka a few months back.

He averages 28 with the bat in first-class cricket and boasts 100 wickets at an eye-catching 18.58.

Swanepoel's absence is particularly telling as he is one of few all-rounders Conrad might have been able to utilise.

Titans all-rounder Dayaan Galiem, one of the new millionaires on the night after being bought for R1.75m by Joburg Super Kings, would also have been in the picture.

As it stands then, Conrad only has former Test captain Dean Elgar and Keegan Petersen as regulars and will surely be required to source spinners from the junior structures as the wily 37-year-old Shaun von Berg is the only pedigreed tweaker available.