SA20 commissioner Graeme Smith has reiterated that the league will not get involved in player selection.

Smith also praised Proteas white-ball captain Temba Bavuma for responding in the “right way” after going unsold at the SA20 auction.

Bavuma did end up featuring for the Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the latter stages of the tournament, scoring 52 runs in four matches at an average of 13.00 and a strike rate of 136.84. That included two first-ball ducks, 50 against the Joburg Super Kings, and two in the final against the Pretoria Capitals.

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“Temba responded in the right way,” Smith said at a media roundtable event on Friday. “He scored that memorable hundred against England and ended up getting into the title-winning team. Ultimately, we – as the league – don’t want to get involved in selection.

“From a player’s perspective, I wouldn’t want to be guaranteed a spot. That’s something we have to be very careful of. I believe we were all very disappointed for Temba when he wasn’t picked up at the auction.

“But the position of the league was that we would guarantee every nationally-contracted player an agreed-upon amount [R850,000] as a sign of good faith, particularly if those players weren’t drafted.

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“The league would never get involved in franchise’s selection policies and recruitment,” Smith added. “That falls in every team’s own domain. From our perspective, we provide the platform for the players and CSA has to provide the security in terms of its centrally-contracted players. Even then, those national players were still able to start the auction at any base price that they wanted.

“Having been involved in auctions myself, it’s never a simple thing. We saw this week in the WPL [Women’s Premier League], where there were a number of shocks, everyone expected some players to fetch big amounts and ended up not even getting selected. These things happen.”