Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis were among eight marquee Protea players announced on Friday by Cricket South Africa to represent the franchises in the first two editions of the new Twenty20 Global Destination League starting later this year, PTI reported.

This follows the announcement last week of the eight marquee foreign players. Each marquee Protea player will be allocated a new franchise team based in the city he has either been historically associated with or with which he can build a strong association.

The other five marquee Protea players are Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy, David Miller, Kagiso Rabada and Imran Tahir. Veteran pacer Dale Steyn, who is recovering from a shoulder injury, failed to earn the top billing.

As announced last week, each franchise team will also be allocated an international marquee player. This means that each team will start with two marquee players named in their 17-man squad. The rest of the squad will be assembled by the team owners and coach in a player draft system.

The process of acquiring team ownership is presently underway with the closing date for bidder proposals being April 28.