The next edition of the SA20, season four, is set to kick off on Boxing Day 2025. This was announced on Monday, with the league firming up windows for the next three editions ahead of this season's playoffs. Bringing the start of the league forward to Christmas week - prime time in the South African cricket calendar - was possible because South Africa do not have any home Tests scheduled over the 2025-26 summer.

Seasons five and six will revert to second-week-of-January starts, likely beginning on January 9 in both 2027 and 2028, with the season stretching five to six days longer than the ongoing one. CSA confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that the dates announced were not specific start and end dates, but windows within which the league will be played.

In 2025-26, South Africa travel to India for an all-format tour in November-December before returning home for the SA20, which will conclude by January 26. Then, South Africa host West Indies for a T20I series.

Bringing next season up should ease the competition for players with the ILT20 a bit - for their first three seasons, both tournaments ran concurrently almost from start to final - but there will still be a significant clash with the Big Bash League in Australia and the Bangladesh Premier League, both of which usually begin in December.

"Early planning has also meant that we are able to look at an extended window from 2026-27 and this will optimise scheduling, logistics and the fan experience."

"It's not only that it's tough cricket on the field; it's the scheduling, the planning, who needs to take a break, how you put your squad together that adds an extra dimension to the thought process. I do feel that a little bit more downtime would be helpful."

A SA20 media release said decisions on the windows were taken into account by "a working group made up of representatives from both the League and Cricket South Africa".

SA20 windows for the next three seasons

SA20 season four: December 26, 2025, to January 26, 2026
SA20 season five: January 9 to February 14, 2027
SA20 season six: January 9 to February 13, 2028