By webdesk 
The Paarl Royals, owned by Royals Sports Group, announced on Monday that they had pre-signed West Indies all-rounder Fabian Allen as a Wildcard pick ahead of the SA20 2024 Auction on September 27 in Johannesburg. This means that the Boland Park-based franchise will go into the Auction with 16 pre-signed and retained players, including David Miller, Jos Buttler, Jason Roy, Lungi Ngidi, and Tabraiz Shamsi.
The 28-year-old Allen joins fellow West Indian Obed McCoy at the Paarl Royals. He impressed with his batting performances for the Jamaica Tallawahs in the recently concluded CPL season.
Internationally, Allen made his T20I debut for the West Indies in 2018. He has since appeared in 34 matches, picking up 24 wickets at an economy of 7.43. He also boasts an impressive strike rate of 176.8 in the last five overs in the CPL.
Royals’ Director of Cricket Kumar Sangakkara said, “Fabian is an all-round talent who offers us depth in both batting and bowling, and is a livewire in the field. He is someone who has played in a lot of T20 competitions around the world, and we are pleased to have him in the squad given the flexibility he brings to this team.”
The Royals had earlier retained South African batters David Miller, spinners Tabraiz Shamsi and Bjorn Fortuin, pacer Lungi Ngidi, all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo, top-order batter Wihan Lubbe, and wicket-keeper batter Dane Vilas, along with domestic talent which includes batter Mitchell van Buuren, all-rounder Ferisco Adams, and pacers Codi Yusuf and Evan Jones.
T20 World Cup-winning captain and highest scorer in SA20 2023 Jos Buttler, English opener Jason Roy and West Indies’ seamer Obed McCoy, were also announced as pre-signed players by the franchise. In addition, the Royals had also signed highly-rated 17-year-old pacer, Kwena Maphaka, as an uncapped player, who became the youngest-ever player to be signed at SA20.
16-member Paarl Royals squad which has been retained and pre-signed by the franchise ahead of the Auction:
South African Players for the Paarl Royals:
David Miller
Lungi Ngidi
Tabraiz Shamsi
Bjorn Fortuin
Andile Phehlukwayo
Dane Vilas
Wihan Lubbe
Mitchell van Buuren
Ferisco Adams
Codi Yusuf
Evan Jones
Kwena Maphaka
Overseas Players for the Paarl Royals:
Jos Buttler
Jason Roy
Obed McCoy
Fabian Allen
Zainab Shafiq