All you need to know for the Big Bash League’s inaugural international player draft

The inaugural BBL Draft will take place this Sunday 28 August live and exclusive on Kayo. Here is all you need to know including how it works, who has nominated plus when and how to watch.

Lachlan McKirdy and David Gavin

9 min read

August 28, 2022 - 6:31PM

The first ever BBL Draft will be held in Melbourne this Sunday. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

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332 players from 20 countries have thrown their hat in the ring for this Sunday’s (28 August) inaugural Men’s Big Bash draft ahead of BBL|12 starting December 13.

Watch the BBL Draft live and exclusive here on Kayo and scroll down to catch up on the latest news.

How did it come about?

In June, the Big Bash League organisers announced that the recruitment of overseas stars would be revolutionised by way of draft for BBL|12.

When is it?

The BBL Draft starts at 6.30pm (AEST), 6pm (ACST) and 4.30pm (AWST) on Sunday, 28 August. It will follow the 1st ODI between Australia and Zimbabwe being played in Townsville.\

Follow live here.

How can I watch it?

Live on Kayo and Fox Cricket.

Big Bash General Manager Alistair Dobson at the launch mid-week. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

So how does it work?

There are four rounds and each club must make two picks, but can choose up to three nominated players.

Starting round two, the final remaining three rounds will follow a snaking order (last club to pick in the previous round is the first to pick in the next).

Each club must pass during at least one round.

What is the draft order?

Two lotteries were undertaken in July to determine the draft order. After missing the BBL finals last season, Melbourne Stars (one entry), Brisbane Heat (two entries) and Melbourne Renegades (three entries) were placed in the first lottery.

The remaining five clubs who were part of finals entered in the second lottery. The order is as follows:

Renegades
Stars
Heat
Sixers
Strikers
Scorchers
Thunder
Hurricanes
Renegades
Stars
Heat
Sixers
Strikers
Scorchers
Thunder
Hurricanes
Hurricanes
Thunder
Scorchers
Strikers
Sixers
Heat
Stars
Renegades
Renegades
Stars
Heat
Sixers
Strikers
Scorchers
Thunder
Hurricanes

What are the player bands?

There were three player bands for which the players could nominate. Those are gold, silver and bronze.

Players could have nominated themselves just for the gold category or all three.

In round one, platinum players only can be selected. In round two, platinum and gold players can be selected. In round three, gold and silver players. And finally in round four, silver and bronze players.

The BBL have elevated 12 players it determines are the most lucrative draft prospects from the list of 332 to platinum status. Only those players are eligible for picks 1-8 in the draft:

Rashid Khan (Afghanistan)

Andre Russell (West Indies)

Chris Jordan (England)

Shadab Khan (Pakistan)

Sam Billings (England)

Trent Boult (New Zealand)

Dwayne Bravo (West Indies)

Faf du Plessis (South Africa)

Liam Livingstone (England)

Kieron Pollard (West Indies)

Jason Roy (England)

David Willey (England)

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Our experts play the role of Big Bash League franchises by recreating the competition's first international mock draft.

Country-by-country breakdown

Afghanistan

Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Zahir Khan, Qais Ahmad, Noor Ahmad, Ijaz Ahmadzai, Zia ur Rehman Akbar, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Shafiqullah Ghafari, Usman Ghani, Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Hamid Hassan, Hamza Hotak, Waqarullah Ishaq, Nangeyalia Kharote, Gulbadin Naib, Izharulhaq Naveed, Azmatullah Omarzai, Abdul Rahman Rahmani, Waqar Salamkheil, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Mohammad Shahzad, Naveen Ul Haq Murid, Ghamai Zadran, Hazratullah Zazai

Bangladesh

Al-amin Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Ripon Mondol

Bermuda

Kamau Leverock

Canada

Kairav Sharma

England & Wales

Chris Jordan, Sam Billings, Liam Livingstone, Jason Roy, David Willey, Ian Cockbain, George Garton, Daniel Worrall, Tom Abell, Jordan Cox, Tom Lammonby, Reece Topley, Joe Clarke, Laurie Evans, Tymal Mills, Tom Curran, James Vince, Alex Hales, Colin Ackermann, Rehan Ahmed, Toby Albert, Kashif Ali, Tom Alsop, Martin Andersson, Gus Atkinson, Josh Baker, Sonny Baker, Jake Ball, Tom Banton, Daniel Bell-Drummond, Luc Benkenstein, Jacob Bethell, Alex Blake, James Bracey, Henry Brookes, Patrick Brown, Solomon Budinger, Brydon Carse, Matthew Carter, Jordan Clark, Josh Cobb, Mason Crane, Zak Crawley, Matt Critchley, Steven Croft, Alex Davies, Liam Dawson, Joe Denly, Brett D‘Oliveira, Jacobus Leus Du Plooy, Stephen Eskinazi, Joey Evison, Matt Fisher, Luke Fletcher, James Fuller, Ben Geddes, Ben Gibbon, Richard Gleeson, Lewis Gregory, Nicholas Gubbins, Sam Hain, Haseeb Hameed, Miles Hammond, Tom Hartley, Jack Haynes, Freddie Heldreich, Tom Helm, Ryan Higgins, Max Holden, Adam Hose, Benny Howell, Louis Kimber, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Danny Lamb, Tom Lawes, Jack Leaning, Jake Lintott, David Lloyd, Adam Lyth, Wayne Madsen, Conor McKerr, Lewis McManus, Ben Mike, Tom Moores, Daniel Moriarty, Daniel Mousley, Steven Mullaney, Craig Overton, Jamie Overton, Callum Parkinson, Matt Parkinson, Samit Patel, David Payne, Michael Pepper, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Matthew Quinn, Ben Raine, Adam Rossington, Phil Salt, George Scrimshaw, John Simpson, Prem Sisodiya, Will Smeed, Nathan Sowter, Mitchell Stanley, Cameron Steel, Darren Stevens, Olly Stone, Callum Taylor, Jack Taylor, Tommy Taylor, Liam Trevaskis, Paul Walter, Joe Weatherley, Ross Whiteley, Chris Wood, Luke Wood, Rob Yates, Saif Zaib

Jason Roy last played for the Perth Scorchers in the BBL. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Ireland

Mark Adair, Andy Balbirnie, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delaney, George Dockrell, Josh Little, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector

Namibia

David Wiese

Nepal

Sandeep Lamichhane, Subash Khakurel

Netherlands

Shariz Ahmad, Bas De Leede, Brandon Glover, Fred Klaassen, Maxwell O‘Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Timm Van Der Gugten, Roelof van der Merwe, Paul Van Meekeren, Tobias Vissee

New Zealand

Trent Boult, Colin Munro, Todd Astle, Mitch McClenaghan, James Neesham, Ross Taylor

Trent Boult has put his name in the ring for the BBL. Picture: Randy Brooks / AFP

Oman

Bilal Khan

Pakistan

Shadab Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Ahmad Daniyal Latif, Syed Faridoun Mahmood, Muhammad Hasnain, Tayyab Abbas, Abbas Afridi, Asif Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, Iftikhar Ahmed, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Sohail Akhtar, Kamran Akmal, Umar Akmal, Faisal Akram, Qasim Akram, Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Adil Amin, Mohammad Amir, Faheem Ashraf, Umaid Asif, Amad Butt, Shahnawaz Dahani, Salman Fayyaz, Kamran Ghulam, Zafar Gohar, Sameen Gul, Muhammad Hafeez, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Haris, Dilbar Hussain, Mohammad Ilyas, Ali Imran, Muhammad Imran Jnr, Arshad Iqbal, Muhammad Irfan, Mohammad Irfan Junior, Salman Irshad, Akif Javed, Usman Khalid, Azam Khan, Imran Khan, Junaid Khan, Maaz Khan, Musa Khan, Sharjeel Khan, Sohail Khan, Zaman Khan, Sohaib Maqsood, Shan Masood, Usama Mir, Muhammad Salman Mirza, Mehran Mumtaz, Saad Naseem, Usman Qadir, Momin Qamar, Rumman Raees, Mamoon Ur Riaz, Wahab Riaz, Abdulah Shafique, Ali Majid Shah, Khushdil Shah, Yasir Shah, Saud Shakeel, Usman Shinwari, Haris Sohail, Hussain Talat, Imam Ul Haq, Khalid Usman, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Amir Yamin, Muhammad Zahid, Zeeshan Zameer, Muhammad Zeeshan

Papua New Guinea

Norman Vanua

Scotland

Michael Jones, Michael Leask, George Munsey, Safyaan Sharif, Hamza Tahir, Craig Wallace, Mark Watt

South Africa

Faf du Plessis, Chris Benjamin, Shane Dadswell, Marchant de Lange, Pieter Malan, Migael Pretorius, Rilee Rossouw, Imran Tahir

Sri Lanka

Dinesh Chandimal, Nisala Gamage, Dushan Hemantha, Prabath Jayasuriya, Ruwantha Kellapotha, Ramesh Mendis, Lakshan Sandakan

Chandimal scored a match-defining double century in the second Test against Australia at Galle during July. Picture: Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images

U. A. E (Emirates)

Vriitya Aravind, Rahul Bhatia, Aryan Lakra, Alishan Sharafu

U. S. A

Unmukt Chand, Harmeet Singh Baddhan, Karima Gore, Andries Gous, Nosthush Kenjige, Ali Khan, Jaskaran Malhotra, Saurabh Netravalkar, Monank Patel, Smit Patel

West Indies

Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Joshua Bishop, Carlos Brathwaite, Johnson Charles, Rivaldo Clarke, Sheldon Cottrell, Amrit Dass, Mark Deyal, Dominic Drakes, Fidel Edwards, Matthew Forde, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Chemar Holder, Akeal Hosein, Joshua James, Evin Lewis, Obed McCoy, Keemo Paul, Anderson Phillip, Khary Pierre, Ravi Rampaul, Jeavor Royal, Sherfane Rutherford, Jayden Seales, Kevin Sinclair, Oshane Thomas, Hayden Walsh, Tion Webster, Kesrick Williams, Nyeem Young

Zimbabwe

Ryan Burl, Eddie Byrom, Elton Chigumbra, Christopher Mpofu, Tawanda Muyeye, Blessing Muzarabani, Richard Ngarava

Which players can be taken as retention picks?

Each club is entitled to one retention pick in the draft. A retention pick can be used for a player who played for that club last season in BBL|11.

A club can only use their retention pick if they haven’t already had a pick in that round. Here are the international players eligible to be taken as a retention pick:

Adelaide Strikers – Rashid Khan, Ian Cockbain, George Garton, Daniel Worrall
Brisbane Heat – Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Tom Abell, Fakhar Zaman
Hobart Hurricanes – Jordan Cox, Tom Lammonby, Sandeep Lamichhane
Melbourne Renegades – Zahir Khan, Reece Topley, Unmukt Chand
Melbourne Stars – Qais Ahmad, Andre Russell, Joe Clarke, Ahmad Latif, Syed Mahmood
Perth Scorchers – Laurie Evans, Tymal Mills, Colin Munro
Sydney Sixers – Chris Jordan, Tom Curran, James Vince, Shadab Khan
Sydney Thunder – Sam Billings, Alex Hales, Muhammad Hasnain

The Strikers are expected to use their retention pick on Rashid Khan in the first round. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

How much money is on offer?

The current salary cap for BBL clubs is AU$1.9 million. The four tiers of players will earn the following:

Platinum – AU$340,000
Gold – AU$260,000
Silver – AU$175,000
Bronze – AU$100,000

If a player is selected at the platinum level, they will receive the full amount of money regardless how many games they play for the club.

For each of the tiers, a proportion of the money will sit outside the salary cap. That will be covered by Cricket Australia’s marquee fund. The marquee fund will cover a higher proportion of the platinum players at a percentage that works down through the tiers.

Will your club’s pick be here for the entire BBL?

For the first time the Big Bash is competing with rival T20 tournaments for international players in the December-January window.

While the BBL has December all to itself, there are two new tournaments beginning in early January.

The UAE ILT20 league runs from January 6 – February 12, 2023.

While the new Cricket South Africa T20 league will also run across January and February 2023.

The Bangladesh Premier League, which is in its ninth edition, takes place in the same period. It’s proposed dates are currently January 5 - February 16, 2023.

Liam Livingstone is one of a number of high-profile players not available for all of BBL|12. Picture: Gareth Copley/Getty Images

Players selected in the BBL draft who are also taking part in another league are likely to have to leave near the end of December to link up with their new franchises.

Below is the list of players currently contracted to other T20 leagues, with franchises from those countries still able to add players in the coming months:

Cricket South Africa League

Reece Topley (Durban), Faf du Plessis (Johannesburg Super Kings), Liam Livingstone (MI Cape Town), Rashid Khan (MI Cape Town), Obed McCoy (Paarl Royals), Migael Pretorius (Pretoria Capitals)

UAE ILT20 League

Andre Russell (Abu Dhabi Knight Riders), Paul Stirling (Abu Dhabi Knight Riders), Akeal Hosein (Abu Dhabi Knight Riders), Ravi Rampaul (Abu Dhabi Knight Riders), Brandon Glover (Abu Dhabi Knight Riders), Ali Khan (Abu Dhabi Knight Riders), Sandeep Lamichhane (Desert Vipers), Colin Munro (Desert Vipers), Tom Curran (Desert Vipers), Sam Billings (Desert Vipers), Alex Hales (Desert Vipers), Sheldon Cottrell (Desert Vipers), Sherfane Rutherford (Desert Vipers), Benny Howell (Desert Vipers), Azam Khan (Desert Vipers), Mujeeb Ur Rahman (Dubai Capitals), Hazratullah Zazai (Dubai Capitals), George Munsey (Dubai Capitals), Fred Klaassen (Dubai Capitals), Blessing Muzarabani (Dubai Capitals), Qais Ahmad (Gulf Giants), Chris Jordan (Gulf Giants), James Vince (Gulf Giants), Dominic Drakes (Gulf Giants), Rehan Ahmed (Gulf Giants), Tom Banton (Gulf Giants), Liam Dawson (Gulf Giants), Richard Gleeson (Gulf Giants), Jamie Overton (Gulf Giants), Ollie Pope (Gulf Giants), David Wiese (Gulf Giants), Zahir Khan (MI Emirates), Fazalhaq Farooqi (MI Emirates), Ghamai Zadran (MI Emirates), Imran Tahir (MI Emirates), Dwayne Bravo (MI Emirates), Kieron Pollard (MI Emirates), Bas De Leede (MI Emirates), Samit Patel (MI Emirates), Will Smeed (MI Emirates), Trent Boult (MI Emirates), Rashid Khan (MI Emirates)*, Noor Ahmad (Sharjah Warriors), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (Sharjah Warriors), Naveen Ul Haq Murid (Sharjah Warriors), Chris Benjamin (Sharjah Warriors), Mark Deyal (Sharjah Warriors), Evin Lewis (Sharjah Warriors), Tom Kohler-Cadmore (Sharjah Warriors), Bilal Khan (Sharjah Warriors)

*Rashid Khan has been named in both MI franchises in South Africa and the UAE

Bangladesh Premier League

Squads TBC

Current BBL12 squads

Clubs can sign up to a maximum of 15 domestic players, while some teams may opt to leave a spot free in case a Test player can return during January.

Here are all the squads as of August 26:

Adelaide Strikers

Wes Agar, Cameron Boyce, Alex Carey, Harry Conway, Ryan Gibson, Travis Head, Henry Hunt, Thomas Kelly, Chris Lynn, Harry Nielsen, Matt Short, Jake Weatherald, Henry Thornton

New: Cameron Boyce, Chris Lynn, Henry Hunt

Brisbane Heat

Xavier Bartlett, James Bazley, Max Bryant, Sam Heazlett, Usman Khawaja, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Michael Neser, Jimmy Peirson, Matthew Renshaw, Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson, Jack Wildermuth

New: Usman Khawaja, Matthew Renshaw

Hobart Hurricanes

Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Caleb Jewell, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Mitch Owen, Joel Paris, Wil Parker, D‘Arcy Short, Matthew Wade

Melbourne Renegades

Zak Evans, Aaron Finch, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sam Harper, Mackenzie Harvey, Nic Maddinson (c), Shaun Marsh, Kane Richardson, Tom Rogers, Jono Wells

New: Tom Rogers, Jono Wells

Melbourne Stars

Joe Burns, Hilton Cartwright, Brody Couch, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Liam Hatcher, Clint Hinchliffe, Nick Larkin, Glenn Maxwell (c), Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Beau Webster, Adam Zampa

Perth Scorchers

Ashton Agar, Cameron Bancroft, Jason Behrendorff, Cooper Connolly, Aaron Hardie, Peter Hatzoglou, Nick Hobson, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kelly, Mitch Marsh, Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye

Sydney Sixers

Sean Abbott, Jackson Bird, Dan Christian, Ben Dwarshuis, Moises Henriques, Daniel Hughes, Hayden Kerr, Nathan Lyon, Steve O‘Keefe, Kurtis Patterson, Josh Philippe, Jordan Silk

New: Kurtis Patterson

Sydney Thunder

Oliver Davies, Brendan Doggett, Matthew Gilkes, Chris Green, Baxter Holt, Nathan McAndrew, Alex Ross, Daniel Sams, Jason Sangha, Tanveer Sangha, David Warner

New: David Warner

What other cricket news do I need to know?

Big news was revealed in the lead up to this weekend’s draft with the announcements that David Warner would rejoin the BBL this season with the Sydney Thunder – for whom he burst onto the scene a decade ago – and Chris Lynn who is headed south to the Adelaide Strikers following Brisbane Heat’s decision to let the club legend go.

Lynn will be available for 11 matches for the Strikers before joining the Gulf Giants in the UAE ILT20 tournament.

And on Friday the Heat named Lynn’s replacement, that being Matthew Renshaw, in effectively a player swap.