Everything you need to know about the overseas BBL and WBBL drafts

The second installment of the BBL overseas draft is scheduled to be played on September 3 alongside the WBBL overseas draft. Both drafts follow very similar rules to last year. Here’s everything you need to know.

What is a foreign draft and where is it held?

BBL and WBBL teams will no longer recruit their three foreign players privately. The BBL held a foreign draft for the first time last year and the WBBL will hold it for the first time this year. They will select a minimum of two and a maximum of three overseas players from drafts held back-to-back in Melbourne on September 3. The draft is intended for foreign players only. Domestic players are signed in the same way as always, although the BBL has introduced a new marquee rule for CA contract players.

Will overseas drafts be televised?

Both drafts will be televised on Foxtel and streamed live on Kayo. The draft will take place at NEP’s studios in South Melbourne, where it was held last year. The WBBL draft is likely to be played in the afternoon, followed by the BBL draft in the evening.

How do foreign players nominate?

Players can name their price range and availability based on how many games they can play. The BBL is now a 10-game season plus finals, and not all foreign players are available for the entire competition due to both international commitments and other leagues, as in the past. The WBBL is a full season of 14 matches plus finals, but the women are more likely to be available for the whole season. A nomination process is currently underway, which will end on August 20. Players are divided into four categories: platinum, gold, silver and bronze. Players can choose whether to participate in the gold, silver or bronze team. Cricket Australia will decide platinum players based on nominations.

The men’s BBL’s foreign salary bracket numbers have increased since the salary cap was increased from A$1.9 million to A$3 million. Platinum players are now set to earn A$420,000, up from A$340,000 last year, although there are caveats for Platinum players this year. They will only earn the full amount if they are available for the entire season, including the finals, which run from December 7 to January 24. If they are available for just 10 matches, they will earn A$400,000. If they can only play nine matches, the price is AUD 380,000. Anyone who is only available for eight matches or less in the Platinum category will earn AUD 360,000, regardless of whether they play one or eight games. Gold players earn AUD 300,000, Silver AUD 200,000 and Bronze AUD 100,000, with no minimum matches required. There are no match fees in the BBL as the players have contracts with the set holders. All foreign salaries will be paid by the clubs within the framework of the salary cap.

Classes are for price only, not availability. So players can nominate the entire tournament in the bronze category or half of the tournament in the gold category. Their availability is their currency, and teams have to decide if it’s worth going for a platinum player with limited availability.

In the WBBL, platinum players earn AUD$110,000, which clubs pay out of the AUD$732,000 salary cap. Gold players earn AUD 90,000, Silver players AUD 65,000 and Bronze AUD 40,000.

What is the draft regulation and how was it decided?

CA conducted a private weighted draw to decide the order in both the BBL and WBBL, just like last year. This year’s BBL draft order is as follows: Pick 1 – Melbourne Stars Pick 2 – Adelaide Strikers Pick 3 – Hobart Hurricanes Pick 4 – Melbourne Renegades Pick 5 – Sydney Thunder Pick 6 – Sydney Sixers Pick 7 – Brisbane Heat , pick 8 – Perth Scorchers.

The three teams that missed out on last season’s BBL finals – Stars, Strikers and Hurricanes – participated in the lottery for the first three draft picks. The last-place Stars got three chances to get the first draft pick, the Strikers two and the Hurricanes one. Here’s another way to think about it: there are six balls in the first lottery, three of which are the Stars, giving them a 50% chance of picking first, while the Hurricanes only have a 16.66% chance with one ball.

The order of the next five picks was chosen from another pot containing last season’s finalists. Again, the lottery was emphasized. The fifth-place Thunder got five chances to get the fourth pick, the Renegades four, the Sixers three, the Heat two and the two-time defending champions Scorchers got one.

The WBBL draft order was decided using the same method, except there were two pots of four due to a different finals system. This year’s WBBL draft order is as follows: Pick 1 – Sydney Thunder, Pick 2 – Melbourne Renegades, Pick 3 – Perth Scorchers, Pick 4 – Melbourne Stars, Pick 5 – Hobart Hurricanes, Pick 6 – Brisbane Heat, Pick 7 – Sydney Sixers, pick 8 – Adelaide Strikers.

In both drafts, the first two rounds of the draft are held in order from one to eight. The third round goes in reverse order, so team eight gets two picks in a row (pick 16 and 17). The fourth round is run again in the normal order. So team one gets two picks in a row (picks 24 and 25).

How does the draft work?

The draft has four rounds and each team gets one pick per round. Clubs can pass if they don’t want to pick in certain rounds, but must pick at least two or up to three players by the end of the fourth round. The first round is for platinum players only. In the second round, teams can select platinum or gold players. In the third round, teams can choose gold or silver players. In the fourth round, teams can choose silver or bronze players. Teams don’t have to pick a platinum player, they have to pick a gold player. Teams can select two platinum players, but only one in each round. If they pick two platinum players, they can’t pick a gold player, they can only pick silver or bronze. The same rule applies if a team selects two gold players in the second and third rounds. Only then can they select a bronze player in the fourth round.

Can foreign players currently associated with BBL clubs be retained?

Yes they can. But only one. This could create a “Rashid Khan rule”. Rashid was the first player under this rule last year. He was selected as a Platinum player by the Stars before the Strikers’ first selection. The Raiders used their pick to keep him. The Raiders had to pay the same amount of money and use their first-round pick to keep him. The Stars then got the chance to pick again and took Trent Boult. The Scorchers had a chance to keep Colin Munro last year when the Heat picked him first, but chose not to use the retention pick. This year, there has also been an addition to the retention selection rule. Players who were previously drafted or under contract with the club but were not available to play may be retained.

This is particularly the case for Liam Livingstone, who was the Renegades’ first pick in last year’s BBL overseas draft, but was unavailable for the entire season when he was unexpectedly called up to the England Test squad for the tour of Pakistan. Under the new rule, the Renegades can use their retention pick on Livingstone, even though he has not played for the club and has previously only played for the Scorchers in the BBL. The Scorchers could face a challenge in the WBBL with retention selection, potentially having to choose between star all-rounder Sophie Devine and Marizanne Kapp if the other team selects both first.

Is there an exchange of choices?

This season is the first time there is a selection trade. Last year’s draft didn’t trade a pick, but CA has added a pick trade in two drafts this year, but it’s limited in capacity. Teams can only exchange selection points in each round. So a team with pick 8 that doesn’t want a platinum player can’t trade pick 8 for pick 9 to ensure both clubs get two picks in the same round. Pick trades must be completed by August 20, the same day nominations close, and all trades must be approved by the CA Technical Committee.

What about substitutes?

Each team may sign up to four replacement foreign players (or five if they have taken only two players in the draft) if their draft picks are unavailable due to injury or international duty. Clubs can have a total of seven foreign players on any list, including primary and substitute players. Teams cannot tell foreign players privately that they will not be included in the draft and then sign as trades. They must have been available to all teams initially in the draft before they are available as a replacement. Platinum players can be replacement players, just like last year. Faf du Plessis and Andre Russell were both not selected as platinum players in the inaugural draft, but du Plessis ended up playing seven games for the Scorchers as a replacement for Phil Salt, while Russell played four games for the Renegades in place of Livingstone.