Late allrounder influx adds depth to draft talent pool

The inaugural BBL Draft has been boosted by a late surge of nominations, with damaging allrounders James Neesham and Carlos Brathwaite among almost 300 overseas players to put themselves up for selection.

The league today unveiled the 12 platinum-level players eligible to be taken in the first round in Sunday's KFC BBL|12 Draft, confirming 279 players from 19 different countries had put their name forward to play in the competition this season before nominations had closed overnight.

More than 100 new names were also announced by the league today with New Zealand quick Trent Boult, West Indies allrounder Andre Russell, Pakistan leg-spinner Shadab Khan and England's Jason Roy, Sam Billings, David Willey and Chris Jordan among the fresh faces to be allocated platinum status.

Under the BBL Draft rules, only the 12 platinum players are eligible to be picked in the first round, while platinum or gold level players can be taken in the second round.

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Platinum BBL|12 Draft list

Faf du Plessis (South Africa)

Jason Roy (England)

Liam Livingstone (England)

Sam Billings (England)

Kieron Pollard (West Indies)

Andre Russell (West Indies)

David Willey (England)

Shadab Khan (Pakistan)

Dwayne Bravo (West Indies)

Rashid Khan (Afghanistan)

Chris Jordan (England)

Trent Boult (New Zealand)

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Left-armer Willey and Shadab are the only platinum-level players yet to be picked up by other franchises in competing T20 leagues in South Africa and the UAE.

And while Shadab is expected to return home for Pakistan's white-ball series against New Zealand and West Indies in January, Willey could offer the best availability of players eligible for selection in the first round of the draft.

"(Perth) Scorchers' policy in the past has been to get someone who's available for the whole time," fast bowler Andrew Tye told cricket.com.au at a BBL|12 Draft launch event on Monday.

"We've tended to have a batter or two (as our overseas players) and then strengthen our bowling. But if Trent Boult's available I'd like to see him, and David Willey's been a Scorcher before and done really well.

"I'd also like to see 'Dre Russ' (Russell) on my side for a chance instead of having to bowl to him…I've been hit for enough sixes by him."

Neesham, an established member of New Zealand's white-ball sides, has never featured in the Big Bash but has played around the world in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Caribbean Premier League (CPL), and England's Hundred and T20 Blast.

In June, he smashed 75no off just 30 balls alongside former Brisbane Heat opener Chris Lynn (106no off 66) as the pair put on 118 runs for the second wicket for Northamptonshire in a total of 1-227 against Leicestershire.

Brathwaite is no stranger to the Big Bash having featured in all 16 games for the Sydney Sixers during their BBL|10 triumph before being ruled out of last season due to shoulder surgery.

Fast bowling allrounder Tom Curran – who is eligible for retention by the Sydney Sixers – is another late draft nominee alongside England teammate Phil Salt.

Each club is entitled to one retention pick to keep an overseas player that played at least one game for their club during the previous season.

League officials will announce the availability windows and tiers for all other players in the coming days.

Salt, who previously played with Adelaide Strikers in BBL|09 and BBL|10 but is not eligible for retention as he didn't play last season, recently earned a spot at the top of England's powerful limited-overs batting line-ups with strong performances against the Netherlands and West Indies.

The 25-year-old has also been in fine touch in the Hundred competition with two half centuries and a strike rate of 157, with his 238 runs second only to Dawid Malan (241) after the tournament's first 21 matches.

If selected on Sunday, it will be Curran's fourth season in the Big Bash having played three of the past four years with the Sydney Sixers, collecting 47 wickets and scoring 351 runs in 32 matches.

The 27-year-old right-armer was ruled out of last summer's tournament after just four games due to a back stress fracture, which also kept him out of the IPL mega auction in February and the start of the county season for Surrey.

He recently returned to action with Surrey in the latter stages of T20 Blast tournament and has three wickets in six matches for the Oval Invincibles in this year's Hundred.

Former South Australian and Strikers fast bowler Daniel Worrall has also nominated for the draft.

Worrall, who holds a British passport, is now classified as an overseas player following his permanent move to England where he signed with Surrey as a domestic player.

He has also been signed as a local player by the Manchester Originals in The Hundred but is yet to play a game this season.

Alistair Dobson, Cricket Australia's General Manager of Big Bash Leagues, said the number of players in the draft pool was expected to increase to more than 300 in the coming days once all the nominations were verified.

Latest BBL|12 Draft nominations

Afghanistan

Zia ur Rehman, Usman Ghani, Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar, Hamza Hotak, Nangeyalia Kharote, Abdul Rahman Rahmani, Ghamai Zadran

Canada

Subash Khakurel, Kairav Sharma

England

Eligible for retention: Tom Abell (Brisbane Heat), Sam Billings (Sydney Thunder), Tom Curran (Sydney Sixers), Chris Jordan (Sydney Sixers), Daniel Worrall (Adelaide Strikers)

Other nominees: Tom Banton, Daniel Bell-Drummond, Luc Benkenstein, Alex Blake, Solomon Budinger, Joey Evison, Luke Fletcher, Ben Geddes, Nicholas Gubbins, Hasseb Hameed, Tom Lawes, David Lloyd, Adam Lyth, Wayne Madsen, Tom Moores, Daniel Moriarty, Samit Patel, Jason Roy, Phil Salt, Darren Stevens, David Willey, Rob Yates

Netherlands

Shariz Ahmad, Bas De Leede, Maxwell O'Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Timm Van Der Gugten, Tobias Visee

New Zealand

Trent Boult, Mitchell McClenaghan, James Neesham

Oman

Bilal Khan

Pakistan

Eligible for retention: Shadab Khan (Sydney Sixers), Ahmad Daniyal Latif (Melbourne Stars), Syed Faridoun Mahmood (Melbourne Stars)

Other nominees: Tayyab Abbas, Asif Afridi, Sarfraz Ahmed, Sohail Akhtar, Kamran Akmal, Umar Akmal, Faisal Akram, Asif Ali, Mohammad Amir, Shahnawaz Dahani, Salman Fayyaz, Zafar Gohar, Muhammad Hafeez, Mohammad Haris, Dilbar Hussain, Muhammad Imran Jnr, Salman Irshad, Usman Khalid, Azam Khan, Maaz Khan, Musa Khan, Sharjeel Khan, Junaid Khan, Shan Masood, Usama Mir, Muhammad Salman, Saad Naseem, Usman Qadir, Momin Qamar, Rumman Raees, Mamoon Ur Riaz, Wahab Riaz, Ali Majid Shah, Usman Shinwari, Hussain Talat, Imad Wasim, Muhammad Zahid, Zeeshan Zameer, Muhammad Zeeshan

Papua New Guinea

Norman Vanua

Scotland

George Munsey

Sri Lanka

Dushan Hemantha, Ruwantha Kellapotha, Ramesh Mendis

United Arab Emirates

Alishan Sharafu

USA

Andries Gous, Jaskaran Malhotra, Saurabh Netravalkar, Monank Patel, Smit Patel

West Indies

Eligible for retention: Andre Russell (Melbourne Stars)

Other nominees: Joshua Bishop, Carlos Brathwaite, Rivaldo Clarke, Amrit Dass, Dominic Drakes, Matthew Forde, Joshua James, Obed McCoy, Keemo Paul, Jeavor Royal, Oshane Thomas, Hayden Walsh

Zimbabwe

Ryan Burl, Elton Chigumbura, Christopher Mpofu, Richard Ngarava

Image Id: https://www.cricket.com.au/~/media/News/2022/07/BBL-draft-order?la=en&hash=4AE6FB0B4F134F189B20FE1111E0BA90E8F9850C Image Caption: The order for the BBL|12 Draft has been determined

The BBL|12 Draft will be held on Sunday, August 28 and broadcast live on Foxtel and Kayo Sports following the first ODI between Australia and Zimbabwe in Townsville.

Click herefor a full list of players to have nominated for the BBL|12 Draft.