Melbourne: India captain Harmanpreet Kaur, batter Jemimah Rodrigues, wicketkeeper-batter Richa Ghosh, all-rounders Deepti Sharma and Pooja Vastrakar are amongst the platinum players in the inaugural WBBL overseas draft announced by the league on Wednesday.
Overall, 50 players have been given platinum status for the BBL and WBBL overseas drafts happening on September 3. The 25 players named in the platinum list are eligible to be drafted in the first round by teams within the top salary band.
Harmanpreet has played for Sydney Thunder and Melbourne Renegades in the league, while Richa represented Hobart Hurricanes in last year’s WBBL season. Jemimah has turned out for Melbourne Stars and Renegades, while Deepti played for Sydney Thunder and Pooja represented Brisbane Heat in the past.
Chamari Athapaththu, Lauren Bell, Tazmin Brits, Alice Capsey, Kate Cross, Nida Dar, Sophie Devine, Deandra Dottin, Sarah Glenn, Shabnim Ismail, Marizanne Kapp, Amelia Kerr, Heather Knight, Hayley Matthews, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Stafanie Taylor, Chloe Tryon, Laura Wolvaardt, Issy Wong and Danni Wyatt are the other players in the WBBL platinum players list.
The BBL platinum players are dominated by England, whose 14 players are Gus Atkinson, Sam Billings, Harry Brook, Joe Clarke, Zak Crawley, Tom Curran, Alex Hales, Will Jacks, Chris Jordan, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Dawid Malan, Tymal Mills, Phil Salt and James Vince.
Other BBL platinum players include Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis, Martin Guptill, Rashid Khan, Shadab Khan, Colin Munro, Nicholas Pooran, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Rizwan, Rilee Rossouw and Mujeeb Ur Rahman.
“With only a few days until the Drafts, anticipation is growing and we are excited to share the Platinum player lists for each Draft. Both lists feature world-class T20 talent, promising an exhilarating showcase of cricketing excellence this summer. The number and quality of nominations for both Drafts are exceptional, and we eagerly await Sunday night’s Draft events,” said Alistair Dobson, Cricket Australia’s General Manager of Big Bash Leagues.
The drafts will feature four rounds, with clubs able to select a minimum of two and maximum of three players in total, each Club will be required to pass in at least one round. There will be four categories in which players can be selected on Draft night: Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze.
Salaries for each category have been set at globally competitive rates, with platinum the highest player payment. In the WBBL, platinum players will earn AUD 110,000, while gold, silver and bronze players will fetch AUD 90,000, 65,000 and 40,000 respectively. For the BBL, platinum players are set to earn AUD 420,000, while gold, silver and bronze players will earn AUD 300,000, 200,000, and 100,000 respectively.
Players in both the WBBL & BBL Overseas Player Drafts will be an eligible retention player if they fit any of the following criteria: 1) Have been in a Big Bash team squad for a minimum of two seasons and haven’t been contracted to another team since.
2) Have been in a Big Bash team squad the previous season. 3) Was in a team squad last season but did not play in the starting 13 and have been approved by the Big Bash Technical Committee. 4) Is otherwise approved by the Big Bash Technical Committee due to exceptional circumstances
(IANS)
