BBL draft: Harry Brook and Zak Crawley among internationals drafted to BBL

A pair of English stars that caused chaos in the Ashes will head to Australia this summer after being drafted to the BBL. Check out every selection in the BBL draft here.

England Ashes heroes Harry Brook and Zak Crawley are heading Down Under after being picked in the Big Bash League draft on Sunday night.

Brook is on his way to the Melbourne Stars, while Crawley is poised to replace Cameron Bancroft in the Perth Scorchers’ top order.

And South African blaster and one-time Australian antagonist Quinton de Kock is also on his way to Melbourne after being selected by the Melbourne Renegades in the first round.

For the second year running, the Stars chanced their arm by picking superstar spinner and Adelaide cult hero Rashid Khan early in the draft, only for the Strikers to secure the Afghanistan champion via the retention mechanism.

Having lost Adam Zampa to the Renegades, the Stars were in need of a spinner but changed tack after missing out on Rashid, opting instead for Brook, who posted four half-centuries during the Ashes including critical knocks in England’s victories at Headingley and The Oval.

Brook was in recent weeks controversially left out of England’s 50-over World Cup squad to make way for the returning Ben Stokes.

Harry Brook will play for the Stars in the BBL. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Crawley, England’s top runscorer in this year’s Ashes, blasted 189 off 182 balls in the drawn fourth Test at Manchester and is headed to back-to-back reigning champions Perth after being taken with the final pick of the second round.

Perth was looking to bolster its batting after Bancroft moved to the Sydney Thunder.

The Renegades meanwhile dearly needed a wicketkeeper after Sam Harper moved to the Stars in exchange for Zampa and missed out on Matthew Wade after a foiled trade from Hobart.

In de Kock, the Renegades have found a gloveman who is also a world-class white-ball batter with a long history against Australia including his infamous scuffle with David Warner during the toxic 2018 ball tampering series. But the South African’s availability for the BBL is an issue given he is due to leave for the SA20 series beginning on January 10.

Ex-South African captain Faf du Plessis was however snubbed after playing with the Scorchers last season.

Rashid is one of several others unlikely to play out the season, with the leggie committed to playing in the more lucrative ILT20 competition in the UAE, a tournament that coincides with the BBL finals.

South African star Quinton de Kock will feature for the Renegades. (Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)

Clubs were broadly loyal to those they had seen first-hand before, with Tom Curran and James Vince (Sydney Sixers), Alex Hales (Thunder), Colin Munro and Sam Billings (Brisbane Heat), Haris Rauf (Stars), Mujeeb Ur Rahman (Renegades), Adam Hose (Strikers) and Laurie Evans (Scorchers) joining Rashid in returning to the team at which they had previously played.

The Stars eventually opted for a tweaker in the final round, picking Pakistani leg-spinner and Usama Mir, also dangerous lower-order a hitter.

Several clubs also left spots open to take players post-draft.

The BBL has reverted to a 10-game per team regular season however clubs will remain hamstrung when it comes to Australian Test player availability this season, with the home Test summer pushing into late January owing to the one-day World Cup in India.

Originally published as BBL draft: Harry Brook and Zak Crawley among internationals drafted to BBL