BBL international draft: Follow the latest news, analysis and fallout

Just hours out from the inaugural BBL overseas player draft, Usman Khawaja says the world’s best T20 players will join rival tournaments unless the Big Bash ups the ante with its budget.

Usman Khawaja hopes more than $1 million can be injected into the BBL’s player budget in coming summers to attract the world’s premier T20 talent.

The Australian Test opener, who has signed with Brisbane Heat for BBL12, said the BBL Draft’s platinum player pool should be expanded from 12 to at least 16 players.

Platinum players are slated to earn about $340,000 this season, so an additional four could cost the BBL and clubs about $1.3 million.

However, not all players eligible for the platinum round of Sunday night’s inaugural draft will be selected and some are eligible to fall into the second pay bracket as gold selections.

Andre Russell, Trent Boult, Faf Du Plessis and Rashid Khan are among the 12 platinum players listed as Cricket Australia tries to add greater star power and boost interest in the BBL.

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Rashid Khan is one of the 12 platinum players listed for the BBL overseas player draft.

“(I was) surprised there weren’t more platinum players listed,” Khawaja said.

“I think they only gave 12 platinum players. For me, I would have given a selection of 16, minimum, platinum players, so you had a (few) more options to choose.

“Both the platinum and gold groups are very strong. Some of those players in gold I’m actually really surprised aren’t in platinum.

“There’s plenty of good players out there, it’s just a shame that majority of them are only available for eight games.”

Khawaja said the world’s best T20 players would choose rival tournaments such as the new UAE and South African competitions unless Cricket Australia continued to loosen salary cap constraints on clubs.

Khawaja will attend Sunday’s draft along with Brisbane Heat officials and remained tight-lipped about whether he had passed on any advice for the selectors.

“It just adds a bit of excitement this time of the year which you normally don’t get for the BBL,” he said.

“It normally comes a bit later. So it’s nice to see people talking cricket, even if it wasn’t the World Cup they’d be talking about the draft.

Usman Khawaja says Cricket Australia must continue to ease salary cap constraints on clubs.

“It will be interesting to see how the cookie crumbles because certain players that got the choice to go where they want, they won’t now with the draft.”

The 35-year-old is a multicultural ambassador for the T20 World Cup, which starts in 49 days on October 16.

The tournament promises to be a celebration of Australia’s multiculturalism, with the India-Pakistan MCG blockbuster on October 23 expected to be a sellout.

“I reckon it will be the most-watched (game) in the tournament,” Khawaja said.

Namibia, United Arab Emirates, Netherlands and Scotland will compete at the T20 World Cup.

The Scots upset Bangladesh at the last Worls Cup — which was won by Australia — and Khawaja said he was looking forward to seeing which fairytales this year’s tournament would deliver.

“We see it in the Olympics all the time, all the great stories come out of the lowly-ranked countries,” he said.

“It’s very much the same in cricket. Hopefully we’ll see a few upsets here and there and then you’re going to see some great stories come out.”

BBL draft whispers: Stars your club is eyeing

White ball greats Darren Lehmann and Mike Hussey have called on Cricket Australia to seriously consider expanding its Big Bash overseas draft to include home grown superstars.

Clubs will gather in Melbourne for Sunday’s inaugural draft and jostle for a selection of the world’s premier Twenty20 talent which will give the competition an unprecedented injection of star power and introduce an intriguing dimension of tactics and byplay between the eight teams.

However, it’s just the first step in Cricket Australia making major changes to securing the long-term future of the Big Bash, with the next challenge being to overhaul the contracting system in Australia so it’s compulsory for centrally contracted players to commit to the BBL.

There are already calls for CA to expand the draft concept and chuck the likes of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Steve Smith into the mix and open up the prospect they might be able to light up a city other than Sydney.

Mitchell Starc celebrates a wicket in the BBL back in 2014. Picture: Mark Evans

The way David Warner’s signature was gifted to the Sydney Thunder last week has ruffled some feathers across the league and Brisbane Heat assistant and Fox Sports analyst Lehmann believes throwing free agent Australian stars into a draft would enhance the competition.

“I don’t mind them being aligned to sides if they’ve played for certain sides for a number of years – it might be a minimum of five years,” said Lehmann.

“But the ones that haven’t maybe should have to go into a draft.

“For example the Sixers couldn’t have Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Steve Smith, Nathan Lyon, the whole lot. There’s an Australian side.

“You’ve got to be fair to the competition.”

CA wants to strike an agreement with the Australian Cricketers Association for the game’s next MOU which will write it into the contracts of Aussie stars from next year that they must play BBL when the international schedule allows.

The move would be recognition of the fact that in the now highly competitive T20 franchise world where Australia is now in direct competition with rival leagues in South Africa and the UAE – the Big Bash simply cannot afford to not have its headlining stars not featuring.

Hussey acknowledges CA risks a major blowback from players should they introduce a draft which could send them to any city around the country, but believes the game needs to get creative and bold if it is to fully bring the BBL to life.

“I think it’s worth exploring, yes. Let’s get as creative as we possibly can. And I do agree, it would be good to spread out the talent as much as we possibly can. Get the big names playing in all corners of Australia,” said Hussey.

Steve Smith looks for another run. Picture: Mark Evans

“Now, it’s a hard one because the international players, they’ve obviously got their allegiances as well and if they’re coming off a big Test series or a hard Australian international summer and then they’re going to have to go and live in Perth for example from the other side of the country and spend another month there, will they be fully motivated to do that?

“That’s something that needs to be worked through … (because) I guess the risk is they will just pull out altogether.

“But let’s look at all different options. Let’s try and revamp this Big Bash as much as we possibly can.

“It’s probably gone through a bit of a flat spell, and hopefully the administrators have learnt a lot of lessons and that the world T20 landscape has changed a fair bit in the last few years as well.”

Sunday’s inaugural overseas draft is designed to put pressure back on the clubs to recruit the big name global superstars who are going to not only boost the product for broadcasters but improve the standard of the competition.

There are 12 platinum players up for grabs and what CA doesn’t need is a bunch of superstars remaining on the table unsold because clubs are more concerned with snaring mediocre players who are available for the entire competition rather than a T20 great for half a tournament.

Teams can take up to three overseas players in the draft and a minimum of two and must pick from the different pay categories of platinum, gold, silver and bronze.

Here are the big decisions facing each club:

Melbourne Renegades

At this stage do not have a recognised spinner on their books and it would seem a no-brainer for them to at least have a crack at the No. 1 player in the draft Rashid Khan – even if the Adelaide Strikers don’t immediately match the offer. Pakistan spinner Shadab Khan could be hugely attractive to the Renegades, but first up they may look to pounce on a superstar like Trent Boult or Faf du Plessis.

Trent Boult is in the mix for the Stars. Picture: AFP

Melbourne Stars

Are known to be very interested in New Zealand fast bowling great Trent Boult at pick 2, but if the kiwi doesn’t last that long the Stars might look at retaining Andre Russell or bringing in a destructive middle-order hitter like Liam Livingstone from England.

Brisbane Heat

Lehmann says it’s no secret the Brisbane Heat will be prioritising boosting their batting stocks in the draft and if du Plessis makes it to pick 4, the former South African captain will likely be swooped upon by the Queenslanders. du Plessis would be an ideal replacement for Chris Lynn and warm the seat nicely at the top of the order until Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuchagne finish Test match duty.

Sydney Sixers

Hussey believes the Sixers line-up is already so established they will be using the draft to simply add a bit of polish around the edges. Expect the Sixers to prioritise the importance of getting capable death bowlers onto the roster and first-up they may like the look of Englishman Chris Jordan who did the job for them last season.

Chris Jordan in action last season. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Perth Scorchers

There is an expectation that the Scorchers may exercise their right to skip the first round and not take a platinum player at all. That would be a massive blow to the competition given the draft is largely about injecting star power into the league, but the Scorchers would rather get players on board who can play an entire season rather than fly in and fly out for a few games. Scorchers are the defending premiers and will likely have their eye on retaining kiwi batsman Colin Munro at gold level who could be available for the entire tournament.

Sydney Thunder

The Thunder face some interesting choices because they will likely want to retain both of their English imports Sam Billings and Alex Hales. If another team tries to steal Billings from them before pick 7 and they’re forced to match to keep him, it then leaves them vulnerable to losing opening batsman Hales in the second or third round of the draft.

Hobart Hurricanes

A tough assignment for new boss Ricky Ponting to be drawn last in the draft, but there will still be plenty left for the Hurricanes. One of the big West Indies greats Dwayne Bravo or Kieron Pollard could be tempting for the purple machine. The prospect of partnering Pollard with Tim David in the middle-order would be frightening for other teams. But like the Renegades, the Hurricanes will need a spinner at some point in the draft and Mujeeb Ur Rahman could be a serious option later in the draft.