Cricket news 2024: Sydney Sixers coach wants Big Bash League draft gone

The Sydney Sixers coach is asking for the BBL draft to be scrapped to allow for more flexibility in signing the world’s best players. But the league’s boss feels the move has been vindicated.

Sydney Sixers coach Greg Shipperd wants the Big Bash League draft scrapped because the rigid salary bands are an inefficient use of funds that cost the league players.

The third BBL overseas player draft was held on Sunday but the format has split opinions and already been watered down since its first iteration in 2022.

Clubs could pre-sign one overseas player across both the men’s and women’s leagues.

The mechanism was introduced this year to provide greater certainty to prospective imports who were weighing up whether to choose the BBL over rival leagues in South Africa and the UAE.

The Sixers used their pre-draft signing to nab West Indian spinner Akeal Hosein then retained stalwart batter James Vince in the first round and snared emerging English leggie Jafer Chohan late in the draft.

But veteran coach Shipperd, who led the Sixers to consecutive titles and helped ensure they had been perennial finalists, said if it were up to him the draft would be eradicated entirely to allow clubs to pre-sign players on more flexible terms.

James Vince has been retained by the Sixers. Picture: Getty Images

As it stands, overseas players can be taken on one of four pay bands – platinum, gold, silver and bronze.

Clubs could take up to four players in each draft but no BBL team took more than three, while only the Sydney Thunder exhausted its allocation in the Women’s Big Bash League event.

Acknowledging the benefits of having a live television event to showcase the league during the off-season, Shipperd said there could still be a televised unveiling of pre-signings.

“My preferred option would be to do the pre-signing and build a show around the decisions that have already been made,” Shipperd said.

“Instead of a whole pile of passes, we think we could sign the same quality players, and add one to that, so we would have four players directly signed as opposed to three, by being able to negotiate those terms, rather than having defined terms of pay basically forced upon you in that sense.

“So I think there’s room for thought in that direction.

“We passed on a silver. We believed we may have been able to get (our) two best players and a silver and a bronze.

“So it’s incompatible for most teams to find four players for the right price.”

It’s understood there is also an appetite from some clubs for the draft to be brought forward to earlier in the year because potential draftees do not want to be left in the lurch when they have options elsewhere.

BBL General manager Alistair Dobson has defended the draft. Picture: Getty Images

Big Bash boss Alistair Dobson said a strong pool of nominations had provided vindication for the league.

“The Big Bash remains a destination of choice for the world’s best players, as reflected by the calibre of nominations received and the players recruited today,” Dobson said.

“We thank all players and their agents who put themselves forward for this year’s drafts.”

Big-name quicks Jofra Archer and Shamar Joseph went undrafted but shape as potential replacement player options.

Jofra Archer. Picture: Getty Images

Shamar Joseph. Picture: AFP

Clubs are already turning their minds to contingencies given the availability issues that continue to challenge the league.

Shipperd, who is also NSW men’s coach, reiterated earlier comments that the Blues would be willing to accommodate Steve Smith in whatever batting position best suited the national team’s interests before this summer’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.

“I want to understand where (Australian coach) Andrew (McDonald) and his team are coming from, so we’ll flex into that,” Shipperd said.

Originally published as Cricket news 2024: Sydney Sixers coach wants Big Bash League draft gone