England players dominate the BBL list with 14 names, Ashes stars Harry Brook and Zak Crawley among them, while there are seven in the WBBL platinum group. South Africa provide six of the WBBL players and India five.
The drafts will take place on September 3. The WBBL runs from October 19 to December 2 and the BBL goes from December 7 to January 24.
BBL platinum players
WBBL platinum players
It is the first time overseas recruitment will be determined by a draft in the WBBL but there is also a mechanism which has allowed players to sign directly with a club, a route that six have taken, for a reduced fee. They are: Suzie Bates, Tammy Beaumont, Sophia Dunkley, Amy Jones, Mignon du Preez and Lizelle Lee.
In the WBBL, platinum players will earn AUD$110,00, gold will earn AUD$90,000, silver AUD$65,000 and bronze AUD$40,000. Those taking the direct nomination path can only earn up to 95% of the silver category.
There has been an increase in the men’s BBL overseas salary bands after the cap was increased from AUD$1.9 million to AUD$3 million. Platinum players are now set to earn AUD$420,000, up from $340,000 last year although there are caveats. They will only earn the full amount if they are available for the entire season including finals, which runs from December 7 to January 24.
If they are only available for 10 matches, they will earn AUD$400,000. If they can only play nine matches the price will be AUD$380,000. Anyone only available for eight matches or less in the platinum category will earn AUD$360,000 regardless of whether they play one game or eight.
Gold players will earn AUD$300,000, silver AUD$200,000, and bronze AUD$100,000 with no minimum matches required for those players.
The key factor in the BBL will be availability due to both international commitments and other T20 leagues. The SA20 starts on January 10 so the players who head to that will miss the latter part of the regular BBL season. The schedule for the ILT20 in UAE has proved more favourable with that tournament starting January 19 although it will impact BBL finals.
Internationally, England have tours at either end of the BBL with a white-ball trip to West Indies in December then the start of the Test series in India in January. That could limit the interest in the likes of Brook and Crawley.
Pakistan, who also provide a sizeable group of players in the draft, have a Test series in Australia at the same time as the BBL then a T20I series in New Zealand later in January.