For the second season running Melbourne Stars will have pick one in the BBL overseas draft while local rivals Melbourne Renegades will follow as second.
The weighted lottery – split between the four sides who missed finals and those who qualified – has Sydney Sixers, last season’s beaten finalists, coming out eighth while defending champions Brisbane Heat will have pick six.
Stars will hope for better fortune with their first pick, potentially a platinum player, than last season when they went for England’s Harry Brook only for him to withdraw from the tournament to manage his workload.
Picks can be traded between clubs and that has already happened once with Adelaide Strikers and Sydney Thunder swapping their second-round positions as part of Wes Agar‘s move to Thunder.
Stars will have first pick in rounds one, two and four with the order reversing in round three meaning Sixers get pick 17.
The draft will again have four price bands: platinum (AU$420,000), gold (AU$300,000), silver (AU$200,000) and bronze (AU$100,000).
Clubs are able to sign up to four players overall with one of those available under the new multi-year contract option brought in to try and secure key names ahead of rival T20 leagues. Sam Billings has become the first player to agree a deal under that method after signing for three years with Thunder. If a fourth player is selected they become a club’s first overseas replacement.
This article was originally published by Espncricinfo.com. Read the original article here.