Several English athletes, including Heather Knight and Sophie Ecclestone, have declared for the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) draft. This marks a huge contracting shake-up in the women’s circuit, which is due to occur on September 3. Of note, Cricket Australia (CA) opted to establish a draft procedure for international players.
England’s captain, Knight, is eligible for retention by Sydney Thunder prior to the WBBL’s first draft process. Notably, the English captain was supposed to join the team last season but was unable to do so because of an injury that forced her to sit on the sidelines.
Also eligible for retention for the 2019 season is Ecclestone, the No. 1 bowler in ODIs and T20Is. Ecclestone was a significant player in the 2022/23 Sydney Sixers’ journey to the final, taking 20 wickets at an average economy of 6.29.
Tammy Beaumont, a top-order hitter who made history by becoming the first woman to score a century (118 off 61 balls) in The Hundred 2023 women’s competition, will also participate in the draft and is likely to be kept by the Sydney Thunder for the upcoming campaign.
With only one player available for each organization to keep, Sydney Thunder will have a difficult time choosing between Beaumont and Knight. The England captain enjoyed a wonderful campaign in the successful 2020–21 season, scoring 446 runs in 15 innings to rank fourth overall, despite Beaumont’s blazing bat. Beaumont is currently in red-hot form.
The WBBL draft process has three categories.
In addition to Issy Wong, other English players nominated for the WBBL draft include Emma Lamb and Lauren Bell. Speaking of the draft procedure, the international players have three categories to choose from: gold (AUD$90,000), silver (AUD$65,000), and bronze (AUD$40,000).
Additionally, the BBL management will choose a number of the greatest personalities to be the platinum choices on AUD$110,000 after that. The players must have played in a Big Bash squad for at least two seasons and be unsigned by another team in order to be eligible for the retention pick. They must also have received the Big Bash Technical Committee’s approval and be a member of the squad from the previous season, even if they did not participate in the first 13 players.
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