Heat Chase Big Names In Drafts

The first round of international players for the WBBL and BBL have been revealed, with the BBL Heat taking careful note that one of last season's overseas recruit Colin Munro is listed in the initial tranche of male players, while former WBBL Heat championship squad player and South African captain Sune Luus was named in the Women's initial group that included five international captains.

Munro, chosen at pick 11 in the inaugural BBL draft last season, performed well for the Heat, scoring 278 runs in eight games at a strike-rate of 150.27 and average of 34.75 and proving a valuable mentor fo the young players in the squad.

The New Zealander's parting words to the playing group before leaving to play in Dubai were that "you are about to realise how good you are" as Brisbane began its late season surge towards the BBL Final.

Both the WBBL and BBL drafts will be held on Sunday, September 3, in a televised event on Fox Cricket and Kayo Sports, with the WBBL draft taking place from 3pm, ahead of the BBL draft from 4.30pm.

Further player nominations will be announced in the lead-up to the drafts.

Those players who have been announced as WBBL draft nominees include New Zealand's Sophie Devine, India's Harmenpreet Kaur, Hayley Matthews from the West Indies, Luus and Chamari Athapaththu (Sri Lanka).

The intial six men's players revealed today are Munro, Nicholas Pooran (West Indies), Faf du Plessis (South Africa), Laurie Evans (England), Alex Hales (England) and Rilee Rossouw (South Africa).
The drafts for both leagues will follow the same guidelines and format as the inaugural men's event last year – there will be four rounds, with clubs able to select a minimum of two and a maximum of three players in total. 

No overseas players from WBBL|08 were on multi-year contracts, leaving clubs and the league with a clean slate for the inaugural draft.

Foreign players have nominated for the draft across three tiers; gold (attracting a salary of $90,000), silver ($65,000) or bronze ($40,000) tiers.

Ahead of the draft, league officials will elevate select players who they determine are the most enticing draft prospects to a platinum tier ($110,000).

In announcing the five nominations, the League provided further information about retention eligibility for both the women's and men's competitions, with players deemed eligible if they:

- Have been in a Big Bash team squad for a minimum of two seasons and haven't been contracted to another team since
- Have been in a Big Bash team squad the previous season
- Were in a team squad last season but did not play in the starting 13 and have been approved by the Big Bash Technical Committee
- Are otherwise approved by the Big Bash Technical Committee due to exceptional circumstances.

That means the Heat have the option to use their retention pick on any of the internationals that have played for the Heat only in the past two seasons.