The BBL and WBBL drafts will take place on Thursday, where the eight clubs in each competition will secure overseas players for the 2025-26 season. Here's everything you need to know about how it will work.
When will the draft take place?
It all happens on Thursday, June 19. The WBBL draft will take place first, starting at 4pm AEST, followed straight after by the BBL draft.
What order do the teams pick in?
This was determined by a weighted lottery in April, based on last season's finishing positions. In the WBBL, Sydney Sixers came out with pick No. 1 and Brisbane Heat last with pick No. 8. In the BBL, Brisbane Heat will have first pick and Sydney Thunder the eighth one.
There are four rounds in all. Round one involves Platinum players only; round two Platinum and Gold; round three Gold and Silver; and round four Silver and Bronze.
The third round (gold and silver) of each draft goes in reverse order.
The round one WBBL order reads: 1 Sydney Sixers, 2 Adelaide Strikers, 3 Melbourne Stars, 4 Perth Scorchers, 5 Hobart Hurricanes, 6 Sydney Thunder, 7 Melbourne Renegades, 8 Brisbane Heat.
The round one BBL order reads: 1 Brisbane Heat, 2 Adelaide Strikers, 3 Melbourne Renegades, 4 Perth Scorchers, 5 Hobart Hurricanes, 6 Sydney Sixers, 7 Melbourne Stars, 8 Sydney Thunder.
There has been one trade of picks in the BBL draft with Thunder and Scorchers swapping picks in the second and third rounds.
Each team will need to draft a minimum of two overseas players on top of their pre-signed names, meaning they can pass in only one round. The new mechanism was introduced last season to allow clubs in both competitions to sign one player before the draft and on multi-year deals if they wish. All the clubs have already taken advantage of this option.
During the draft itself, the clubs will need to nominate which round their pre-signed overseas players are allocated to, based on the value of their contract. While many of them will be Platinum - the highest paid - that won't be the case for all. Melbourne Renegades, for example, confirmed that Tim Seifert was not a Platinum pick last year ahead of the draft. In the WBBL, Brisbane Heat allrounder Nadine de Klerk was also on a lower band.
Clubs can sign a fourth overseas player during the draft if they want, but they would be considered a replacement player. A maximum of three can be fielded in an XI.
Replacement players can also be signed after the draft but have to come from those who have nominated, unless the tournament technical committee approves them under special circumstances.
Who all are the pre-signed players?
Here's the full list of pre-signed players:
Adelaide Strikers: Laura Wolvaardt, Jamie Overton Brisbane Heat: Nadine de Klerk, Colin Munro Hobart Hurricanes: TBC, Chris Jordan Melbourne Renegades: Hayley Matthews, Tim Seifert Melbourne Stars: Marizanne Kapp, Tom Curran Perth Scorchers: Sophie Devine, Finn Allen Sydney Sixers: Amelia Kerr, Babar Azam Sydney Thunder: Chamari Athapaththu, Sam Billings
Who are some notable overseas players nominated for the draft?
England's Lauren Bell, Sophie Ecclestone, Heather Knight, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Sophia Dunkley, Tammy Beaumont, Sarah Glenn, Alice Capsey, Maia Bouchier and Bess Heath are part of the list too, as are the South African pair of Shabnim Ismail and Chloe Tryon.
The drafts for the upcoming BBL and WBBL seasons have been brought forward to June to provide clubs more certainty about player selection. According to a CA statement, over 600 overseas players have registered interest for the BBL and WBBL.
So how much are the players paid?
There are four price bands. These figures are in Australian dollars.
WBBL salaries
Platinum: $110,000 (depending on availability)
Gold: $90,000
Silver: $65,000
Bronze: up to $40,000
BBL salaries
Platinum: $360,000-$420,000 (depending on availability)
Gold: $300,000
Silver: $200,000
Bronze: up to $100,000
Can players be retained by their previous team?
Yes, each club gets one retention pick. The basic example of a player who can be retained is one who played for the club the previous season. But there are other ways players qualify for retention. If they were signed last year but did not play, they can be retained this year. When a club confirms which round their pre-signed player places into, that classes as their pick in that round and therefore they can't use their retention pick in that round.
When do the competitions take place?
The WBBL is set to run from late October to early December and the BBL from mid-December to late January. The exact fixtures are likely to be released in July. Both competitions are 40-game regular seasons, the same as last season.
Is there a clash with any other league?
The WBBL will follow the women's ODI World Cup and is unlikely to be as affected by bilateral international cricket as it was last season.
The BBL faces its usual headwinds from rival T20 leagues (SA20 and ILT20) and international cricket. There is a new predicament with the ILT20 moving from late January-early February to December 2 to January 4 and the SA20 moving forward to start on December 26 and finish on January 26, which will directly overlap with the BBL.
How will that affect the player availability?
Despite the initial fear about what that might do to overseas availability, there is some optimism from BBL boss Alistair Dobson that it could be a better outcome than previous years because players will not be making a mass exodus late in the BBL and rather some ILT20 players might be available for the latter stages of the BBL plus finals which coincides with when Australia's Test players will be fully available post the Ashes, with no international cricket scheduled in January.
"I guess so," Dobson told ESPNCricinfo. "We probably focus more on our teams and our players and who wants to come and play in the Big Bash. And we understand from players, they still love coming to the BBL. It's a bucket list for a lot of them. We keep a close eye on the window and availability of players, but ultimately, our job's to make sure our comp is as attractive as possible."