Thunder and Stars win WBBL and BBL draft lotteries

Sydney Thunder will have the first pick in the inaugural WBBL overseas draft, while Melbourne Stars will get the first pick in the BBL draft that will be held on the same day on September 3, following the draft lottery that was held last Friday.

Cricket Australia (CA) announced the draft lottery results on Monday afternoon and confirmed that the two drafts will be held back-to-back in Melbourne,, with both drafts to be televised on Foxtel and Kayo.

CA held the inaugural BBL draft last year and have added an identical WBBL draft this year including a weighted lottery to decide the first pick.

In the WBBL, the four teams who missed the finals last season - Sydney Thunder, Melbourne Renegades, Melbourne Stars and Perth Scorchers - had entries in the first pot to see who would get the first pick. Thunder had four entries, Renegades three, Stars two and Scorchers one, which was based on where they finished on the table last season. Thunder, who finished last and had the most chances in the lottery, gained the number one pick, followed by Renegades, Scorchers and Stars.

Last year's finalists, Adelaide Strikers, Brisbane Heat, Hobart Hurricanes and Sydney Sixers were placed in a second weighted lottery to determine picks 5 through 8. Hurricanes claimed pick 5, followed by Heat, Sixers and last year's WBBL champions Strikers.

The WBBL draft will follow the same rules as the men's BBL draft. The overseas players who have been nominated for the draft will be divided into four salary categories, Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze. Platinum players will earn AUD$110,000 to be paid by the clubs from the AUD$732,000 salary cap. Gold players will earn AUD$90,000, Silver AUD$65,000 and Bronze will earn $AUD40,000.

There will be four draft rounds with the first round being for Platinum players only and the second round being for Platinum and Gold players. The first two rounds will go in draft order, but in the third round, the order will reverse. In the WBBL draft, Strikers will have the last picks in round one and round two at picks 8 and 16 but will have the first pick in round three with pick 17. They will then have the last pick, 32, in the fourth round as the order reverses again.

Stars will get the first pick in the men's BBL draft after finishing eighth last season. Stars were followed by Strikers, Hurricanes and Renegades in the lottery for the first four picks. Thunder, Sixers, Heat and two-time defending BBL champions Scorchers will have picks 5 through 8 in that order.

There has been an increase in the men's BBL overseas salary bands after the salary cap was increased from AUD$1.9 million to AUD$3 million. Platinum players are now set to earn AUD$420,000, up from AUD$340,000 last year although there are caveats for the Platinum players this year. 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. Players 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.

As of last year, there will be one retention pick available for each club in both the BBL and WBBL drafts. Rashid Khan was the first player retained under this rule in the men's draft last year after Stars tried to take him ahead of Strikers' first pick. Clubs will only have to use their next pick in the same round to retain an overseas player who played for them last season.

The BBL and WBBL have added a new dimension to the draft with teams able to trade picks in the lead-up to the draft. Picks can only be traded within each round. It is not mandatory to take a Platinum player, with Scorchers opting to pass in the first round last year. But clubs cannot trade out of the first round in order to gain an extra pick in the second or third round and vice-versa.

Nominations are open for overseas players to enter the draft, with both league and club officials already commencing discussions with players and agents. Those discussions will likely ramp up during the Hundred in August and CA is expected to announce some of the marquee player nominations in the coming weeks ahead of the draft.