Zaman, Hales among overseas players in T20 Global League draft

Pakistan's Fakhar Zaman and England's Alex Hales are among 116 overseas names who will feature in the inaugural player draft of South Africa's T20 Global League, which will be held this weekend.

Zaman and Hales are listed under the openers' category, which also features three international marquee players in Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum and Jason Roy. The international marquee players across other categories include Kevin Pietersen, Eoin Morgan, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard and Lasith Malinga. The marquee players, who had been named in April, will also be assigned individually to the eight franchises.

Ten Kolpak players, including Colin Ingram, Richard Levi, David Wiese, and Marchant de Lange, are part of the draft. More notable, however, is the absence of Rilee Rossouw and Kyle Abbott, the most recent high-profile names to have signed Kolpak deals.

Yorkshire batsman Adam Lyth, who recently hit the highest score in a T20 in England, and Shahid Afridi, who struck his first T20 hundred against Derbyshire on Tuesday, will also feature in the draft.

Misbah-ul-Haq and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who had retired from international cricket, are also part of the draft alongside Associate players Ryan ten Doeschate (Netherlands), Kevin O'Brien (Ireland), Dawlat Zadran (Afghanistan) and Kyle Coetzer (Scotland). The list also includes former Pakistan allrounder Abdul Razzaq, who forayed into coaching recently with the Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League (PSL).

Meanwhile, as ESPNcricinfo had reported earlier, Durban Qalandars named Paddy Upton as coach, with Aaqib Javed to oversee the bowlers and double-up as director of cricket operations. New Zealand allrounder Grant Elliott, who has played for Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League, was named assistant coach of Durban.