Knight and Ecclestone among England stars in WBBL draft

Heather Knight and Sophie Ecclestone headline a group of England players who are the latest to be confirmed for the WBBL draft on September 3.

Knight, the England captain, is eligible for retention by Sydney Thunder having originally been due to join last season before being ruled out by injury.

Ecclestone, who is the No.1-ranked bowler in ODIs and T20Is, was a key part of Sydney Sixers' run to the final in 2022-23 where she claimed 20 wickets at 17.90 with an economy of 6.29 while made her runs at a strike-rate of 159.49.

Tammy Beaumont is another player who could be retained by Thunder (each club gets one retention pick) and she will enter the draft having recently become the first century-maker in the Women's Hundred with 118 off 61 balls against Trent Rockets.

Another England opener, Danni Wyatt, has also nominated and could be retained by Brisbane Heat. Wyatt played a key role in England's recent Ashes fightback where she made 76 off 46 balls in the second T20I at The Oval.

Alice Capsey, one of the most exciting young batters in the game, is also in the mix and played for Melbourne Stars last season.

Emma Lamb, Lauren Winfield-Hill, Sarah Glenn, Lauren Bell and Issy Wong are other confirmed names in the draft. Wong was due to play for Hobart Hurricanes in 2022-23 but was forced to withdraw through injury.

The England cohort is the second group of players announced for the inaugural WBBL draft following an initial five names which included India captain Harmanpreet Kaur.

Overseas players can nominate in three categories for the draft - gold (AUD$90,000), silver (AUD$65,000) and bronze (AUD$40,000) - with the BBL then selecting a group of the biggest names to the platinum picks on AUD$110,000.