WBBL 09: 122 players nominated in inaugural WBBL Draft

The inaugural player draft of the Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) has completed its nomination process, with the event set to take place on Sunday (September 3) in Melbourne. 

A total of 122 players from 16 different nations have nominated, including 35 from England, 20 from South Africa, 18 from India, 17 from New Zealand, ten from the West Indies, five from Pakistan, four from Papua New Guinea, three from Ireland, two apiece from Zimbabwe and UAE and one each from Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, USA, Scotland, Netherlands, and Bangladesh. Of these, 116 players will go under the draft, and the remaining six have opted for the ‘direct nomination’ path. 

The overseas player draft features four categories: Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze. Players can place themselves in the latter three categories with the Platinum category decided by Cricket Australia. 

Each team can select a minimum of two and a maximum of three overseas players through the draft.

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The teams that did not qualify for last year's knockouts will go first in the WBBL draft order, with Sydney Thunder securing the first pick in the draft through a weighted lottery, followed by Melbourne Renegades, Perth Scorchers, and Melbourne Stars, among others. Each team can retain one nominated player only if they have represented the team in their last appearance in the tournament.

Six players have chosen the direct nomination path and will sign directly with a team. These players include Suzie Bates from New Zealand, Mignon du Preez and Lizelle Lee from South Africa, and Tammy Beaumont, Sophia Dunkley, and Amy Jones from England. The players who have opted for this approach can be contracted after the draft and are not available for selection during the draft. 

Marizanne Kapp, Amelia Kerr, Sophie Devine? 🤔



Here are some of Ash Gardner's draft picks for Sydney Sixers ahead of the #WBBLDraft #WBBL09 | #CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/NgpZYeuBHD

— Women’s CricZone (@WomensCricZone) August 30, 2023

The Platinum category players will earn the highest amount, AUD 110,000, while gold, silver, and bronze will earn AUD 90,000, AUD 65,000, and AUD 40,000, respectively. Players taking the direct nomination path can earn up to 95% of the silver category, AUD 61,750.

A total of 25 players have been selected under the Platinum category: Marizanne Kapp ( Perth Scorchers), Harmanpreet Kaur (Melbourne Renegades), Amelia Kerr (Brisbane Heat), Heather Knight (Sydney Thunder), Hayley Matthews (Melbourne Renegades), Nonkululeko Mlaba, Jemimah Rodrigues (Melbourne Stars), Deepti Sharma, Stafanie Taylor (Adelaide Strikers), Chloe Tryon (Sydney Thunder), Pooja Vastrakar (Brisbane Heat), Laura Wolvaardt (Adelaide Strikers), Issy Wong (Hobart Hurricanes), Danni Wyatt (Brisbane Heat), Chamari Athapaththu (Melbourne Renegades), Lauren Bell, Tazmin Brits, Alice Capsey (Melbourne Stars), Kate Cross, Nida Dar, Sophie Devine (Perth Scorchers), Deandra Dottin (Adelaide Strikers), Richa Ghosh, Sarah Glenn, Shabnim Ismail (Melbourne Renegades).

WBBL DRAFT PLATINUM LIST 🌟



Who would be your first pick in the inaugural #WBBLDraft? #WBBL09 | #CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/OD42V5OmeL

— Women’s CricZone (@WomensCricZone) August 30, 2023

The country-wise nominated players are as follows:

(Possible retention teams)

England - Georgia Adams, Emily Arlott, Hollie Armitage, Hannah Baker, Tammy Beaumont (direct nomination), Lauren Bell, Maia Bouchier, Alice Capsey (Melbourne Stars), Kate Cross, Naomi Dattani, Freya Davies, Sophia Dunkley (direct nomination), Katie George, Dani Gibson, Sarah Glenn, Kirstie Gordon, Bess Heath, Amy Jones (direct nomination), Eve Jones (Melbourne Renegades), Marie Kelly, Heather Knight (Sydney Thunder), Emma Lamb, Katie Levick, Kalea Moore, Fi Morris, Grace Scrivens, Seren Smale, Sophia Smale, Bryony Smith, Linsey Smith, Eleanor Threlkeld, Mady Villiers, Lauren Winfield-Hill (Melbourne Stars), Issy Wong (Hobart Hurricanes), Danni Wyatt (Brisbane Heat)

South Africa - Anneke Bosche, Tazmin Brits, Nadine de Klerk (Brisbane Heat), Annerie Dercksen, Mignon du Preez (direct nomination), Shabnim Ismail (Melbourne Renegades), Sinalo Jafta, Marizanne Kapp (Perth Scorchers), Michaela Kirk, Masbata Klaas, Lizelle Lee (direct nomination), Sune Luus, Eliz-Mari Marx, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Robyn Searle, Chloe Tryon (Sydney Thunder), Faye Tunnicliffe, Dane van Niekerk, Jane Winster, Laura Wolvaardt (Adelaide Strikers)

India - Yastika Bhatia, Harmanpreet Kaur (Melbourne Renegades), Harleen Deol, Hurley Gala, Richa Ghosh, Mannat Kashyap, Amanjot Kaur, Veda Krishnamurthy, Shikha Pandey, Shreyanka Patil, Sneh Rana, Jemimah Rodrigues (Melbourne Stars), Meghana Sabbineni, Deepti Sharma, Meghna Singh, Renuka Thakur, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav

New Zealand - Suzie Bates (direct nomination), Bernadine Bezuidenhout, Eden Carson, Sophie Devine (Perth Scorchers), Kate Ebrahim, Maddy Green (Perth Scorchers), Hayley Jensen (Hobart Hurricanes), Xara Jetly, Fran Jonas, Leigh Kasperek, Amelia Kerr (Brisbane Heat), Jessica Kerr (Brisbane Heat), Rosemary Mair, Nensi Patel, Molly Penfold, Lea Tahuhu (Sydney Thunder), Jess Watkin

West Indies - Shamilia Connell, Deandra Dottin (Adelaide Strikers), Afy Fletcher, Chinelle Henry, Qiana Joseph, Hayley Matthews (Melbourne Renegades), Anisa Mohammed, Karishma Ramharack, Shakera Selman, Stafanie Taylor (Adelaide Strikers)

Pakistan - Aiman Anwar, Nida Dar, Iram Javed, Fatima Sana, Syeda Aroob Shah

Papua New Guinea - Kaia Arua, Sibona Jimmy, Tanya Ruma, Isabel Toua

Ireland - Laura Delany, Gaby Lewis, Orla Prendergast

Zimbabwe - Mary-Anne Musonda, Kelis Ndhlovu

UAE - Esha Oza, Theertha Satish

Sri Lanka - Chamari Athapaththu (Melbourne Renegades)

USA - Tara Norris

Scotland - Abtaha Maqsood

Netherlands - Sterre Kallis

Hong Kong - Kary Chan