Ashes stars Brook and Crawley headline BBL draft nominations but schedule crunch looms – T20 IPL 2024

Ashes stars Harry Brook and Zak Crawley headline a host of English players unveiled as the latest nominations for the upcoming BBL draft but England’s Test tour of India in January, as well as clarity over the ILT20 dates means clubs will have some decisions to make as to whether to recruit the biggest names or those with the most availability.

Brook, Crawley, Ollie Pope, Will Jacks and Dan Lawrence have all nominated for the draft which is set for September 3. However it remains to be seen how much of the BBL season they will be available for given all will be in line to tour India with England’s Test team in January 2024 with the first Test of a five-Test series starting on January 25 in Hyderabad.

Exciting England tearaway Gus Atkinson has also nominated for the BBL draft. He is yet to be called up to England’s Test side but is poised to make his England limited-overs debut next month and is in their World Cup squad.

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The BBL final will be held on January 24 and the final home and away game of the streamlined 10-game season finishes on January 17. The other key development for BBL clubs came with the announcement of the ILT20 dates for next year with that tournament to begin on January 19 in the UAE.

With South Africa’s T20 league starting on January 10 clubs may favour drafting players who have also committed to the ILT20 as opposed to those who will go to South Africa given they are likely to be available for almost all of the home and away season.

Englishmen Dawid Malan and Tom Banton and New Zealander Jimmy Neesham were among the latest names who have nominated for the BBL draft but both have already committed to South Africa. Clubs are more likely to be interested in the likes of Sam Billings, Joe Clarke, James Vince, Tom Curran, David Willey, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Martin Guptill and Atkinson who have all committed to the ILT20.

A number of players will be available as retention picks including Crawley (Hurricanes), Billings (Heat), Clarke (Stars), Vince (Sixers), Curran (Sixers), Banton (Heat) and Willey (Thunder) even though he withdrew last year after being drafted.

Brook, Lawrence, Jacks, and Malan have all played in the BBL previously but do not fit the criteria to be retained as they did not play for a minimum of two seasons with a club previously after not playing last season.

In the WBBL, South Africa star Marizanne Kapp has confirmed she will return to the WBBL leaving Perth Scorchers with a massive decision to make over their lone retention pick. Scorchers need to choose between two of the best allrounders in the world in Kapp and Sophie Devine.

Kapp was outstanding for Scorchers in her last two seasons but Devine is a two-time WBBL player of the year and Scorchers captain. Devine has also been involved in Western Australia’s WNCL team which is closely linked to the Scorchers program, making the decision even more difficult.

Defending champions Adelaide Strikers also have a decision to make with South Africa pair Laura Wolvaardt and Dane van Niekerk also nominating with Strikers only guaranteed to retain one.

WBBL nominations: Chamari Athapaththu, Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Bell, Yastika Bhatia, Anneke Bosch, Tazmin Brits, Alice Capsey, Kate Cross, Freya Davies, Nadine de Klerk, Harleen Deol, Sophie Devine, Kate Ebrahim, Sophie Ecclestone, Hurley Gala, Richa Ghosh, Sarah Glenn, Shabnim Ismail, Hayley Jensen, Frances Jonas, Marizanne Kapp, Harmanpreet Kaur, Jess Kerr, Heather Knight, Veda Krishnamurthy, Emma Lamb, Kate Levick, Sune Luus, Hayley Matthews, Shika Pandey, Shreyanka Patil, Karishma Ramharack, Sneh Rana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Fatima Sana, Meghna Singh, Renuka Thakur, Chloe Tryon, Dane van Niekerk, Pooja Vastrakar, Mady Villiers, Lauren Winfield-Hill, Laura Wolvaardt, Issy Wong, Danielle Wyatt, Radha Yadav.

BBL nominations: Rehan Ahmed, Gus Atkinson, Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Joshua Bishop, Harry Brook, Joe Clarke, Sheldon Cottrell, Zak Crawley, Tom Curran, Marchant de Lange, Faf du Plessis, Laurie Evans, Shafiqullah Ghadfari, Richard Gleeson, Martin Guptill, Alex Hales, Beuran Hendricks, Akeal Hosein, Will Jacks, Chris Jordan, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Dan Lawrence, Josh Little, Dawid Malan, Tymal Mills, Colin Munro, Izharulhaq Naveed, Jimmy Neesham, Callum Parkinson, Matt Parkinson, Wayne Parnell, David Payne, Nicholas Pooran, Ollie Pope, Matt Potts, Rilee Rossouw, Lakshan Sandakan, Jayden Seales, Tabraiz Shamsi, Ramon Simmonds, Olly Stone, Imran Tahir, Josh Tongue, Reece Topley, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, James Vince, David Willey, Luke Wood, Dan Worrall.

Alex Malcolm is an Associate Editor at ESPNcricinfo

Source: ESPN Crickinfo

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