BBL Draft recap: Livingstone goes first at inaugural draft

Liam Livingstone will play for the Melbourne Renegades in BBL|12 after the English power-hitter was taken with the first pick of the inaugural BBL overseas player draft.

The eight KFC BBL clubs each selected three internationals from a massive pool of 332 players from 20 countries.

A total of $5.735 million was spent on players, with the Stars, Strikers, Thunder and Hurricanes outlaying the most while the Scorchers, who sensationally passed in the first round, spent the least. Players were selected across four different salary bands with only the 12 platinum ($340,000) players able to be selected in round one, platinum and gold ($260,000) in round two, gold and silver ($175,000) in round three and silver and bronze ($100,000) in round four.

BBL|12 Draft selections

Round one

1. Liam Livingstone – Melbourne Renegades (Platinum)

Livingstone is perhaps the world's cleanest hitter of a cricket ball right now and will slot in nicely alongside Aaron Finch and Shaun Marsh in the Renegades batting line-up. In 200 career matches he is striking at almost 150 and has the most sixes in world T20 cricket since the start of 2021 with 152 and also bowls a handy combination of leg and off-spin.

2. Rashid Khan – Adelaide Strikers (RETENTION PICK – Platinum)

No surprises here with Adelaide head coach Jason Gillespie activating the Strikers retention pick after the Melbourne Stars tried to poach the Afghanistan superstar. Rashid conceded just three runs an over in Afghanistan's first up win over Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup and is the world's best T20 leg-spinner with 472 wickets in 344 matches. He will again bowl in tandem with another leggie this season, with the Strikers recruiting Cameron Boyce from the Renegades during the off-season.

3. Trent Boult – Melbourne Stars (Platinum)

After being thwarted in their attempts to nab Rashid Khan, Melbourne Stars head coach David Hussey said they needed a bowler and Boult was the best in the talent pool. The top-ranked ODI bowler has signalled his desire to play in more T20 league around the world after being released from his New Zealand Cricket central contract recently. Boult will make his Big Bash debut in BBL|12 and elevates the Stars fast bowling stocks where he team up with domestic quicks Nathan Coulter-Nile, Billy Stanlake, Brody Couch and Liam Hatcher.

4. Sam Billings – Brisbane Heat (Platinum)

A surprise selection given the Heat already have Queensland 'keeper-bat Jimmy Peirson on their books, with the Sydney Thunder electing not to retain the English gloveman. But Billings has a proven record at international level and franchise T20 cricket around the world and has played all three formats for England across the past two years.

5. Chris Jordan – Sydney Sixers (Platinum)

One of England's premier white-ball fast bowlers returns the Sixers for a second consecutive season following a five-game stint in BBL|11 and will add some versatility to their attack alongside the competition's all-time leading wicket-taker Sean Abbott, Ben Dwarshuis, Hayden Kerr and veteran tweaker Steve O'Keefe.

6. Pass – Perth Scorchers

A shock from Perth, the defending BBL champions, who snub the Platinum round and opt to use their pass at the first available opportunity. Perth are the only team with a complete domestic squad and know what they want from the target and will not be swayed by a player with limited availability that might unbalance their side.

7. David Willey – Sydney Thunder (Platinum)

The England left-armer has the best availability of all the platinum players and that exactly why the Thunder have picked him. Willey hasn't sign with teams in rival leagues in the UAE and South Africa and will play the entire 14-game season plus finals with the Thunder.

8. Shadab Khan – Hobart Hurricanes (Platinum)

Ricky Ponting's first player move as the Hurricanes new head of strategy was to pick star Pakistan leg-spinner Shadab Khan with the Hobart in need of a spinner for BBL|12. Behind Rashid, Shadab is one of the best tweakers in the talent pool with 226 wickets and an impressive economy rate of 7.26.

Round two

9. Mujeeb ur Rahman – Melbourne Renegades (Gold)

The Renegades said pre-draft they would be targeting a spinner and the Afghanistan right-armer is one of the BBL's star performers. Mujeeb has 37 wickets at a superb economy rate of 6.21 in four seasons with the Heat.

10. Joe Clarke – Melbourne Stars (Gold)

Hussey and the Stars loved having the English gloveman at the club last season and they are again in need of a wicketkeeper-batter for BBL|12. Clarke was in the top 10 run-scorers in BBL|11 with 419 striking at 151.26 and is understood to be available for the entire 14-game season as a gold-level pick.

11. Colin Munro – Brisbane Heat (Gold)

Munro will play at his third Big Bash club after the Scorchers opted not to retain the Kiwi left-hander after an impressive BBL|11 that yielded 390 runs at 43.33. Munro has good availability for BBL|12 as he is yet to sign with other franchises in rival T20 league and will strengthen the Heat's top order batting after they parted ways with Chris Lynn during the off-season.

12. Laurie Evans – Perth Scorchers (RETENTION PICK – Gold)

Laurie Evans cemented his spot in Perth Scorchers folklore with a blistering 76no from 41 balls that fired the club to the BBL|11 title, but it was perhaps a surprise the club opted to use their retention pick on him, rather than Colin Munro. The Sixers, the team he flayed to win the title last summer, named him, forcing Perth's hand to play the retention card. An experienced middle-order player, the 34-year-old veteran 'finished' the innings on numerous occasions for the Scorchers in BBL|11.

13. James Vince – Sydney Sixers (Gold)

Englishman Vince has been part of the furniture at the Sixers since BBL|08 and been a key part of their two titles in that time. Interestingly, he only got a taste of the BBL as a replacement player for Joe Denly in the second-half of his first tournament. Undoubtedly Vince's greatest moments in the Sixers shirt came during the BBL|10 finals series when he slammed back-to-back 90s – 98 not out in the Qualifier and 95 in the Final. The right-hander is one of four foreign players to score more than 1000 Big Bash runs. During BBL|11 he became the Sixers' most-capped international player but it was his least productive campaign with the bat, hitting 149 runs at an average of 18.63.

14. Colin de Grandhomme – Adelaide Strikers (Gold)

Somewhat of a surprise pick from the Adelaide Strikers, they swooped on Zimbabwean-born New Zealand international with Pick 13 in the second round. The 36-year-old has featured regularly for the Kiwis across all three formats as a hard-hitting right-handed batsman and medium-pace bowler. De Grandhomme, who is yet to feature in the BBL, has 69 wickets and more than 3,800 runs in T20 cricket including stints in the Indian Premier League, Caribbean Premier League and New Zealand’s Super Smash.

15. Alex Hales – Sydney Thunder (Gold)

Hales has been a revelation ever since joining the Thunder in BBL|09. He's plundered 1,502 runs across his three seasons in Sydney, the most of any player in the BBL during that period. As a result, he's also rocketed up to be the most prolific international batter in the competition's history (1,857 runs). He will play the first 10 or so games for the Thunder before heading to the UAE league.

16. Asif Ali – Hobart Hurricanes (Gold)

Ponting said the Hurricanes selected the Pakistan destructive middle-order batter as they wanted to "really strengthen our power in the latter overs". "Tim David, Asif and Shadab and Matthew Wade and those guys, that's one area we're really looking to strengthen," Ponting said. "He fits the bill really well. Darren Berry has worked with him in the past, and with Shadab being there as well, the two Pakistanis we think will work really well."

Round three

17. Faheem Ashraf – Hobart Hurricanes (Silver)

A right-arm seam bowler and left-hand power hitter who has made batting with the tail an art form, Faheem Ashraf is one of the top wicket-takers in the Pakistan Super League with 64 scalps at 20.71 in 49 games. The third in Ricky Ponting's trio of Pakistani picks, Ashraf was once lined up for a stint with the Melbourne Renegades until it fell through at the last minute ahead of BBL|09.

18. Rilee Rossouw – Sydney Thunder (Silver)

The big-hitting South African has been a revelation in T20 cricket since an underwhelming BBL|10 with the Renegades, where he could muster only a solitary six in the season, but has since forced his way back into South Africa's T20 side and, on form, will be a player to watch at this year's T20 World Cup, let alone in the BBL before he returns home for the South Africa league.

19. Phil Salt – Perth Scorchers (Silver)

Sussex opener Phil Salt previously played for the Strikers for two seasons and although he only made six half-centuries in his 30 innings, his best form came at the back-end of BBL|09 when three of those fifties came in the space of five innings to ensure Adelaide qualified for the finals. Salt also made a mark in the field, taking several excellent outfield catches. A powerful top-order batter, he'll fill the hole left in Perth's domestic list by the departure of Kurtis Patterson.

20. Adam Hose – Adelaide Strikers (Silver)

Relatively unknown to Aussie audiences, the 29-year-old starred in this year's English domestic T20 competition for Birmingham, finishing as the third-highest run-scorer with 558 runs at an imposing strike rate of 160.9. Hose has played 87 matches in T20 cricket with two centuries, 15 half-centuries and a high score of 119.

21. Pass – Sydney Sixers

22. Pass – Brisbane Heat

23. Luke Wood – Melbourne Stars (Silver)

Luke Wood is a 27-year-old left-arm quick from England who is more than capable with the bat. Wood has been a standout in the Hundred and currently sits in the top five wicket-takers in the tournament. In an incredible recent record, he has been part of six of the past seven T20 Blast finals days in England.

24. Pass – Melbourne Renegades

Round four

25. Akeal Hosein – Melbourne Renegades (Bronze)

Akeal Hosein is a new face for the BBL and the left-arm spinner sits seventh in the ICC's T20I bowler rankings. The 29-year-old has represented the West Indies on 57 occasions in white-ball cricket and is representing the Trinbago Knight Riders in the Caribbean Premier League.

26. Pass – Melbourne Stars

27. Ross Whiteley – Brisbane Heat (Bronze)

A powerful left-hander, England's Ross Whiteley will make his BBL debut this summer. A left-arm medium pace bowler, he is playing for the Southern Brave in the Hundred, and has played 177 career T20 games, with a strike-rate of 141.25. No stranger to Australian conditions, he's played four seasons in Adelaide Premier Cricket, and came to the team's attention while at the Darren Lehmann Cricket Academy where the Heat assistant coach noted his clean-hitting ability. A self-styled part-time handyman, the 33-year-old has played first-class cricket for Hampshire, Derbyshire and Worcestershire, and will be available for the entire BBL tournament.

28. Izharulhaq Naveed – Sydney Sixers (Bronze)

A teenage leg-spinner from Afghanistan, Izharulhaq Naveed is a bold choice from the Sixers, and one who is sure to confound a lot of opposition batters given his relatively unknown status. He'll have barely turned 19 when BBL|12 begins, but is a star on the rise – he was part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore net bowling contingent at this year's IPL, and will soon make his first foray into the Caribbean Premier League with St Kitts & Nevis Patriots.

29. Pass – Adelaide Strikers

30. Tymal Mills – Perth Scorchers (Bronze)

The BBL finally saw the best of the left-arm quick in last summer's stint with Perth, and the Scorchers have looked to maintain a winning formula with Mills their second draft pick to return from BBL|11. Mills was impressive for the Scorchers with 12 wickets in his seven games last summer.

31. Pass – Sydney Thunder

32. Pass – Hobart Hurricanes