Draft card: Thunder loyalty seals top-order familiarity

Draft picks: Alex Hales (Platinum), Zaman Khan (Gold) 

Draft spend: $700,000 

Total payment pool post-draft: $2.3m of $3m 

Platinum ($420,000) pick Alex Hales and gold ($300,000) selection Zaman Khan will fill two of the club's six marquee player spots for KFC BBL|13 as the Sydney Thunder's top choices in this year's draft. Under new contracting rules announced in April – made possible by the new five-year Memorandum of Understanding between CA and the Australian Cricketers' Association – each club's total payments pool for players has increased by almost 58 per cent from $1.9m to $3m for BBL|13. 

A part of that $3m, each BBL club must have a minimum of six players (whether domestic, overseas or CA-contracted) who are paid $200,000 or more per season. The six marquee players at each club must collectively be paid a minimum of $1.7m in BBL|13 with all overseas players taken with a silver selection or higher considered marquees. 

New opening batter Cameron Bancroft – one of the most sought-after free agents this off-season – along with fellow opener David Warner are likely to fill two of the remaining four marquee spots, while Thunder stalwart Chris Green and T20 specialist Daniel Sams could also be in line for upgrades. 

Overseas availability 

The Thunder's draft picks have the best availability of all eight BBL clubs with Hales and Zaman both currently available for the entire home-and-away season. Pending international selection, Zaman is also available for finals should the Thunder qualify. The right-arm quick made his T20 international debut in March this year and has played six of Pakistan's eight matches in the format this year. Pakistan have a five-match T20I series scheduled in New Zealand from January 12-21 and if selected it would mean Zaman would be unavailable the Thunder's final three regular season matches and the Qualifier, Knockout and Challenger finals if they qualify. 

Hales, who retired from international cricket last month to pursue T20 opportunities around the world, will also miss the finals series due to commitments with the Desert Vipers in the UAE league. The Thunder will be entitled to sign overseas replacement players for when the pair are unavailable, as long as those players were part of the original 353 that nominated but weren't selected in the BBL|13 Draft. 

BBL|13 squad (so far): Cameron Bancroft, Oliver Davies, Matt Gilkes, Chris Green, Alex Hales (England), Liam Hatcher, Zaman Khan (Pakistan), Nathan McAndrew, Blake Nikitaras, Alex Ross, Daniel Sams, Gurinder Sandhu, Tanveer Sangha, Jason Sangha, David Warner 

Ins: Cameron Bancroft (Scorchers), Liam Hatcher (Stars) 

Outs: Brendan Doggett (Strikers), Joel Davies (Sixers) 

Uncontracted from BBL|12: Ben Cutting, Baxter Holt, Sam Whiteman 

Draft strategy 

Loyalty was the key theme in the Thunder's first pick, and it's certainly a worthwhile strategy too. Hales is the BBL's highest overseas run-scorer of all time with 2102 at 32.84 and returns for his fifth straight season with the club. 

"He's part of the furniture now at the Thunder," head coach Trevor Bayliss said during the draft. Hales also fills the void at the top of the order until Warner becomes available following the Sydney New Year's Test, which the Aussie opener has indicated will be when he retires from the format. 

As they have done over the past two seasons, the Thunder have again added an up-and-coming Pakistan quick in their squad after signing Fazalhaq Farooqi and Mohammad Hasnain as overseas replacement players in BBL|12 and BBL|11 respectively. Zaman was a bit of a surprise selection at pick 13 in this year's draft but debuted for Pakistan in April and impressed during the English summer with 25 wickets in the T20 Blast before a five-match stint with Manchester Originals in the Hundred. 

The Thunder were then one of three men's teams – along with the Renegades and Scorchers – to pass twice and end the draft with only two overseas players. It was the first time clubs had only drafted two players after all eight teams picked three times in the inaugural event last year. BBL clubs are permitted to sign a third primary overseas player with approval from the league's Technical Committee, provided that player nominated for the draft and wasn't selected. Players contracted under this mechanism negotiate their salary for the season directly with the club. "We're very happy with the local players we've got but it also gives us the options to work out what we might need closer to the tournament," Bayliss said. 

Squad gaps 

With the inclusions of Hales and Bancroft, the Thunder are set at the top of the order and will be hoping domestic young guns Matt Gilkes, Jason Sangha and Ollie Davies continue their strong improvement over recent seasons to build middle-order stability. Bancroft also offers another wicketkeeping option with Baxter Holt still uncontracted from last season. 

Ben Cutting remains off-contract, while Green and recent Australian debutant Tanveer Sangha are the only frontline spinners currently in the Thunder's BBL|13 squad, meaning the club could be targeting a pace bowling allrounder or another spinner with their third primary overseas player or two domestic list spots they still have available. 

Draft Card 2023: Strikers | Heat | Hurricanes | Scorchers | Renegades | Stars | Sixers | Thunder