English batting duo recruited as clubs begin eyeing their push for a finals berth
Thunder, Stars name replacements for Pakistan trio
English batters Dan Lawrence and Tom Kohler-Cadmore have received late call ups for KFC BBL|13 with Pakistan trio Haris Rauf, Usama Mir (both Melbourne Stars) and Zaman Khan (Sydney Thunder) departing for national duties.
The three international bowlers have all played their final regular season games for their respective clubs as they begin their preparations for Pakistan's five-match T20 tour of New Zealand that gets underway in Auckland on January 12.
Former England Test batter Lawrence, who played four games for Brisbane Heat in BBL|10, has been signed by the Stars for the rest of the season, while Kohler-Cadmore will play for the Thunder for the rest of the home-and-away campaign before joining Sharjah Warriors in the UAE T20 league.
Kohler-Cadmore was allocated platinum status in September's BBL|13 Draft but both he and Lawrence went unselected. They will join the tournament as overseas replacement players with each club eligible to sign up to seven overseas players each season despite only three being allowed on the primary 18-player list at any one time.
The Stars and Thunder initially hoped Usama and Zaman would be available for the full season including finals when they were drafted, however both have established themselves in Pakistan's white-ball set-up in 2023.
Along with Rauf, their No Objection Certificates (NOC) from the Pakistan Cricket Board expired last night.
They will now travel to Sydney where they will remain until at least January 5 before ramping up their preparations for the New Zealand tour.
There was originally concern over Rauf's clearance to feature in the tournament at all after he opted out of Pakistan's ongoing Test series against Australia to prioritise the Big Bash. He and Usama received a last-minute NOC a day out from the Stars' season opener against the Heat on December 7, allowing them to play in BBL|13.
Stars captain Glenn Maxwell said they would lean on their domestic stocks to fill the void left by Rauf and Usama after beating Hobart Hurricanes last night in the pair's final game to claim consecutive wins in the Big Bash for the first time since January 2022.
"We'll back our domestic depth, I feel like we've got some guys waiting on the sidelines ready to go," Maxwell told Fox Cricket.
"They're really ready to have another crack and it sounds like (Nathan) Coulter-Nile (calf) is not far away as well, so that'll be a boost for the back end of the tournament.
"Things are trending the right way … we're starting to get some rewards (and) we haven't really seen that over the last few years.
"It's massive for this group (to win two in a row). It felt like we were doing a lot of right things but falling short in a few little areas, which cost us big time in the first couple of games this season."
Rauf finishes with six wickets from four games and Usama claimed five in five games, while slinger Zaman lit up BBL|13 and the 'Electra' flashing stumps with his sensational inch-perfect yorkers that proved a handful for many Big Bash batters, including Maxwell in the Thunder's win over the Stars on December 23.
Zaman finished his four-game stint with eight wickets – five of those yorkers – striking once on average every 11.5 balls with an economy of 8.54.
His replacement, Kohler-Cadmore, is no stranger to some of his Thunder teammates having won the 2022 Hundred final for the Trent Rockets alongside Alex Hales and Daniel Sams.
KFC BBL|13 standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
HEA
|
10 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0.972 | 0 | 16 |
|
2
SIX
|
10 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0.339 | 0 | 14 |
|
3
SCO
|
10 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0.725 | 0 | 13 |
|
4
STR
|
10 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0.331 | 0 | 11 |
|
5
HUR
|
10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | -0.268 | 0 | 8 |
|
6
STA
|
10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | -1.051 | 0 | 8 |
|
7
REN
|
10 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 2 | -0.288 | 0 | 6 |
|
8
THU
|
10 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 2 | -0.652 | 0 | 4 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points
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