England stars dominate list of Bash draft prospects

Brisbane Heat championship hero Paul Walter is among the top retention prospects vying to return to their previous teams in next month's Big Bash drafts.

The league today unveiled a further 32 nominees for the Weber WBBL|10 and KFC BBL|14 drafts on September 1, all of which are eligible to be retained by their most recent Big Bash clubs.

Among those seeking to return for another Big Bash season is the man dubbed 'Tall Paul', who became an instant cult hero in Brisbane after being drafted with pick 18 by the Heat last year.

Walter was instrumental in the Heat's run to the BBL|13 title last January, smashing crucial runs at the death and collecting 17 wickets at an economy rate of 8.55, deceiving batters with his clever changes of pace.

Test openers Zak Crawley (Perth Scorchers) and Dan Lawrence (Melbourne Stars) are among 19 Englishmen currently in the draft pool eligible to be retained, with the pair joined by their star female counterparts Sophia Dunkley (Stars), Amy Jones (Scorchers) and Linsey Smith (Sydney Sixers).

While 13 of the game's top players have already committed to teams for WBBL|10 and BBL|14 via the league's new multi-year, pre-draft contract provision, the eight Big Bash clubs will also be permitted to retain one men's and women's player in their respective drafts should a rival club attempt to poach them.

A club can activate their retention pick in the same round that a rival club selects their desired player, so long as the retaining club has not already picked a player in that round.

The Stars, for example, hold WBBL retention rights for England batters Dunkley and Alice Capsey but would only be able to retain one if both are picked in the same round of the draft.

Capsey was the leading run-scorer during England's 5-0 T20I series victory over New Zealand last month with 129, while left-arm spinner Smith topped the wickets tally in this year's Hundred with 15 in seven matches for Northern Superchargers.

Wicketkeeper Jones meanwhile enjoyed a strong season for the Scorchers in WBBL|09, hitting 262 runs striking at more than 150.

Among the other nominees announced today is Pakistan slinger Zaman Khan who provided an instant highlight reel during his four appearances for Sydney Thunder in BBL|13 with an almost unplayable yorker that proved too good for some of the competition's best batters, including Chris Lynn and Glenn Maxwell.

While it seems unlikely the Scorchers would opt to retain Crawley given they already secured destructive New Zealand opener Finn Allen on a two-year deal earlier this week, crowd favourite Laurie Evans would appear a strong chance to return in BBL|14 after a sensational campaign last season, scoring his 292 runs at a stunning strike rate that nudged 190 runs per 100 balls and included a club record fastest fifty from 18 balls.

Scorchers spinner Ashton Agar said this week he'd love to see Evans – the player of the final in their BBL|11 triumph – back in Perth this summer but he feared another club might try and pinch him.

"He brought so much to our group and he lit up Optus Stadium massively," Agar told reporters at a Play Cricket Week event in Perth's CBD.

"Once he worked out how to bat there … it was insane what he was able to do."

Nominations for the drafts have now closed, with more than 500 female and male overseas players throwing their name in the mix.

Both the BBL|14 and WBBL|10 Drafts consist of four rounds, with all clubs receiving one pick in each round.

On draft night, clubs can select a player who has made themselves available to be drafted in one of four overseas player salary bands: Platinum (Round 1 or 2), Gold (Round 2 or 3), Silver (Round 3 or 4) or Bronze (Round 4 only).

Clubs must select a minimum of two players via the draft, in addition to any pre-signed player.

Pre-signed players will not appear on the nominations list, but must still be selected by their club during the draft with a pick that matches the salary band of their playing contract.

The drafts will be broadcast live across the Seven Network, 7plus, Fox Sports and Kayo Sports on September 1, starting with the WBBL at 3pm AEST followed by the BBL immediately after.