Double platinum? Stars consider going big in BBL Draft

Melbourne Stars are weighing up becoming the first men's Big Bash team to use two platinum picks in a row in this year's KFC BBL|14 Draft.

The Stars have the first pick in the Sunday's men's draft for the second consecutive year after being drawn first in a weighted lottery held in June.  

But with no Rashid Khan in the talent pool this year (whose name they've called with their first selection in the past two drafts before Adelaide Strikers activated their retention pick on both occasions), they'll have to look further afield for their first pick for BBL|14.

Pre-draft signing Tom Curran is expected to be allocated to the platinum salary band in Sunday's draft. The Stars could also have enough wiggle room in their salary cap to add a second top-dollar selection.

Platinum picks are paid between $360,000 and $420,000 per season in the men's competition depending on their availability. The total player payments pool for each club, which includes domestic players, is $3m.

Under Big Bash draft rules, club must pick a platinum level player if they make a selection in the first round, while they can pick from the platinum and gold salary bands in the second round.

It means the Stars could use the ninth pick to allocate Curran to the platinum category, allowing them to keep the No.1 selection for the biggest name in the draft pool.

Although clubs can make two platinum picks, only Sydney Thunder (Marizanne Kapp and Heather Knight) and Melbourne Renegades (Hayley Matthews and Harmanpreet Kaur) have done so in the inaugural Weber WBBL Draft last year.

Signing death bowling specialist Curran, who is also a handy lower-order batter, for BBL|14 and BBL|15, frees up the Stars to move away from drafting a fast bowler after taking Trent Boult and Haris Rauf in the first two rounds in the previous two drafts.

Rauf's availability for between six and nine regular season matches as well as finals still makes him an attractive option for Stars head coach Peter Moores, but it's believed the club is looking more towards a top to middle-order batter for their first pick.

Moores indicated a left-hander to break a run of right-handers in their batting line-up of Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Beau Webster, Hilton Cartwright, Sam Harper and Curran was a target.

"You need the depth now with the way people are going to play and for us to set our team up like that makes complete sense," Moores said in the Stars' Road to the Draft program.

"When I look at our list and I look at what happened last year, one of our challenges is keeping the aggression and the way we play through the middle overs, certainly against spin, is going to be quite a key area for us."

Crosstown rivals Melbourne Renegades hold the No.2 pick with the club previously chasing a top-order batter (Quinton de Kock and Liam Livingstone) with their first pick in the past two drafts.

But the recruitment of opener Josh Brown and the development of Jake Fraser-McGurk could result in a different strategy this season.

The Renegades also previously used the overseas draft to strengthen their spin stocks given the slow nature of the Marvel Stadium surface, but the availability of the top spinners in the player pool is limited.

Targeting Mujeeb Ur Rahman for a third straight season has been complicated by his availability of just 4-6 matches this summer, while their other recruit for the past two seasons, Akeal Hosein, has already been signed by Sydney Sixers pre-draft.

Fellow Afghan spinner Qais Ahmad, who has enjoyed success in the BBL with the Hurricanes and Stars, looms as the best spin prospect in the draft with full availability.

The Renegades' pre-draft signing Tim Seifert is expected to be allocated one of their later-round picks meaning they could end up with the first live selection with pick two on Sunday if the Stars nominate Curran at No.1.

While Hobart Hurricanes head coach Jeff Vaughan said England speedster Jorfa Archer would be in any team's thoughts given his quality, he indicated they would be more likely to target a batter, spinner or allrounder in the draft given the strength of their pace attack.

BBL clubs are believed to be hesitant to pick Archer – who played 27 matches for the Hurricanes in BBL|07 and BBL|08 – due to concerns over whether he will be able to gain clearance from the ECB to play in the tournament due to his history with injuries.

England have carefully managed the 29-year-old's return from his latest elbow injury, limiting him to white-ball cricket only in 2024.

Hobart have already boosted their fast-bowling stocks for BBL|14 too, securing the return of compatriot Chirs Jordan for next two years as their pre-draft signing and he joins Australia-capped quicks Nathan Ellis, Riley Meredith and Billy Stanlake in their squad for the upcoming season.

Australia superstar Steve Smith meanwhile has nominated Washington Freedom teammates Andries Gous, Saurabh Netravalkar and Obus Pienaar as draft bolters, declaring he could see American wicketkeeper-batter Gous "fitting in" at his Sydney Sixers this summer.

"There's a very good talent pool over there and the more they get exposed to different tournaments and better players around the world, they're just going to get better and better," Smith said last week after re-signing with the Sixers for another three seasons.

It seems more likely the Sixers' top priority will be retaining club stalwart James Vince for another season, with the Englishman's availability for the first 6-9 games of the tournament fitting nicely with Smith's expected return from Test duties in January.

But Alex Hales' return to Western Sydney for a sixth straight season could be under threat by the Thunder's star-studded top order after the club secured David Warner with full availability for the next two seasons.

Where Hales fits among the likes of Cameron Bancroft, Ollie Davies, Sam Billings, Nic Maddinson and young gun Sam Konstas is a question the Thunder will need to answer.

Thunder general manager Trent Copeland said their strong off-season recruiting had freed them up to take the best available player with pick No.3 in the draft, and if that was Hales, then there's no reason why they wouldn't get the BBL's most prolific overseas batter of all-time back for another season.

Copeland indicated adding an allrounder or a middle-order was also a focus leading up to the draft.

Hard-hitting pace-bowling allrounder Jamie Overton looms as another strong retention target after impressing with 16 wickets in nine games for Adelaide Strikers last season.

Overton is available for the full season including finals and could be a top priority for new Strikers head coach Tim Paine with the club's No.5 pick following their pre-draft signing of England stand-in Test captain Ollie Pope for two seasons last week.

New this year, the league's pre-draft multi-year contracting mechanism for overseas players allow clubs to sign one men's and women's player to a deal up to three years to help maximise player availability.

The 16 pre-signed players won't appear in the BBL or WBBL draft pools, but clubs must allocate one of their picks to their overseas pre-draft recruit in a round that matches the salary band of that player's contract.

Clubs can pass in any round but are required to make a minimum of two selections in this year's draft as well as allocating a pick to their pre-signed player.

The drafts will be broadcast live across The Seven Network, 7plus, Fox Sports and Kayo Sports. The WBBL|10 Draft will begin at 3pm AEST, with the BBL|14 Draft to follow immediately after.

Every nominee for the WBBL|10 and BBL|14 drafts, and their availability and retention rights, can be viewed on the Big Bash app.