Earlier this week, Cricket Australia (CA) revealed the first player nominations for the 10th edition of the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) draft. National captains, veterans, and seasoned youngsters were in the mix of 10, and eleven more names are now confirmed for the September 1 women’s players draft, all eligible for retention.
The initial list, made public on August 19, featured England’s Heather Knight, Alice Capsey, Sophie Ecclestone, and Danni Wyatt, along with India’s Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, and Deepti Sharma, South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt and Shabnim Ismail, and New Zealand’s Suzie Bates. Leaving out Jemimah and Deepti, the remaining are all available to be retained.
Sydney Sixers: Jess Kerr, Chloe Tryon, Linsey Smith
New Zealand’s Jess Kerr, with 43 wickets from 33 T20I innings and an economy rate of 4.29, is also a capable batter. She debuted in the WBBL with the Heat in 2022-23 and played 5 games for the Sixers last season, scalping 10 wickets in 14 WBBL matches at an economy rate of 6.52.
South Africa’s Chloe Tryon has scored 1,145 runs from 80 T20I outings at a strike rate of 135.18 and has taken 35 wickets from 65 innings, with an economy rate of 6.82. After two seasons with the Hurricanes, Tryon moved to the Thunder in 2022 and the Sixers last season. In the WBBL, she has scored 786 runs at a strike rate of 130.34 from 44 outings, while also taking 17 wickets.
England’s Linsey Smith began her WBBL career with the Melbourne Stars in 2021-22 but had a quiet season. She returned with the Sixers, where she claimed 11 wickets in 11 matches last season and has been consistently strong in domestic cricket.
Adelaide Strikers: Dani Gibson and Georgia Adams
England’s Dani Gibson, an emerging pace bowling all-rounder, has bagged 9 wickets from 17 T20I innings and accumulated 133 runs at a strike rate of 133.00. In her debut WBBL season last year, she made a notable impact, scoring 111 runs at a strike rate of 147.43 and bagging 10 wickets from 11 matches. Fresh off strong campaigns in the domestic season, including The Hundred 2024, the Strikers wouldn’t want to let go of her.
Georgia Adams, another English talent, had an extraordinary domestic season last summer, excelling with both bat and ball. This form earned her a spot with the Strikers for her maiden WBBL stint. Despite a challenging start in Australia, where she scored 26 runs from 6 innings and took 4 wickets from 7 matches, Adams’ potential remains promising.
Perth Scorchers: Amy Jones and Lauren Winfield-Hill
England’s premier keeper-batter, Amy Jones, has amassed 1,515 runs from 88 T20I matches at a strike rate of 122.27, with a highest score of 89. She debuted in the WBBL with the Sydney Sixers in the 2016/17 season and played for them again the following year. After three seasons with the Perth Scorchers, she returned to the Scorchers last summer following a stint with the Thunder in 2022/23. In her time with the Scorchers, she has amassed 932 runs from 42 matches.
Lauren, another English keeper-batter, has accumulated 596 runs from 35 T20I innings, with the highest score of 74 and a strike rate of 107.97. Her last T20I appearance was in 2022, and she has struggled to regain her form in domestic leagues. Lauren made her WBBL debut with the Brisbane Heat in 2015/16, scoring 239 runs. Since then, she has only once exceeded 110 runs in a season, with 254 runs in the 2023 season.
Hobart Hurricanes: Bryony Smith
The 26-year-old opening batter and handy off-spinner has had limited success in T20Is for England. Last summer, Bryony made her WBBL debut but struggled, posting only 90 runs on the board from 12 innings and failing to take a wicket from 30 balls. Although her recent performances have been inconsistent, she has delivered crucial innings in recent months.
Brisbane Heat: Bess Heath
The 23-year-old English keeper-batter made a promising WBBL debut with the Stars in the 2022 season. Building on her performances, she had an improved season with the Heat last summer, accumulating 171 runs at a strike rate of 123.02 from 13 matches.
Melbourne Stars: Sophia Dunkley
The 23-year-old top-order batter has amassed 862 runs from 46 T20I appearances for England, with a strike rate of 117.59 and the highest score of 61*. Sophia made her WBBL debut last season with the Stars, where she impressed by scoring 217 runs from 14 matches at a strike rate of 110.71 and also took 4 wickets. After a dip in form, she has shown outstanding performance this summer.
Melbourne Renegades: Eve Jones
The 32-year-old middle-order batter has made 16 WBBL appearances, all for the Renegades. In her debut season (2021-22), she scored 236 runs from 12 games at a strike rate just under 100. However, in the following season (2022-23), she managed only 24 runs from 4 games.
While a few of the game’s top players have already committed to teams via the league’s new multi-year, pre-draft contract provision, the eight clubs are permitted to retain players in their respective drafts should a rival club attempt to poach them. A club can activate its retention pick in the same round that a rival club selects its desired player, so long as the retaining club has not already picked a player in that round.
On draft night, September 1, 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).
