The first Big Bash League draft was held on August 28 — here are the players picked for the 2022/23 BBL, including retentions of the eight teams.

For the first time, the BBL introduced the Overseas Player Draft, a change from the previous years where players would directly ink deals with the eight franchises. The rules changed in 2022/23, where all interested overseas players mandatorily had to enter themselves in the draft, where they were assigned salary caps. Franchises then took turns to select cricketers in their squad for BBL 2022/23.

Read the entire format of the draft here.

The top 12 names in the draft were assigned ‘Platinum’ status, and will be paid AUD 340,000 for the upcoming season, irrespective of how many games they ended up playing. There were 12 ‘Platinum’ stars up for grabs in the draft: Faf du Plessis, Jason Roy, Liam Livingstone, Sam Billings, Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell, David Willey, Shadab Khan, Dwayne Bravo, Rashid Khan, Chris Jordan, and Trent Boult. Gold players will earn approximately AUD 260,000, players in the Silver category will get AUD 175,000 and the ones in Bronze AUD 100,000.

Of the above, Billings (Sydney Thunder), Russell (Melbourne Stars), Shadab (Sydney Sixers), Jordan (Sydney Sixers) and Rashid (Adelaide Strikers) could be retained by their former teams. Each team was allowed one retention.

Livingstone was the first pick of the draft on Sunday: he went to to Melbourne Renegades. There were two retention picks: Rashid, Laurie Evans (Perth Scorchers). Five platinum players, including Russell and du Plessis, were not picked.

Players picked in the BBL 2022 draft:

Adelaide Strikers: Rashid Khan (Retained – Platinum), Colin de Grandhomme (Gold), Adam Hose (Silver)
Brisbane Heat: Sam Billings (Platinum), Colin Munro (Gold), Ross Whiteley (Bronze)
Hobart Hurricanes: Shadab Khan (Platinum), Asif Ali (Gold), Faheem Ashraf (Silver)
Melbourne Renegades: Liam Livingstone (Platinum), Mujeeb Ur Rahman (Gold), Akeal Hosein (Bronze)
Melbourne Stars: Trent Boult (Platinum), Joe Clarke (Gold), Luke Wood (Silver)
Perth Scorchers: Laurie Evans (Retained – Gold), Phil Salt (Silver), Tymal Mills (Bronze)
Sydney Sixers: Chris Jordan (Platinum), James Vince (Gold), Izharulhaq Naveed (Bronze)
Sydney Thunder: David Willey (Platinum), Alex Hales (Gold), Rilee Rossouw (Silver)