The draft for the much-anticipated 11th edition of the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) is set to take place on Thursday, 19th June 2025. The event will begin at 4 PM AEST (11:30 AM IST), where 8 teams will pick overseas players for the 2025-26 season. This year will mark the third instance of organizing an overseas player draft for the WBBL.
How does the draft system work?
Clubs are required to choose at least two overseas players during the draft. Additionally, they must use one of their draft picks to account for their pre-draft overseas signing, placing that player in a draft round that corresponds to the salary band of their contract.
A weighted lottery held in April, based on last season’s finishing positions, determined the draft order. In the WBBL, the Sydney Sixers received the first pick, while the Brisbane Heat ended up with the eighth and final selection.
The draft has 4 rounds, with each team getting a pick based on the lottery results. Round one features only Platinum players; round two includes both Platinum and Gold; round three brings in Gold and Silver; and round four consists of silver and bronze players. The third round of each draft goes in reverse order. There are options for one trade of picks among the clubs, but that seems missing this season.
Draft Salary Bands
During the draft, clubs must specify the round their pre-signed overseas players are assigned to base on the value of their contracts. While many will be classified as Platinum, the highest-paid category, that will not be the case for all, since Brisbane Heat declared South African all-rounder Nadine de Klerk on a lower band. Clubs can also draft a fourth foreign player, if they want, but they would be considered a replacement player. A maximum of three can be fielded in the playing XI.
Who all are the pre-signed players?
Here’s the full list of pre-signed players:
Retention Policy
The draft system also provides a “retention pick”, with each club having a retention pick to use per draft. A retention pick can only be used by a club in the same round that an opposition team selects their targeted player and only if the club hasn’t already made a selection in that round. Teams have just 45 seconds to activate their retention pick once the other club’s choice is made.
Players are eligible for retention if they fit any of the following criteria:
- Was drafted by a Big Bash team in the previous contract year
- Have been in a Big Bash team squad for a minimum of two years (at least one of which was in the past three seasons) and haven’t been contracted to another team since
- Was in a Big Bash team’s squad of 13 for a game in the previous season
- Is otherwise approved by the Big Bash Technical Committee due to exceptional circumstances
Players to watch out for
Indian cricketers Shikha Pandey, Yastika Bhatia, Arundhati Reddy and Jemimah Rodrigues have been nominated. Along with their senior counterparts, youngsters like Pratika Rawal and Shreyanka Patil have also registered for WBBL 11. Deandra Dottin and Chinelle Henry of the West Indies, along with Pakistan’s Fatima Sana, are also key additions to the draft pool.
The likes of England players like Lauren Bell, Sophie Ecclestone, Heather Knight, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Sophia Dunkley, Tammy Beaumont, Sarah Glenn, Alice Capsey, Maia Bouchier, Em Arlott and Bess Heath, as well as South Africa’s Shabnim Ismail, Mignon du Preez and Chloe Tryon, have all thrown their hats in the ring. The Scottish allrounder Kathryn Bryce, who had a good season with the Hurricanes last year, is one of the associate cricketers to look out for.
The WBBL 2025 will take place from late October to early December, fixtures for which are expected to be announced in July. The tournament will feature 40-game regular seasons, similar to the previous season. With the ICC T20 World Cup next year in England, players will try to make the most out of the tournament and gain some experience and form before the multi-nation tournament.
