With two matches still remaining this season, it appears the inaugural draft will re-appear in BBL|13, much to the dismay of several coaches and players.
Melbourne Renegades mentor, David Saker, believes the draft prohibits teams from creating the best roster possible, since many international stars may be discouraged from participating if they cannot play at the club of their choice.
โA lot of players want to go to certain clubs, but they canโt because they've put themselves in the draft; they don't know where they're going,โ Saker told NCA NewsWire on Friday.
โI know a lot of English players that want to come out and play for certain clubs but they're not putting themselves in a position where they can't go to the right club. To me that's madness."
Saker emphasised the importance of relationships between international players and their coaches, insisting this is what increases the capacity to sign stars from overseas.
โI know there's two or three coaches against (the draft) because of that relationship with a lot of international cricketers. It's not just the three that you're gonna recruit,โ he said.
โIf you work in international cricket you've got players you've worked with all around the world and you know their personalities. You just know that some of them won't nominate because they don't want to go into a club they don't want to go to."
The draft has already been met with some controversy despite the success of the current season.
English batsman Liam Livingstone was selected by the Melbourne Renegades with the first pick, but pulled out from the competition due to injury and international commitments, forcing West-Indian star Andre Russell to be signed as a replacement. He only managed four games this season, and while the Renegades get first preference to select him next season, he is now well into his mid-30s and appears on a downward trend.
Saker also mentioned that international players are not purely motivated by finance in the BBL as they might be in the Indian Premier League, where there are opportunities to make millions of dollars in a single campaign.
โThey're coming here because they want to play in a good competition, they want to enjoy themselves and they're gonna want to go to where the franchise is gonna look after them,โ he said.
โThat's different to the IPL, where if you're given millions of dollars, they'll go anywhere.
"To me it just does not make sense.โ
