BBL Overseas Draft: Du Plessis, Rossouw, Wiese, De Lange Confirmed As Nominees

Cricket Image for BBL Overseas Draft: Du Plessis, Rossouw, Wiese, De Lange Confirmed As Nominees (Image Source: IANS)

Former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis, batter Rilee Rossouw, ex-South Africa and current Namibia all-rounder David Wiese and former Proteas pacer Marchant de Lange on Thursday were confirmed as nominees for the new BBL overseas draft.

The BBL overseas draft, in an effort to get the best of foreign cricketers into the league, will be held in August this year. Each club will have the opportunity to recruit up to three primary overseas players, including a number of T20 cricket's biggest names.

Each club will be able to select up to three foreign players across four rounds and four salary bands ranging from $340,000 (platinum), $260,000 (gold), $175,000 (silver) and $100,000 for bronze.

Du Plessis, who captained Royal Challengers Bangalore to third place in 2022 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), appeared in just one game of the BBL back in 2012, playing for Melbourne Renegades just after scoring an unbeaten century in the second innings on Test debut in Adelaide.

He has been seen majorly in T20 leagues ever since he announced his Test retirement in 2021 and had been ranked number three in T20I batting rankings. Du Plessis might be available for just a chunk of the BBL due to South Africa planning to host its new T20 League competition in January 2023.

Rossouw, who earned a recall into South Africa T20I squad for the first time in six years for a three-match series against England, played seven matches for Renegades in the BBL in the 2020/21 season. He is currently the third leading run-scorer in England's Vitality T20 Blast with 498 at a strike rate of 191.53 from 12 matches for Somerset.

Wiese, one of the main heroes for Namibia in their debut Men's T20 World Cup appearance last year, is yet to play in the BBL. He had an impressive Pakistan Super League (PSL) campaign with champions Lahore Qalandars, taking nine wickets and scoring 168 runs at a strike rate of 184.61, including smacking 28 from just eight balls in the final. He is a regular presence in Vitality T20 Blast, The Hundred and Caribbean Premier League (CPL).

Just like Wiese, de Lange hasn't played in the BBL before. The 31-year-old, who has played for South Africa in all three formats, recently took a devastating 4/9 from three overs for Somerset in this year's Vitality T20 Blast.