It’s hard to know who’s coming or staying right now in the BBL with a mass of players departing for the SA-20 and ILT20 leagues in coming days, so we’ve done our best to break it down.
Finished
Jimmy Neesham, Rilee Rossouw and Faf du Plessis have all played their last BBL|12 games ahead of Round 8 commencing, with all three headed for the new SA-20 competition.
Concluding in Round 8
There’s a long list of players who’ll play their final BBL|12 games in Round 8, starting with Rashid Khan in Thursday’s Adelaide Strikers game before he jets to the SA-20.
Then the ILT20 departures start, with Trent Boult‘s final game for the Stars on Friday, while Akeal Hosein, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Adam Lyth, Sam Billings and Colin Munro finish up with Saturday’s games.
Alex Hales plays his final game for the Thunder on Sunday in the Sydney Smash along with James Vince who is available for both games of their double.
However, the situation is unclear on both Chris Jordan and Naveen-ul-Haq with Honeyball unable to get final confirmation on when they leave.
Incoming from Round 8/9/10
Australian Test players were due to be made available to BBL clubs after the conclusion of the SCG Test (January 4 to 8). Initially we weren’t sure when they’d play their first games but that’s since been confirmed, so read this closely as it’s not one rule.
Those players are Travis Head (Adelaide Strikers), Alex Carey (Adelaide Strikers), Marnus Labuschagne (Brisbane Heat), Usman Khawaja (Brisbane Heat), Matt Renshaw (Brisbane Heat), Marcus Harris (Melbourne Renegades), Ashton Agar (Perth Scorchers), Lance Morris (Perth Scorchers), Nathan Lyon (Sydney Sixers), Steve Smith (Sydney Sixers) and David Warner ((Sydney Thunder).
As non-playing Test squad members, Harris and Morris were released early and played BBL in Round 8.
Labuschagne, Khawaja, Renshaw, Agar and Warner are all available for Round 9.
Only Head and Carey will not be available in Round 9, ironically for Adelaide’s double, given a short break before their first game on Saturday in Round 10. Smith and Lyon’s Sixers have a Round 9 bye anyway too, but they’ll be available Round 10.
Among those slated to come into sides as overseas replacements for aforementioned players are Sam Hain (Brisbane Heat), Zak Crawley (Hobart Hurricanes), Ruwantha Kellapotha (Melbourne Renegades), David Payne (Perth Scorchers) and Steve Eskinazi (Perth Scorchers). The latter two may play in Round 8 with du Plessis finished already. All of those players are already in Australia and training with their sides.
The Gades have signed English leg-spinning all-rounder Matt Critchley this week too, and he’ll meet up with the side in Adelaide ahead of Tuesday’s Round 9 game.
Concluding in Round 10
Chris Lynn‘s availability for Adelaide is a little more extended, playing his final BBL|12 on January 14 which is Round 10. He’s available for their Round 9 double.
Returning to BBL
Shadab Khan has left the Hobart Hurricanes for Pakistan ODI duty, replaced by Crawley, in their squad but he is slated to return on either January 18 or 20, which is Round 11 or Round 12 respectively. The Canes have a double in Round 13.
Staying
Marcus Stoinis has been signed up by the Sharjah Warriors in the ILT20 but isn’t leaving until the end of the Stars’ BBL campaign. It’s worth keeping an eye on if that comes forward, should they be out of finals calculations early.
We’ve had plenty of questions about other imports such as Luke Wood and Joe Clarke who are not leaving the BBL.
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