Alex Hales, Shahid Afridi included in T20 Global League player draft

Alex Hales, the dashing England opener, and Shahid Afridi, the former Pakistan all-rounder, have been included in T20 Global League player draft. These are the two latest players among the 90 overseas stars who have made the cut for the inaugural T20 GL draft process to be held in Cape Town this weekend.

Hales has maintained amazing form in the ongoing T20 Blast in England and Afridi is fresh off a 43-ball 101 runs innings in the quarter-final of the same competition. Adam Lyth, who recently scored the third highest T20 score ever, 161 off 73 deliveries has also been added to the drafts players list.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) chief executive Haroon Lorgat was elated looking at the response of the international players to the league and hoped for a successful staging of the tournament. “The Player Draft is a major step forward for the T20 Global League, and the anticipation among players, coaches and owners is now clearly visible,” Lorgat said.

“The huge interest from players around the world has been phenomenal, and the calibre of players in the draft will make squad selections one for the fans to follow. Fans both here and around the world will be able to join in the excitement as they see the franchises sign up some of the world’s best. Gayle, McCullum, Shehzad, Hales, Levi and our own Proteas captain Faf du Plessis – another marquee player – are among those who have scored T20 International centuries. The T20 Global League is now ready for take-off,” added the chief executive.

More big names in the players draft

Misbah-ul-Haq, Mitchell McClenaghan and Yasir Shah are the other big names who have thrown their hat into the ring. Even the likes of Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ian Bell have made the cut as have the Associate players such as Kevin O’Brien, Dawlat Zadran, William Porterfield, Ryan ten Doeschate and Kyle Coetzer.

Marchant de Lange, Colin Ingram, Simon Harmer, David Wiese form a part of 10 Kolpak players who have made it to the draft. A franchise can pick a maximum of 5 international players including Kolpak players.

As the league clashes with the Australian summer and the Big Bash League not many of the Aussies have shown interest in the global league as of now. It will be played in November-December this year.

Detailed list of all the players:

International marquee players: Lasith Malinga, Brendon McCullum, Eoin Morgan, Kevin Pietersen, Kieron Pollard, Jason Roy, Dwayne Bravo, Chris Gayle

Domestic marquee players: Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, David Miller, Kagiso Rabada, Imran Tahir

Overseas players

Afghanistan: Dawlat Zadran

Australia: Ben Hilfenhaus, Nathan Reardon, Johan Botha (now qualified as Australian citizen)

England: Michael Carberry, Alex Hales, Adam Lyth, Gary Balance, Ian Bell, Sam Billings, Ben Duckett, Liam Livingstone, James Vince, Tim Bresnan, Jade Dernbach, Steven Finn, Mark Wood, Monty Panesar, Adil Rashid

Hong Kong: Anshuman Rath

Ireland: William Porterfield, Kevin O’Brien, Boyd Rankin, George Dockrell

Netherlands: Stephan Myburgh, Ryan ten Doeschate, Roelof van der Merwe

New Zealand: Mitchell McClenaghan, Jeetan Patel

Pakistan: Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Saeed Ajmal, Yasir Shah, Ahmed Shehzad, Fakhar Zaman, Salman Butt, Sami Aslam, Iftikhar Ahmed, Kamran Akmal, Azhar Ali, Fawad Alam, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Rizwan, Umar Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Nawaz, Shahid Afridi, Anwar Ali, Mohammad Abbas, Sohail Khan

Sri Lanka: Lahiru Thirimanne, Shehan Jayasuriya, Jeewan Mendis, Ramith Rambukwella, Dushmantha Chameera, Dammika Prasad, Suraj Randiv, Sachithra Senanayake, Dilshan Munaweera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Angelo Perera

Zimbabwe: Sean Ervine, Elton Chigumbura, Hamilton Masakadza, Vusi Sibanda

Kolpak players: David Wiese, Colin Ingram, Stiaan van Zyl, Dane Vilas, Cameron Delport, Richard Levi, Marchant de Lange, Hardus Viljoen, Colin Ackermann, Simon Harmer

West Indies: Jonathan Carter, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Danza Hyatt, Jason Mohammed, Devon Thomas, Tino Best, Fidel Edwards, Jerome Taylor, Sulieman Benn, Ashley Nurse, Veerasammy Permaul, Shane Shillingford

Scotland: Kyle Coetzer