Fifty players have been handed platinum status across the BBL and WBBL drafts, including Haris Rauf, Nicholas Pooran, Harmanpreet Kaur and Marizanne Kapp.
England players dominate the BBL list with 14 names, Ashes stars Harry Brook and Zak Crawley among them, while there are seven in the WBBL platinum group. South Africa provide six of the WBBL players and India five.
The drafts will take place on September 3. The WBBL runs from October 19 to December 2 and the BBL goes from December 7 to January 24.
BBL platinum players
(Possible retention clubs marked)
Gus Atkinson, Sam Billings (Heat), Harry Brook, Joe Clarke (Stars), Zak Crawley, Tom Curran (Sixers), Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis (Scorchers), Martin Guptill (Renegades), Alex Hales (Thunder), Will Jacks, Chris Jordan (Sixers), Rashid Khan (Strikers), Shadab Khan (Hurricanes), Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Dawid Malan, Tymal Mills (Scorchers), Colin Munro (Heat), Nicholas Pooran, Haris Rauf (Stars), Mohammad Rizwan, Rilee Rossouw (Thunder), Phil Salt (Scorchers), Mujeeb Ur Rahman (Heat), James Vince (Sixers)
WBBL platinum players
(Possible retention clubs marked)
Chamari Athapaththu (Renegades), Lauren Bell, Tazmin Brits, Alice Capsey (Stars), Kate Cross, Nida Dar, Sophie Devine (Scorchers), Deandra Dottin (Strikers), Richa Ghosh, Sarah Glenn, Shabnim Ismail (Renegades), Marizanne Kapp (Scorchers), Harmanpreet Kaur (Renegades), Amelia Kerr (Heat), Heather Knight (Thunder), Hayley Matthews (Renegades), Nonkululeko Mlaba, Jemimah Rodrigues (Stars), Deepti Sharma, Stafanie Taylor (Strikers), Chloe Tryon (Thunder), Pooja Vastrakar (Heat), Laura Wolvaardt (Strikers), Issy Wong (Hurricanes), Danni Wyatt (Heat)
It is the first time overseas recruitment will be determined by a draft in the WBBL but there is also a mechanism which has allowed players to sign directly with a club, a route that six have taken, for a reduced fee. They are: Suzie Bates, Tammy Beaumont, Sophia Dunkley, Amy Jones, Mignon du Preez and Lizelle Lee.
In the WBBL, platinum players will earn AUD 110,000, gold will earn AUD 90,000, silver AUD 65,000 and bronze AUD 40,000. Those taking the direct nomination path can only earn up to 95% of the silver category.
There has been an increase in the men's BBL overseas salary bands after the cap was increased from AUD 1.9 million to AUD 3 million. Platinum players are now set to earn AUD 420,000, up from $340,000 last year although there are caveats. They will only earn the full amount if they are available for the entire season including finals, which runs from December 7 to January 24.
If they are only available for 10 matches, they will earn AUD 400,000. If they can only play nine matches the price will be AUD 380,000. Anyone only available for eight matches or less in the platinum category will earn AUD 360,000 regardless of whether they play one game or eight.
Gold players will earn AUD 300,000, silver AUD 200,000, and bronze AUD 100,000 with no minimum matches required for those players.
The key factor in the BBL will be availability due to both international commitments and other T20 leagues. The SA20 starts on January 10 so the players who head to that will miss the latter part of the regular BBL season. The schedule for the ILT20 in UAE has proved more favourable with that tournament starting January 19 although it will impact BBL finals.
Internationally, England have tours at either end of the BBL with a white-ball trip to West Indies in December then the start of the Test series in India in January. That could limit the interest in the likes of Brook and Crawley.
Pakistan, who also provide a sizeable group of players in the overall draft list, have a Test series in Australia at the same time as the BBL then a T20I series in New Zealand later in January.
How retention picks work
Players in both the WBBL and BBL overseas player drafts will be an eligible retention player if they fit any of the following criteria:
Have been in a Big Bash squad for a minimum of two seasons and haven't been contracted to another team since
Have been in a Big Bash squad the previous season
Was in a team squad last season but did not play in the starting 13 and have been approved by the Big Bash Technical Committee
Is otherwise approved by the Big Bash Technical Committee due to exceptional circumstances