Glenn Maxwell will link up with coach Shane Warne at the London Spirit after the all-rounder became one of seven Australians picked in the inaugural Hundred draft while several big names were snubbed.
Aaron Finch, Mitchell Starc, Steve Smith, David Warner, D’Arcy Short and Nathan Coulter-Nile will also feature in the first season of the new 100-ball cricket tournament to be played in England and Wales next year.
The Trent Rockets made Afghan spinner Rashid Khan the first overall pick, while West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell went next to the Southern Brave, as the first-round picks came thick and fast.
Finch went third to the Leeds-based Northern Superchargers, coached by Australian Darren Lehmann, followed by his international teammate Starc to the Welsh Fire.
Spinners Sunil Narine and Imran Tahir were the next two off the board. They are off to the Oval Invincibles and the Manchester Originals, coached by Australians Tom Moody and Simon Katich, respectively.
Maxwell was next before Liam Livingstone was picked by the Birmingham Phoenix, who are coached by Australian Andrew McDonald.
Each of the eight teams had two picks in the first round except for the Phoenix, Spirit and Invincibles, who had allocated the second spots in the 125,000 pound ($A235,000) price band to pre-selected “local icon” players.
The teams picked in reverse order for the second half of the round and Manchester selected Dane Vilas, who has had success as a T20 Blast overseas player for Lancashire.
Smith headed to the Fire, where he will link up with Starc, while the Superchargers took spinner Mujeeb ur Rahman, Warner went to the Brave and D’Arcy Short was given the nod by the Rockets.
That left West Indies blaster Chris Gayle, Sri Lanka paceman Lasith Malinga and his South Africa counterpart Kagiso Rabada undrafted after failing to meet their allotted price tags.
Ex-England captain Michael Vaughan couldn’t believe Gayle, a short-form supremo, was left on the table.
However, The Telegraph cricket writer Tim Wigmore suggested overlooking Gayle and Malinga was a sign teams are looking for long-term success rather than a short-term sugar hit.
“In its own curious way, these non-drafts were a quiet victory for the new tournament, an indication of their seriousness in building the best team, not merely recruiting the biggest stars,” Wigmore wrote.
“For all their pedigree, both Gayle and Malinga are considered to have their finest years behind them. They may well have only been available for a solitary season — Gayle has just turned 40 — and teams chose to build for multiple years instead.”
The world’s leading all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh), South African wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock and ex-Aussie star Shane Watson all had their reserve prices set at 100,000 pounds but were snubbed and won’t play a role in the tournament next year.
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson was the highest-profile name taken in round two, heading to Birmingham, while the Spirit paired Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi and Pakistan paceman Mohammad Amir.
Round three started with two overseas picks as Australia bowler Coulter-Nile joined Short at the Rockets and Pakistan’s Shadab Khan went to the Brave. English players dominated the remainder of the round — including Adam Lyth staying on his county home ground of Headingley with the Superchargers.
Manchester sat out round three, having already taken Lancashire bowlers Matt Parkinson and Saqib Mahmood as their two picks.
FULL TEAM LISTS
OVAL INVINCIBLES: Sunil Narine, Sandeep Lamichhane, Fabian Allen, Tom Curran, Jason Roy, Sam Billings, Rilee Rossouw, Reece Topley, Hardus Viljoen, Alex Blake, Will Jacks, Chris Wood, Nathan Sowter, Laurie Evans
TRENT ROCKETS: Joe Root, Rashid Khan, D’Arcy Short, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Harry Gurney, Alex Hales, Lewis Gregory, Steven Mullaney, Matthew Carter, Luke Wood, Tom Moores, Dawid Malan, Ben Cox, Luke Fletcher, Luke Wright
LONDON SPIRIT: Rory Burns, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammad Nabi, Mohammad Amir, Dan Lawrence, Eoin Morgan, Roelof van der Merwe, Mark Wood, Joe Denly, Mason Crane, Kyle Abbott, Adam Rossington, Zak Crawley, Jade Dernbach, Luis Reece
NORTHERN SUPERCHARGERS: Ben Stokes, Aaron Finch, Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman, Chris Lynn, Adil Rashid, David Willey, Adam Lyth, Richard Gleeson, Ben Foakes, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, David Wiese, Nathan Rimmington, Brydon Carse, Ed Barnard, John Simpson
MANCHESTER ORIGINALS: Jos Buttler, Imran Tahir, Daniel Christian, Mitchell Santner, Saqib Mahmood, Matt Parkinson, Dane Vilas, Phil Salt, Tom Abell, Wayne Madsen, Wayne Parnell, Joe Clarke, Marchant de Lange, Eddie Byrom, Ed Pollock
SOUTHERN BRAVE: Jofra Archer, Andre Russell, David Warner, Shadab Khan, Chris Jordan, James Vince, Liam Dawson, Tymal Mills, Ross Whiteley, Delray Rawlins, Ollie Pope, George Garton, Alex Davies, Max Waller, Craig Overton
WELSH FIRE: Jonny Bairstow, Mitchell Starc, Steve Smith, Qais Ahmed, Tom Banton, Colin Ingram, Ben Duckett, Ravi Rampaul, Simon Harmer, Liam Plunkett, Ryan ten Doeschate, David Payne, Ryan Higgins, Danny Briggs, Leus du Plooy
BIRMINGHAM PHOENIX: Chris Woakes, Kane Williamson, Shaheen Afridi, Adam Zampa, Moeen Ali, Pat Brown, Liam Livingstone, Ravi Bopara, Benny Howell, Tom Helm, Adam Hose, Cameron Delport, Henry Brookes, Riki Wessels, Chris Cooke
