BBL 2025 draft: James Anderson and Jofra Archer overlooked as Shaheen Afridi & Mohammad Rizwan sign

Pakistan left-arm Shaheen Afridi was the top pick in the Big Bash League's 2025-26 overseas player draft but James Anderson and Jofra Archer were both overlooked for deals.

Anderson, aged 43 and England's leading wicket-taker, entered the draft in another attempt to play franchise cricket for the first time, having retired from internationals last summer.

He has taken 10 wickets in four T20 Blast matches for Lancashire, his first T20s since 2014, in recent weeks but an omission from the tournament in Australia follows him missing out on deals at the Indian Premier League and The Hundred.

Archer, meanwhile, entered the draft despite hopes he could feature in the Ashes this winter which will played at the same time as much of the BBL.

BBL teams instead picked players with guaranteed availability with Brisbane Heat signing Shaheen and Melbourne Renegades picking up Pakistan wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan.

England all-rounder Sam Curran was signed by Sydney Sixers to play in the league for the first time while Melbourne Renegades had already retained his brother, Tom.

England left-arm quick Luke Wood was signed by Adelaide Strikers, Hobart Hurricanes picked up leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed and Perth Scorchers picked Surrey batter Laurie Evans where he won the title in 2021-22.

Nottinghamshire's Joe Clarke and England internationals Sam Billings and Chris Jordan will return to Melbourne Renegades, Sydney Thunder and the Hurricanes respectively.

The Sixers also resigned uncapped English leg-spinner Jafer Chohan, adding to their eye-catching pre-draft signing of Pakistan batter Babar Azam.

England internationals Jacob Bethell, Ollie Pope, Zak Crawley, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Alex Hales and Reece Topley were among those who were not signed.

BBL draft picks in full

Adelaide Strikers: Luke Wood (England), Jamie Overton* (England), Hasan Ali (Pakistan)

Brisbane Heat: Shaheen Shah Afridi (Pakistan), Colin Munro* (New Zealand), Tom Alsop (England)

Hobart Hurricanes: Chris Jordan* (England), Rishad Hossain (Bangladesh), Rehan Ahmed (England)

Melbourne Renegades: Mohammad Rizwan (Pakistan), Hassan Khan (Pakistan), Tim Seifert* (New Zealand)

Melbourne Stars: Haris Rauf (Pakistan), Tom Curran* (England), Joe Clarke (England)

Perth Scorchers: Finn Allen* (New Zealand), Laurie Evans (England), David Payne (England)

Sydney Sixers: Sam Curran (England), Babar Azam* (Pakistan), Jafer Chohan (England)

Sydney Thunder: Lockie Ferguson (New Zealand), Shadab Khan (Pakistan), Sam Billings* (England)

*indicates player was pre-signed before draft

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