Photo Credit: Melbourne Renegades
The Melbourne Renegades have selected England star Liam Livingstone with Pick 1 in the BBL|12 Draft.
Livingstone is one of the most destructive batters in the world and has become the BBL’s inaugural number one pick on an historic night.
He will be joined in red this summer by a pair of spin bowlers.
The Renegades selected Afghanistan mystery spinner Mujeeb ur Rahman with Pick 9, after the Brisbane Heat elected not to use their retention pick to match the bid.
After passing with Pick 24, the Renegades then added West Indies left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein with Pick 25.
Livingstone (Perth Scorchers) and Mujeeb (Heat) will both be returning to the Big Bash League, with Hosein embarking on his first involvement with the competition.
The Renegades made their ambition clear to pick the player they believed was the best in the Draft.
Livingstone, 29, will bolster both the Renegades’ batting and spin bowling stocks.
The hard-hitting batter was a force to be reckoned with in his two BBL seasons (BBL|09 and BBL|10) with the Scorchers, smashing an incredible 55 sixes in 28 games – with seven half-centuries.
In this year’s IPL, he scored 437 runs at an average of 36.4 – and at an incredible strike rate of 182.
Mujeeb will feature in his fifth consecutive Big Bash season, after four seasons with the Heat.
He has taken 37 wickets from his 37 matches, with an economy rate of 6.2 and best figures of 5-15.
Hosein is a new face in the BBL, but sits seventh in the ICC’s T20I bowler rankings.
The 29-year-old has represented the West Indies on 57 occasions in white-ball cricket and is representing the Trinbago Knight Riders in the Caribbean Premier League.
