Photo Credit: Melbourne Renegades
South Africa keeper-batter Quinton de Kock will make his first appearance in the Big Bash League after being selected by the Melbourne Renegades in the opening round of the BBL Overseas Draft.
The Renegades landed de Kock with Pick 5, after starting the night with Pick 4 before two retention picks were activated.
A destructive left-hander, the 30-year-old has represented his country on more than 270 occasions in all three formats of the game.
With Pick 12, the Renegades selected Mujeeb Ur Rahman, who returns for a second consecutive season in red.
Mujeeb claimed eight wickets last year, with a miserly economy rate of 6.63 per over.
“We’re very, very happy. We’ve done a lot of scenario planning over the last month or so and our Plan A was for Quinton and Mujeeb to get there. To nail those first two picks is fantastic,” General Manager, James Rosengarten, said.
“Quinton’s someone who suits Marvel well. He’s a super player at the top of the order and a really good keeper as well. He was our number one priority as a batting and keeping option.
“Mujeeb’s a super guy, a great fit for our group and bowled so well last year. To have economy numbers in the sixes was what really got us going I think last year, him bowling up front in those powerplays and keeping things tight.
The Renegades passed on both their third and fourth round picks in the Draft, with a view to signing a player outside of the draft.
“What it does do is give you a bit of flexibility to directly sign an overseas player,” Rosengarten said.
“I absolutely guarantee we’ll have three primary listed overseas players and three in that starting XI come game one. What it means now is it gives us flexibility to do what we want… now all players go into a free agency pool and we’re free to speak to them.
“There’s a couple of good options that got through – all of the players we were looking at for that third pick are still in the pool, which is good.”
The Renegades will begin their BBL|13 campaign on December 8 against the Sydney Sixers at the SCG, with their first home game on December 10 against the Perth Scorchers in Geelong.
BBL|13 Squad (so far): Nic Maddinson (c), Quinton de Kock, Aaron Finch, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Mackenzie Harvey, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Kane Richardson, Tom Rogers, Peter Siddle, Will Sutherland, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Jon Wells, Adam Zampa.
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