Albany Finance Fury pounce on ex-BBL batsman Tom Beaton with first Southern Smash draft pick

Former Perth Scorchers and Melbourne Renegades batsman Tom Beaton was snapped up as the No.1 pick for next month’s highly anticipated Southern Smash, taken by new franchise Albany Finance Fury on Sunday night.

The Southern Smash Twenty20 draft for this year’s tournament was held at Inswing Sports Bar on Sunday and the Fury, one of two new teams, grabbed the former WA first-class cricketer with the prized first selection.

Beaton headlines a star-studded first round of draft picks, which features former internationals, Big Bash league players and first-class cricketers.

Fellow new outfit the Arc Infrastructure Aces had pick two and drafted former Ireland international Sean Terry.

Australian World Cup-winning spinner and crowd favourite Brad Hogg went to Inswing Ignition at No.3 and he was followed by pace bowler Josh Nicholas, who was snared by the Retravision Warriors.

The stellar first round of picks was rounded out by big-hitting former BBL batsman Travis Birt, who slipped to five for the Camtrans Bulldogs and ex-WA bowler Ryan Duffield was taken by reigning champions the Elders Avengers with their first selection at six.

A total of 130 players nominated for the premier T20 competition in regional WA and 54 of those players were selected across the six franchises on draft night.

Four players, including the captains, were already signed with each team prior to draft night under competition rules.

A total of 24 Albany and Districts Cricket Association players will play in the two-day tournament.

Mt Barker batsman Nathan Crosby was the first ADCA player selected at pick No.8 by the Aces while the first under-21 ACDA player selected was Collingwood Park’s Dustin Boyce with pick No.18.

Top local cricketers Nathan Crudeli (Warriors), Coen Marwick (Bulldogs), Ryan Kinnear (Ignition), Nathan Dovey (Avengers) and Neil Ferreira (Fury) will captain their teams while former local and Country XI star Tim Hutchinson is the Aces’ skipper.

Six Great Southern Cricket Association cricketers found their way onto a playing list — Nathan Willmott (Fury), Jack Taylor (Aces), Clint Gilbert (Avengers), Ricky Marris (Bulldogs), Guy Taylor (Ignition) and Keegan Berry (Warriors).

Some of the other big names to be drafted were Liam Guthrie, Jack Baker, Sean Roberts, Darius D’Silva, Brent Jarvis-Spinks, Jacob Mulder, Michael Tassone, Brayden Clarke, Kallen Bond and Rodney Ford.

Each team was allowed to pick a maximum of five metropolitan players, a minimum of three Albany players, including one under-21, and one GSCA player.