(Cricket News) After the Stars lost Pakistani players Haris Rauf and Usama Mir to international duty, England batter Dan Lawrence, who had played four BBL games for the Brisbane Heat in 2020, was signed by the Melbourne Stars as an overseas replacement player. Lawrence had previously been nominated for the draft in September but had not been chosen.
After winning two straight games, the Stars moved up to fourth place in the standings, but Mir and Rauf will miss the rest of the competition as they were picked for Pakistan’s limited-overs tour of New Zealand in January.
Although the first game of the tour is not until January 12 in Auckland, the PCB only granted No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for Rauf, Mir, and Sydney Thunder signing Zaman Khan to participate in the BBL until December 28 because of “the workload of players and the future tours program of the national men’s team.”
That followed a tense standoff between Rauf and the PCB following his decision to withdraw from selection for the Australia Test series and public criticism from PCB officials. Later, it was revealed that the PCB board had sent Rauf a show cause notice to clarify his decision.
Lawrence’s availability for the remainder of the tournament is a rare victory for the Stars, who have struggled with their overseas signings. They signed England left-arm spinner Liam Dawson for a three-game stint before Christmas, but he was unavailable thereafter.
They bravely selected Harry Brook with the second pick in the BBL overseas draft, only for Brook to surprisingly withdraw from the tournament due to his international workload having been selected for England’s white-ball tour of the Caribbean in December and the Test tour of India in January.
Lawrence will give Stars’ top-order, which has struggled to produce results despite winning their last two games, some depth. He also has some familiarity with Stars skipper Glenn Maxwell, having played a few games with him at London Spirit last year, where the two batted together a few times.
Furthermore, Lawrence has experience with Stars’ home ground, the MCG, having made an unofficial pink-ball Test century there for the England Lions against Australia A in 2020.
