Sydney Sixers signs Amelia Kerr under three-year deal – WBBL 2024

Sydney Sixers have signed Brisbane Heat allrounder Amelia Kerr for the next three summers. Sydney Sixers have used the WBBL’s new contract rules to rope in Amelia Kerr from their rivals – Heat.

Sydney Sixers signs Amelia Kerr under three-year deal

The new rule introduced ahead of WBBL|10 allows clubs to lock in players for longer, and ward off the threat of overseas leagues. Kerr who currently ranked No. 2 on the ICC women’s T20I bowling rankings, will reunite with Mumbai Indians coach Charlotte Edwards at the Sixers.

Ultimately, the 23-year-old was won over by having close family in Sydney, with her sister Jess having played for the Sixers last season.

Speaking on the signing, Amelia Kerr said “It was an extremely hard decision to leave Brisbane as the players and staff there have been nothing but good to me. With the scheduling of women’s cricket there is not much downtime and being based in Sydney was a big part of my decision”.

“I have close family living in Sydney which will help make the time away from home a lot of fun. I want to keep finding ways to better myself as a cricketer and a person so I’m looking forward to this exciting new opportunity with the Sixers.”

Are you READY for it? 🤩

Amelia Kerr is officially a Sixer for the next THREE years! ✍️💖 #LikeASixer pic.twitter.com/CCV9DImDTc

— Sydney Sixers (@SixersBBL) June 10, 2024

Heat confirmed on Tuesday they attempted to retain Kerr under the pre-draft multi-year contract system.

“The Heat were keen to retain Melie and put a competitive offer to her,” Queensland’s head of cricket Joe Dawes said.  “However we understand that being near to family is important in this stage of her life, so a move to Sydney where we know she has close family made sense for that reason.

“Our fans around the country will no doubt be very disappointed not to see her out on the field playing for Brisbane again this summer.

“But we thank her and her family for trusting us back when she signed her first contract to play in the WBBL and certainly wish her all the best as she takes on a new challenge.”

Amelia Kerr played 52 matches for Heat, scored 854 runs and claimed 62 wickets, winning the club’s MVP award on three occasions.

Cricket Australia revealed the WBBL 2024 draft order where Hurricanes and Sixers secured the first and second picks respectively

How WBBL’s New Contract Rule Works?

In April, Cricket Australia introduced a new rule that allows clubs to directly sign one overseas player at a time for up to three years, allowing players to skip the uncertainty of the draft and negotiate directly with a club of their choice.

But the rule comes under one certain condition, players signed to a multi-year deal are required to be available for the entire season including finals, which was designed in part to help mitigate the loss of international players to rival T20 leagues, particularly in the men’s Big Bash competition.

Such direct signing will receive one of the existing salary bands(Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze) or at a negotiated price above the Platinum rate, which was $110,000 last WBBL season.