And so this season’s BDCA Challenge has grown with a new expansion franchise – Ozzie’s Outlaws, to be coached by Kieran Iles, joining defending champions Westy’s Warriors and reigning wooden-spooners Bourkey’s Blazers.

As an expansion team, Ozzie’s Outlaws have been awarded the No.1 selection, plus the first pick of each round, by the BDCA Challenge Draft Concessions Commission.

This season each franchise will pick a squad of 20 players that comprises eight batsmen, five bowlers, five all-rounders and two wicket-keepers.

Each franchise must select two players from each BDCA club to make up their list of 20.

Each round the top four batsmen, top three all-rounders, top keeper and top three bowlers scores will comprise each team’s total.

If a player is selected as a batsman, only their runs will be counted, regardless of if they take any wickets, while it’s vice-versa for a bowler.

A wicket-keeper’s catches and stumpings will count alongside their runs.

Scoring – 1 run = 1 point. 1 wicket = 20 points. 1 keeper’s catch = 10 points. 1 keeper’s stumping = 15 points.

Each franchise will pick a captain each round, whose points are worth double. A player can only captain once for the season.

And now, with the first pick of the 2016-17 BDCA Challenge Draft, Ozzie’s Outlaws select:

ROUND 1:

Pick 1 – Ozzie: Ben Gunn (Bendigo United, batsman). Hard to go past reigning league medallist.

Pick 2 – Bourkey: Craig Howard (Sandhurst, all-rounder). Sandhurst’s most dangerous bowler and still capable of making a big score.

Pick 3 – Westy: Taylor Beard (Sandhurst, all-rounder). Gun recruit to the Dragons with big reputation with both bat and ball. 

ROUND 2:

Pick 4 – Ozzie: Zen Malik (Sandhurst, all-rounder). Happy to fit in a player with England Under-19 experience.

Pick 5 – Westy: Josh Collinson (Eaglehawk, batsman). Was a consistent performer for my franchise last season. Pleasure to welcome him back into the squad.

Pick 6 – Bourkey: Mitch Winter-Irving (White Hills, all-rounder). Expecting big things from the Demons’ skipper. Will be bowling more overs this year.

ROUND 3:

Pick 7 – Ozzie: Ben DeAraugo (Strathdale, batsman). Proven performer, who was nice to me earlier this year when he complimented me on my bowling action.

Pick 8 – Bourkey: Adam Burns (Kangaroo Flat, all-rounder. A. Burns… say no more.

Pick 9 – Westy: Cameron Taylor (Strathdale, all-rounder). Solid operator with bat and ball. Not a bad get at pick 9.

ROUND 4:

Pick 10 – Ozzie: Chris Barber (Kangaroo Flat, bowler). Spin to win… isn’t that what they say?

Pick 11 – Westy: Leigh McDermott (Bendigo United, all-rounder). Seemed criminal wasn’t selected in a team last season. Not making same mistake again.

Pick 12 – Bourkey: Ben Devanny (Strathfieldsaye, all-rounder). Still the main man at the Jets. Hopefully, has a more consistent season with the bat.

ROUND 5:

Pick 13 – Ozzie: Nathan Fitzpatrick (Bendigo, all-rounder). My tip for Cricketer of Year, so of course I’m picking him in my team.

Pick 14 – Bourkey: Linton Jacobs (Strathdale, keeper). Wicket-keeping points are crucial and no better gloveman in the competition.

Pick 15 – Westy: Brodie McRae (Huntly, keeper). Hopefully, can return to his form of a couple of years ago with the bat and get me plenty of runs at the top of the Power order.

ROUND 6:

Pick 16 – Ozzie: Shane Koop (Bendigo, batsman). He’s here to make runs for the Goers… and for me.

Pick 17 – Westy: Heath Behrens (Bendigo United, batsman). Old warhorse may prove a bargain buy going in round six.

Pick 18 – Bourkey: Gavin Bowles (White Hills, batsman). No-one made more runs than him last season. A steal at pick 18.

ROUND 7:

Pick 19 – Ozzie: Nathan Stubbings (Kangaroo Flat, keeper). Don’t know a lot about him, but he keeps and opens the batting, that’s good enough for me.

Pick 20 – Bourkey: Sam Johnston (Strathdale, bowler). Tempted to make him an all-rounder, but might not get enough time at crease with bat.

Pick 21 – Westy: Tim Wood (Golden Square, batsman). Quality batsman when he gets going. Hopefully, a return to his best this season.

ROUND 8:

Pick 22 – Ozzie: Rhys Irwin (White Hills, bowler). Will get plenty of opportunity to collect points this season with a lot of bowling ahead of him.

Pick 23 – Westy: Sam Stagg (White Hills, keeper). Great to have a fellow statistician in the ranks of the Warriors.

Pick 24 – Bourkey: Richard Tibbett (Eaglehawk, bowler). You blokes must be kidding yourselves not having snapped him up. Shame on you.

ROUND 9:

Pick 25 – Ozzie: Josh Blencowe (Golden Square, bowler). Breakout season last year with the ball. Looking for bigger and better things this summer.

Pick 26 – Bourkey: Anthony West (Eaglehawk, batsman). Stop the fight, this is all over already.

Pick 27 – Westy: Alex Pearson (Bendigo, bowler). Can bat too, but content just to snare the bowling points.

ROUND 10:

Pick 28 – Ozzie: Elliott Massina (Huntly-North Epsom, batsman). Hoping the captaincy will bring out the best him at the top of the order.

Pick 29 – Westy: Greg Lyon (Strathfieldsaye, batsman). Please Lippy, I backed you in last season, I need you to step up for me this season and contribute.

Pick 30 – Bourkey: Brent Hamblin (Kangaroo Flat, all-rounder). Expecting the captaincy to elevate his output.

ROUND 11:

Pick 31 – Ozzie: Nick Crawford (Bendigo United, bowler). Anyone who loves the WWE as much as me and is also a Tigers’ man is my guy.

Pick 32 – Bourkey: Zane Keighran (Golden Square, batsman). Only knock is he will miss a few games through rep cricket.

Pick 33 – Westy: Cory Jacobs (Eaglehawk, all-rounder). First-year captain, a focus of my drafting to have a solid leadership group.

ROUND 12:

Pick 34 – Ozzie: Zac East (Eaglehawk, batsman). If he has half a good a season with the willow as he did on the footy field with Bridgewater this year, I’ll be a happy camper.

Pick 35 – Westy: Mark Ryan (Bendigo, batsman). This is your year Chicken, continue to age like a good red wine with plenty of points.

Pick 36 – Bourkey: Jack Bouwmeester (Bendigo United, bowler). Continuing my youth policy with this selection. No better young quick in the comp.

ROUND 13:

Pick 37 – Ozzie: Stephen Brown (Strathfieldsaye, all-rounder). Good to have a player in of a similar vintage to me.

Pick 38 – Bourkey: Mick Hanson (Huntly-North Epsom, batsman). Was a consistent point scorer for Westy last year, but contacted me looking for a better opportunity. Took a lot of haggling, but the trade deal has been done.

Pick 39 – Westy: Liam Smith (Golden Square, bowler). Looking for a left-arm spinner to offer some variety to the attack. Can now tick that off.

ROUND 14:

Pick 40 – Ozzie: Brett Elvey (Huntly-North Epsom, all-rounder). Workhorse with the ball, can bat anywhere… bit like me back in the day.

Pick 41 – Westy: Sam Sperling (Sandhurst, all-rounder). Made some extra inquiries into this selection, hoping it pays off for the new-comer to the Dragons.

Pick 42 – Bourkey: Scott Trollope (Golden Square, bowler). Extra responsibility with the pill at Square this season.

ROUND 15:

Pick 43 – Ozzie: Beauden Rinaldi (Strathfieldsaye, batsman). Returns from downtown, young chap with plenty of ability.

Pick 44 – Bourkey: Andrew Stove (Strathfieldsaye, bowler). Risky pick with a potential limited season, but I’ve got that much class in the squad I can cover him if need be.

Pick 45 – Westy: Jacob DeAraugo (Strathdale, bowler). One of the leaders of the Suns’ attack, I’ll shout you a couple of beers at our premiership celebrations if you can earn more points than your brother does for the Outlaws.

ROUND 16:

Pick 46 – Ozzie: Scott Johnson (Golden Square, batsman). Veteran left-hander who will be looking to get back amongst the big runs this season.

Pick 47 – Westy: Peter Moore (Huntly-North Epsom, bowler). Recruit who bowls with good pace.

Pick 48 – Bourkey: Riley Treloar (Bendigo United, batsman). With that wig and his array of shots, could be the Blazers’ poster boy.

ROUND 17:

Pick 49 – Ozzie: Andrew Smith (Eaglehawk, all-rounder). Hoping to see plenty of what he produced with the bat in last season’s semi against BUCCs.

Pick 50 – Bourkey: Linc McRae (Huntly-North Epsom, batsman). Just shoring up the list late with some experience. Hopefully, Daniel Wells-inspired selection rather than Lynden Dunn.

Pick 51 – Westy: Jake Klemm (Kangaroo Flat, batsman). Confident youngster coming off a breakout season last year. Pick 51 seems quite low for him, but I’ll take it.

ROUND 18:

Pick 52 – Ozzie: Joel Schneider (Sandhurst, keeper). Plenty of spin in the Dragons’ attack, so hopefully, plenty of stumpings coming his way.

Pick 53 – Westy: Ryan Grundy (White Hills, batsman). Looking for a top-order batsman who can also rap. Welcome back Reg after you were traded out last season, but I’m a forgiving man.

Pick 54 – Bourkey: Kyle Chant (Bendigo, batsman). I’ve always had respect for left-handed opening batsmen.

ROUND 19:

Pick 55 – Ozzie: Ryan Haythorpe (Strathdale, bowler). Seams the bowl around much I like used to when in my prime.

Pick 56 – Bourkey: Manning Walsh (Sandhurst, batsman). Stocking the list with some young guns. This fella has plenty of potential.

Pick 57 – Westy: Cory Devanny (Strathfieldsaye, bowler). Back in the competition this season, hopefully, refreshed and raring to go.

ROUND 20:

Pick 58 – Ozzie: Ollie Geary (White Hills, batsman). Aggressive left-hander who needs to turn 30s into big scores. That’s what they used to say about me, too.

Pick 59 – Daniel Barber (Kangaroo Flat, batsman). It’s been an anxious day while you wait to hear your name called, but here it is.

Pick 60 – Xavier Ryan (Bendigo, keeper). Another rising star of the competition. Word is he has much better hands than his old man.

DRAFT COMPLETED.