[ad_1]
Dave Rowland/Getty Images
White Ferns all-rounder Melie Kerr has been bought for $191,000 by the Mumbai Indians for the first season of the Indian Women’s Premier League.
White Ferns all-rounder Melie Kerr is in for a $191,000 payday after being picked up by Mumbai Indians for the first season of the Indian Women’s Premier League.
Team-mate Suzie Bates went unsold, while New Zealand captain Sophie Devine was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore for her base price of INR .5 crore (NZ$95,000).
Melie Kerr went for INR 1 crore ($191,000) after Bangalore competed with Mumbai for her services in the new T20 competition’s inaugural player auction on Monday.
Bates set her base price at INR .3 core ($57,000) and was one of four players in the first three groups of seven not to receive any bids.
The WPL is being launched this year, 15 years after the first season of the Indian Premier League men’s T20 competition.
Each of the five teams – Mumbai, Bangalore, UP Warriorz, Delhi Capitals and Gujarat Giants – had a budget of INR 12 crore to spend on a squad of between 15 and 18 players.
They are each allowed to sign six international players, but only four can play at any one time, though a fifth can play if they are from an associate cricketing nation.
Indian batter Smriti Mandhana, Australian all-rounder Ash Gardner and England all-rounder Nat Sciver-Brunt were the three biggest buys in the first three rounds of the auction.
Mandhana went to Bangalore for INR 3.4 crore ($648,000), Gardner went to Gujarat for INR 3.2 crore ($610,000) and Sciver-Brunt went to Mumbai for the same price.
Devine is unable to bowl at the moment as she recovers from a broken foot.
She will join Mandhana and Australian all-rounder Ellyse Perry at Bangalore, who have former Black Caps coach Mike Hesson as their director of cricket operations.
The advent of the WPL is set to be a financial game-changer for women’s cricket.
Kerr’s $191,000 WPL salary is almost $30,000 greater than the highest New Zealand Cricket retainer, which is set at $163,246. White Ferns earn match fees on top of their annual salaries.
She will join Sciver-Brunt and Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur at Mumabi.
The first WPL season is due to begin on March 4, a week after the final of the ongoing T20 World Cup in South Africa.
The White Ferns are due to play the hosts at 6am on Tuesday NZ time, two days after losing to Australia in their opening match.
WPL auction – first three rounds
White Ferns
Melie Kerr to Mumbai for $191,000
Sophie Devine to Bangalore for $95,000
Suzie Bates unsold
Biggest buys
Smriti Mandhana to Bangalore for $648,000
Ash Gardner (Australia) to Gujarat for $610,000
Nat Sciver-Brunt (England) to Mumbai for $610,000
Deepti Sharma (India) to UP Warriorz for $496,000
Jemimah Rodrigues (India) to Delhi for $419,000
[ad_2]