Trent Woodhill has mentored superstars and helped design a new format, now he has been enlisted by Cricket Australia as part of its push to bring the world's best to the BBL.
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Woodhill resigned as the Melbourne Stars' list manager to shape the BBL's global player recruitment strategy.
Woodhill's coaching CV includes stints around the world in which he worked with Steve Smith, David Warner, Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson.
He will continue to coach the Stars' WBBL team, but is fast becoming one of the sport's more influential consultants after also helping England draw up plans for its new franchise-based competition The Hundred.
The BBL is already in the final stage of updating its playing conditions for 2020-21, including the addition of free-hits for wides.
It's understood that clubs are also preparing for the advent of an international player draft, which would be one of the bigger BBL shake-ups in the league's short history.
"I'm not sure where we are at in terms of a draft. I'm sure in coming weeks I'll get a better idea," Woodhill told AAP.
"I really enjoy watching the IPL auction and enjoyed being part of The Hundred draft. It's something that could be very successful in Australia.
"It brings a lot of narrative around it. Journalists, broadcasters and fans are interested. It piques players' interest, because there is that sense of wondering what will happen."
England and former Hobart paceman Jofra Archer headlines the list of names linked with this summer's BBL.
Quarantine and biosecurity protocols will add another layer of difficultly to Woodhill's recruitment drive.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced CA to rejig its plans for the Twenty20 league, but BBL boss Alistair Dobson reiterated on Tuesday that "we are committed to bringing the best available T20 players to Australia".
Dobson suggested Woodhill's input would help the league's "ongoing focus on innovation".
Woodhill has a reputation of being a left-field thinker, as reflected in some of the rules that will be part of The Hundred's inaugural season in 2021, but noted his role would be to "bring information to the table, rather than ideas".
"It's easy to come up with an idea and run with it," he said.
"It's not so much what ideas do I have?
"It's more gathering as much information as possible from the people involved in the BBL."
Australian Associated Press
