Finn Allen poached by Melbourne Stars in biggest BBL deal

Perth Scorchers were out-bid by Stars for the New Zealand power-hitter who helped them win a title last season

Perth Scorchers' title-winning hero, New Zealand opener Finn Allen, has been poached by Melbourne Stars in what shapes as the most lucrative deal in BBL history.

Allen was a stand-out performer in Scorchers' title last season and has become one of the most sought-after power-hitters in franchise cricket globally. He followed his stunning BBL season with a 33-ball unbeaten 100 in the T20 World Cup semi-final before scoring his first IPL century with Kolkata Knight Riders.

Allen has played the last two MLC seasons for San Francisco Unicorns, a team that is operated by Cricket Victoria's high performance department, which also runs Melbourne Stars, and is coached by Stars' new coach Cameron White.RelatedSantner resists BBL temptation to put New Zealand first

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With the scrapping of the overseas draft, the ability for Scorchers to retain Allen through that mechanism disappeared and the freed up salary cap space for a number of teams under the new rules started a bidding war for his services.

Scorchers were understood to be out-bid by some margin by Stars who are believed to have signed Allen to a AU$600,000 deal in at least the first year of a three-year contract. Whether the contract stays that size over future years remains to be seen as the BBL salary cap and contracting structure is likely to change once private equity is introduced and if a new player pay deal (MoU) is struck between Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers' Association.

"The Stars are a powerhouse team in this competition, so it's going to be a lot of fun playing for them," Allen said. "They've already got a huge fanbase and they're only getting bigger, and I can't wait to be a part of that.

"I think all cricketers love playing at the MCG, so to be able to call that my home ground now is really exciting."

While Allen's signing is a coup for Stars it will cause further frustration for high profile Australian players around the league who are currently locked under contract, including Stars captain Marcus Stoinis and allrounder Glenn Maxwell. Allen's big-money signing comes on the heels of Ben Stokes being signed to Adelaide Strikers on a deal reportedly worth AU$500,000, which is also more than the highest paid Australian player in the league.

There were calls for overseas players to have their salaries capped under the new rules, which were designed by CA at the request of local players and their agents who believed Australia's best players were not being rewarded adequately.

Adam Zampa, who recently signed with Hobart Hurricanes, believed the overseas players were still getting a better deal.

BBL boss Alistair Dobson told Cricinfo last month that the league were aware these types of deals might favour overseas players in the short term but was confident it would turn in local players' favour in the coming years.

"When you're making reasonably substantive changes to rules around contracting, it's really important that all the impacts and consequences and outcomes are thought through," Dobson said. "On one hand, it's about making sure that it's fair and competitive balance is a consideration for our clubs, and the reality is at this point in time, the player market is evolving really quickly, and so it's critical for us to make sure that whatever we do within our contracting rules considers all the different implications and dynamics in that market.

"Whether that's different cohorts of players and whether that's overseas or local players is one. And so it was important for us to take the time and consult with everyone that needed to to have a say on how that played out."