More than 500 domestic and overseas players entered Monday’s draft, with a total of 35 stars securing contracts to play in the inaugural running of The Hundred. Most of the squads have stayed the same since last year when the tournament was scheduled to take place before the coronavirus pandemic. But the draft took place on Monday to finalise the squads and Shakib Al Hasan, Babar Azam, Quinton De Kock, Lockie Ferguson, Jason Holder and Tamim Iqbal were among the players to miss out.
All teams now have one wild card pick each to fill their final slots in June.
“I can’t wait to come and play in The Hundred, it’s an exciting new cricket competition and I’m really pleased to be part of it,” number two pick Pollard said in a statement.
“… With Jhye (Richardson) joining as well, I think this Welsh Fire team has got some serious firepower in both bowling and batting line-ups, so I believe we can put on a real show.”
West Indies batsman Nicholas Pooran was the men’s first pick in the draft and he was joined in the Manchester Originals squad by South African fast bowler Kagiso Rabada.
A further eight English and eight Australian women’s players were announced for the women’s tournament, including Meg Lanning (Welsh Fire), Sophie Molineux (Trent Rockets) and Alyssa Healy (Northern Superchargers).
The women did not have a draft, with teams set to continue filling their squads over the coming months.
Northern Superchargers picked up England quick Olly Stone and local players Matthew Fisher and Harry Brook, while Welsh Fire won the race to sign Windies all-rounder and T20 gun Pollard. Australian bowler and IPL 2021 signing Jhye Richardson is also heading to Cardiff, while London Spirit – who will be based at Lord’s and coached by Australia legend Shane Warne – picked up Ravi Bopara and Chris Wood. David Warner will be joining the likes of Jofra Archer, Andre Russell and Marcus Stoinis at Southern Brave, who will be coached by Sri Lanka legend and IPL winner Mahela Jayawardene.
Oval Invincibles added Saqib Mahmood, Colin Ingram, Brandon Glover and Jordan Clark to their squad, while Trent Rockets – now coached by Andy Flower after Stephen Fleming pulled out – signed up Timm van der Gugten and Samit Patel. Birmingham Phoenix, meanwhile, bolstered their squad with the signings of Tom Abell, Daniel Bell-Drummond and Miles Hammond. Each team will be able to sign one more player in the period between the end of this summer’s T20 Blast tournament and the start of The Hundred.
The ECB has invested heavily in The Hundred, a competition it believes will attract younger audiences to the sport. Matches will comprise 100 balls per innings with a change of ends after 10 deliveries.
The launch of the inaugural edition was postponed last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The women’s competition will mark the start of The Hundred with Oval Invincibles meeting Manchester Originals on July 21, a day before the men’s teams face off.
With reporting by Reuters, American Stock News and Metro
