Summary

  • 34 women's players earn deals including England's Kate Cross, Sarah Glenn, Sophia Dunkley and Danni Wyatt

  • Laura Wolvaardt, Dane van Niekerk, Harmanpreet Kaur and Grace Harris among overseas players to sign

  • 30 men get contracts including Ben Duckett, Reece Topley, David Willey and Olly Stone

  • Shaheen Afridi, Tim David, Haris Rauf and Mitch Marsh all earn contracts

  • Players to miss out include Babar Azam, Trent Boult, Jemimah Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh

  • Trent Rockets face Southern Brave in opening game on 1 August

  1. Who have Southern Brave retained?published at 14:44 Greenwich Mean Time 23 March 2023

    Southern Brave

    • Jofra Archer (Eng)
    • James Vince (£100k)
    • Chris Jordan (£100k)
    • Tymal Mills (£75k)
    • Rehan Ahmed (£60k)
    • Craig Overton (£60k)
    • Finn Allen (£50k)
    • George Garton (£50k)
    • Alex Davies (£40k)
    • James Fuller (£40k)
    • Joe Weatherley (£30k)

    Southern Brave, who were champions in the inaugural competition in 2021 but finished a disappointing seventh in 2022, have retained 10 players. That means they will be drafting three players, including two overseas.

  2. Who might Welsh Fire target?published at 14:41 Greenwich Mean Time 23 March 2023

    Welsh Fire

    Dwaine Pretorius bowls for Welsh Fire in The HundredImage source, Getty Images
    Image caption,

    Dwaine Pretorius took four wickets and scored 71 runs for Welsh Fire in 2022.

    Somerset all-rounder Tom Abell, having been released by Birmingham Phoenix, is being lined up as a likely captain for the Fire but they should be able to pick him up for £100k at most.

    South Africa's Dwaine Pretorius would represent good value at £40k, and the Fire also have the option of using their Right to Match (RTM) should they need to, which allows teams to match an offer made for one former player.

    A top-quality spinner is a must as well, with Sri Lanka's Maheesh Theekshana someone whose lengths will likely suit Cardiff's unique dimensions.

  3. What do Welsh Fire need in the draft?published at 14:41 Greenwich Mean Time 23 March 2023

    Welsh Fire

    The Fire need three top-six batters, with at least one able to offer a bowling option.

    The retention of three domestic seamers, none of whom can bat, gives them a balance issue that they need to resolve through targeting at least one all-rounder.

    With no overseas players retained and three of the first eight draft picks, the Fire have freedom to target some of the most high-profile foreign players.

    What price brackets do they have open?

    £125,000 x2, £100,000, £75,000, £60,000, £50,000 and £40,000 x2.

    What picks do they have?

    There are going to be 30 signings in the men's draft and Fire have the following picks: 1, 6, 8, 14, 17, 20, 23, 28.

  4. Why have those players been retained?published at 14:39 Greenwich Mean Time 23 March 2023

    Welsh Fire

    Welsh Fire's Joe Clarke walks out to the middleImage source, Getty Images
    Image caption,

    Joe Clarke scored 102 runs in eight games for Welsh Fire in 2022.

    For each men's side we've picked out three players among the retained list and worked with data analysts CricViz to highlight why they have been retained by their team. We've tried to pick players who had jeopardy over their position - either due to a high contract or a disappointing 2022.

    153 - Joe Clarke has a strike-rate of 153 against pace bowling in T20s since the start of 2020. That's high and important because Clarke usually opens the batting, when pace bowling is typically used.

    55% - Left-arm pace bowler David Payne bowls 55% of his deliveries in the powerplay, which in The Hundred is the first 25 balls of the innings. That means Fire are likely to be looking for bowlers who can bowl at the end of the innings in the draft.

    18 v 25 - Right-arm pace bowler George Scrimshaw has different success rates depending on if he's bowling to a right-hander batter or left-hander. He averages 18 with an economy rate of 7.75 v left-handers, compared to 25 and 9.34 v right-handers.

  5. Who have Welsh Fire retained?published at 14:38 Greenwich Mean Time 23 March 2023

    Welsh Fire

    • Jonny Bairstow (Eng)
    • Joe Clarke (£100k)
    • Ollie Pope (£75k)
    • David Payne (£60k)
    • Jake Ball (£50k)
    • George Scrimshaw (£30k)

    They only retained players in five of the 13 open slots so they will be adding eight players to their squad in the draft. They have all three overseas places available.

  6. Postpublished at 14:36 Greenwich Mean Time 23 March 2023

    Let's start by taking a look at how the men's draft could unfold later on.

    Up first, strugglers Welsh Fire who failed to win a single game in 2023, so there's much to improve on...

  7. How does the women's draft work?published at 14:33 Greenwich Mean Time 23 March 2023

    It's pretty exciting in the women's competition as we have the first women's player draft in a major UK sport.

    Teams could retain up to four players before the draft, which they have all done other than last year's wooden spoon holders Welsh Fire.

    They're all signing up to eight players today, which leaves seven spots remaining for the "open market" which will see teams talking directly to the players they want. So basically, if a player doesn't get signed today, it doesn't necessarily mean they will not be appearing at all.

    Unfortunately, the competition has already seen some pretty high-profile Australian omissions from the draft and dropouts such as Meg Lanning, Tahlia McGrath, Beth Mooney and Annabel Sutherland.

  8. How does the men's draft work?published at 14:30 Greenwich Mean Time 23 March 2023

    The men's teams were allowed to sign up to 10 players, which six teams did, while Northern Superchargers retained nine and Welsh Fire only five.

    So they all need to go up to 13 players today, plus two wildcard domestic signings to be confirmed nearer the time.

    Men's teams will be assigned an England centrally-contracted player, and they can have up to three overseas slots.

    But yesterday, it was confirmed that big names Mitchell Starc, Anrich Nortje and Aiden Markram had pulled their names from the draft.

  9. Welcomepublished at 14:30 Greenwich Mean Time 23 March 2023

    Good afternoon and welcome to draft day!

    It's time for each of The Hundred teams - both men's and women's - to add to their squads for 2023.

    We're kicking things off with the women's draft starting at around 4pm, but we'll start by reminding you of who's been retained, who teams are eyeing up, and how the (rather complicated) process works.