Jason Roy goes unselected as West Indian power-hitters dominate Men’s Hundred draft،
Jason Roy will not feature in the Hundred this summer after going unselected in Wednesday night's draft at the Shard in London, leaving him without a team for the 2024 season following his release by men's reigning champions Oval Invincibles.
Roy played every game for the Invincibles last summer but failed to make an impact, with more ducks (three) than half-centuries (one) and was released by their coach Tom Moody last month. He entered the draft with a reserve price of £100,000, but all eight men's teams prioritized foreign players from the early rounds.
Mark Wood, who also came in with a reserve price of £100,000, was also not selected, but his non-selection was less notable given that he had withdrawn from the Hundred's first three seasons due to of an injury or to manage their workload. England's red-ball players will miss the start of the competition, which starts on July 23 this year, due to a third Test clash against the West Indies.
Roy would not have been available for the opening days of the Hundred due to his commitments with LA Knight Riders in Major League Cricket – which is set to run until July 28 – and is also expected to miss some of the T20 Blast group matches of Surrey for the same reason. He could still feature in the Hundred this summer as a substitute, but his snub highlights a rapid decline in Roy's standing in the four-and-a-half years since England won the 2019 World Cup.
Five of the seven players signed on £125,000 premium contracts in the men's draft were West Indies power hitters, with new Northern Superchargers coach Andrew Flintoff choosing Nicholas Pooran as his first signing of the draft. Andre Russell and Shimron Hetmyer will play for London Spirit, Kieron Pollard joined Southern Brave and Rovman Powell was one of the Trent Rockets' first picks.
Although some West Indians may miss the first match or two due to their involvement in the MLC, they are expected to be available for most of the season and could skip a T20I series against South Africa. The ECB held talks with the organizers of the Caribbean Premier League earlier this year to avoid a clash with the Hundred, which appears to have been justified.
Tom Kohler-Cadmore will be a top earner again, joining Welsh Fire on a £125,000 deal. He will play alongside Shaheen Shah Afridi, who was brought back following his success last summer, while Shaheen's Pakistan teammate Naseem Shah was one of Birmingham Phoenix's top picks.
Laurie Evans joined Southern Brave after two seasons at Manchester Originals, while Dawid Malan – the Rockets' 2022 title top scorer – was a £50,000 signing by the Invincibles. Ollie Pope and Richard Gleeson have both joined London Spirit, while the Originals have brought in Sikandar Raza and Fazalhaq Farooqi.
The ECB's decision to increase the top salaries in the Women's Hundred was justified by the number of high-profile Australian players who took part in the draft, with Beth Mooney (Manchester Originals), Meg Lanning (London Spirit), Ash Gardner (Trent Rockets) and Annabel Sutherland. (Northern Superchargers) all landed £50,000 contracts.
Amy Jones was a surprise first pick of the draft, returning to Birmingham Phoenix after failing to agree on a retention last month, while Sri Lanka's Chamari Athapaththu was the Invincibles' first choice. Smriti Mandhana (Southern Brave) and Richa Ghosh (Birmingham Phoenix) were the two Indian internationals recruited.
Each team will add two additional players to their men's and women's squads before the start of the season in July, who will be offered “wild card” contracts based on their performances in domestic T20 cricket. These are worth £30,000 for men and £8,000 for women.
How the teams compare
Birmingham Phoenix
Male squad: Chris Woakes, Naseem Shah, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Ben Duckett, Benny Howell, Adam Milne, Jamie Smith, Will Smeed, Sean Abbott, Tom Helm, James Fuller, Dan Mousley, Jacob Bethell
Women's team: Amy Jones, Sophie Devine, Richa Ghosh, Ellyse Perry, Katie Levick, Issy Wong, Emily Arlott, Hannah Baker, Seren Smale, Alisa Lister, Chloe Brewer, Sterre Kalis, Charis Pavely
The spirit of London
Male squad: Zak Crawley, Andre Russell, Shimron Hetmyer, Nathan Ellis, Dan Lawrence, Liam Dawson, Dan Worrall, Olly Stone, Adam Rossington, Richard Gleeson, Ollie Pope, Daniel Bell-Drummond, Matthew Critchley, Michael Pepper
Women's team: Meg Lanning, Heather Knight, Grace Harris, Danielle Gibson, Charlie Dean, Sarah Glenn, Cordelia Griffith, Georgia Redmayne, Eva Gray, Sophie Munro, Hannah Jones, Tara Norris, Niamh Holland
Manchester Originals
Male squad: Jos Buttler, Jamie Overton, Phil Salt, Sikandar Raza, Paul Walter, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Tom Hartley, Usama Mir, Wayne Madsen, Josh Tongue, Max Holden, Josh Hull, Fred Klaassen, Mitchell Stanley
Women's team: Beth Mooney, Sophie Ecclestone, Sophie Molineux, Laura Wolvaardt, Lauren Filer, Eve Jones, Emma Lamb, Mahika Gaur, Fi Morris, Kathryn Bryce, Phoebe Graham, Ellie Threlkeld, Liberty Heap
Northern Superchargers
Male squad: Ben Stokes, Nicholas Pooran, Adil Rashid, Harry Brook, Reece Topley, Daniel Sams, Matthew Short, Brydon Carse, Adam Hose, Tom Lawes, Matthew Potts, Graham Clark, Callum Parkinson, Ollie Robinson
Women's team: Annabel Sutherland, Phoebe Litchfield, Georgia Wareham, Kate Cross, Bess Heath, Linsey Smith, Alice Davidson-Richards, Hollie Armitage, Grace Ballinger, Marie Kelly, Lucy Higham, Ella Claridge, Devina Perrin
Invincibles ovals
Male squad: Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Will Jacks, Adam Zampa, Jordan Cox, Gus Atkinson, Sam Billings, Saqib Mahmood, Spencer Johnson, Dawid Malan, Nathan Sowter, Donovan Ferreira, Tom Lammonby, Tawanda Muyeye
Women's team: Chamari Athapaththu, Marizanne Kapp, Alice Capsey, Lauren Winfield-Hill, Amanda-Jade Wellington, Tash Farrant, Mady Villiers, Paige Scholfield, Sophia Smale, Ryana MacDonald-Gay, Jo Gardner, Lizzie Scott, Georgie Boyce
Courageous from the South
Male squad: Jofra Archer, Kieron Pollard, James Vince, Chris Jordan, Tymal Mills, Laurie Evans, Leus du Plooy, Akeal Hosein, Rehan Ahmed, Craig Overton, Finn Allen, Danny Briggs, George Garton, Alex Davies
Women's team: Smriti Mandhana, Danni Wyatt, Chloe Tryon, Lauren Bell, Maia Bouchier, Freya Kemp, Naomi Dattani, Georgia Adams, Lauren Cheatle, Kalea Moore, Tilly Corteen-Coleman, Rhianna Southby, Mary Taylor
Trent rockets
Male squad: Joe Root, Rovman Powell, Rashid Khan, Imad Wasim, Alex Hales, Lewis Gregory, Luke Wood, Tom Banton, John Turner, Sam Hain, Sam Cook, Calvin Harrison, Jordan Thompson, Adam Lyth
Women's team: Ash Gardner, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Grace Scrivens, Alana King, Heather Graham, Bryony Smith, Katie George, Kirstie Gordon, Grace Potts, Alexa Stonehouse, Josie Groves, Kira Chathli, Cassidy McCarthy
Welsh fire
Male squad: Jonny Bairstow, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, David Willey, Shaheen Afridi, Joe Clarke, Haris Rauf, Tom Abell, Glenn Phillips, David Payne, Luke Wells, Roelof van der Merwe, Jake Ball, Stevie Eskinazi, Chris Cooke
Women's team: Hayley Matthews, Sophia Dunkley, Shabnim Ismail, Tammy Beaumont, Jess Jonassen, Georgia Elwiss, Sarah Bryce, Freya Davies, Phoebe Franklin, Emily Windsor, Ella McCaughan, Claire Nicholas, Alex Griffiths