Rosa Simkin (@rosatalksball) – 20/03/24
Date – Wednesday 20th of March
Time – 17:30 (GMT)
Location – The Shard, London
Where To Follow – The Hundred YouTube & Tiktok
The cricket season is approaching rather rapidly and with it comes the return of The Hundred, as the tournament enters its fourth year, but before a tournament can be played in August the team’s need to fill their squads. Today is the day as The Hundred Draft powered by Sage returns! Here is my draft preview for the women’s tournament with all you need to know, from a logistical point of view looking at how everything will actually work, the information regarding players who are available for selection and of course my opinions on the event, the one’s to watch and much more. There’s something for everyone!
Order of Content – How does the draft work? (in depth guide), how do the squads currently look?, available slots in the squads, who is available for selection? (list of domestic & international players), ones to watch, my point of view, where to find me & recent articles.
How does The Draft work?
We have now reached Stage Two of the player selection process, The Hundred Draft, Powered by Sage. This evening we will establish how the squads will shape up for the tournament in August, as they will be (almost) complete.
There are 12 overseas and 20 domestic player slots available at this point in the draft.
To help you understand how The Women’s Draft works, allow me to split all of the information into a five part guide 🙂
Part One – Draft Order:
Teams take it in turn to select players, the draft order is a reverse of the final standings from 2023 (8th Placed – 1st Place)
Draft Order –
- Birmingham Phoenix
- Manchester Originals
- London Spirit
- Oval Invincibles
- Trent Rockets
- Welsh Fire
- Northern Superchargers
- Southern Brave
Part Two – Squad Size:
Each of the eight teams has a maximum squad size of 15 players, they have already had the opportunity to retain up to eight players from their 2023 squads.
Therefore, each side will use the draft to fill any remaining gaps in salary bands 1 – 13. The two lowest salary bands (14 & 15) will be filled at a later date during the “Vitality Wild Card Draft”, more on that in part five!
Each squad is also allowed up to three overseas players.
Part Three – The Salary Bands:
The salary bands for the 2024 edition of the tournament have increased in the women’s tournament. There is one player per salary band listed. (e.g. 2 players will earn £50k etc.)
| Salary Band 1 – £50,000 | Salary Band 9 – £14,000 |
| Salary Band 2 – £50,000 | Salary Band 10 – £14,000 |
| Salary Band 3 – £40,000 | Salary Band 11 – £11,000 |
| Salary Band 4 – £40,000 | Salary Band 12 – £11,000 |
| Salary Band 5 – £30,000 | Salary Band 13 – £8,000 |
| Salary Band 6 – £30,000 | Salary Band 14 – £8,000 |
| Salary Band 7 – £17,500 | Salary Band 15 – £8,000 |
| Salary Band 8 – £17,500 |
REMEMBER – Only bands 1 – 13 will be filled at the conclusion of this draft!!!
Part Four – The Additional Rules:
Reserve Prices:
- The players who enter the draft had the opportunity to set themselves a reserve price, those who opted to do so cannot be signed for a lower amount of money then that price (BUT they can recieve more money if a team decides to give it!)
The Right to Match Card:
- Each of the eight women’s teams has access to ONE “Right to Match” opportunity. This allows a team to re-sign one of their 2023 players that they didn’t previously retain BUT ONLY when a rival team offers to buy them during the Draft.
- In order to use this “card”, they have to offer the same salary as that player’s prospective new team is doing. Therefore, if they have already filled up all their slots at that salary band, the option to match is not available.
- Birmingham Phoenix, who have the first pick this year are likely to be highly tactical, and look to make other teams use their “Right to Match” early on in the draft, by selecting players they don’t require but assume their previous team will want the service of.
Part Five – The Vitality Wildcard Draft (Done Post Today’s Draft):
As mentioned previously, after the conclusion of the draft today, each side will have their lowest two salary slots still empty. These are filled by The Vitality Wildcard Draft.
The draft which occurs closer to the start of The Hundred in August allows teams to reward domestic form in the playing season. In short it means players who weren’t selected in the main Draft can still pick up a contract.
How do the squads currently look?
Stage One of player selection has already occured and it was player retention, you can read the full list of retained players further down in the article. Each side had the option of retaining up to eight players, they had until the 29th of February to retain players from their 2023 squads. It is important to note that this can’t include injury replacement players.
Birmingham Phoenix (7 Retained) – Sophie Devine (OS – £50,000), Ellyse Perry (OS – £40,000), Issy Wong (£30,000), Emily Arlott (£17,500), Hannah Baker (£17,500), Sterre Kalis (£11,000) & Charis Pavely (£8,000)
London Spirit (8 Retained) – Heather Knight (£50,000), Grace Harris (OS – £40,000), Dani Gibson (£40,000), Charlie Dean (£30,000), Sarah Glenn (£30,000), Georgia Redmayne (OS – £17,500), Sophie Munro (£14,000) & Tara Norris (£11,000)
Manchester Originals (7 Retained) – Sophie Ecclestone (£50,000), Laura Wolvaardt (OS – £40,000), Emma Lamb (£17,500), Mahika Gaur (£17,500), Fi Morris (£14,000), Ellie Threlkeld (£11,000) & Liberty Heap (£8,000)
Northern Superchargers (8 Retained) – Phoebe Litchfield (OS – £50,000), Georgia Wareham (OS – £40,000), Kate Cross (£40,000), Bess Heath (£30,000), Linsey Smith (£30,000), Alice Davidson-Richards (£17,500), Hollie Armitage (£14,000) & Marie Kelly (£14,000)
Oval Invincibles (8 Retained) – Marizanne Kapp (OS – £50,000), Alice Capsey (£40,000), Lauren Winfield-Hill (£40,000), Tash Farrant (£30,000), Mady Villiers (£17,500), Paige Schofield (£17,500), Sophia Smale (£14,000) & Ryana MacDonald-Gay (£14,000)
Southern Brave (8 Retained) – Danni Wyatt (£50,000), Chloe Tryon (OS – £40,000), Lauren Bell (£40,000), Maia Bouchier (£30,000), Freya Kemp (£30,000), Georgia Adams (£17,500), Rhianna Southby (£11,000), Mary Taylor (£8,000)
Trent Rockets (6 Retained) – Nat Sciver-Brunt (£50,000), Alana King (OS – £40,000), Bryony Smith (£30,000), Kirstie Gordon (£17,500), Grace Potts (£14,000) & Alexa Stonehouse (£14,000)
Welsh Fire (8 Retained) – Hayley Matthews (OS – £50,000), Sophia Dunkley (£50,000), Shabnim Ismail (OS – £40,000), Tammy Beaumont (£40,000), Georgia Elwiss (£30,000), Sarah Bryce (£17,500), Freya Davies (£17,500) & Emily Windsor (£14,000)
Available slots in the squads:
Birmingham Phoenix (8 Slots Available) – 1x £50k, 1x £40k, 1x £30k, 2x £14k, 1x £11k & 2x £8k
London Spirit (7 Slots Available) – 1x £50k, 1x £17.5k, 1x £14k, 1x £11k & 3x £8k
Manchester Originals (8 Slots Available) – 1x £50k, 1x £40k, 2x £30k, 1x £14k, 1x £11k & 2x £8k
Northern Superchargers (7 Slots Available) – 1x £50k, 1x £17.5k, 2x £11k & 3x £8k
Oval Invincibles (7 Slots Available) – 1x £50k, 1x £30k, 2x £11k & 3x £8k
Southern Brave (7 Slots Available) – 1x £50k, 1x £17.5k, 2x £14k, 1x £11k & 2x £8k
Trent Rockets (6 Slots Available) – 1x £50k, 1x £40k, 1x £30k, 1x £17.5k, 2x £11k & 3x £8k
Welsh Fire (7 Slots Available) – 1x £30k, 1x £14k, 2x £11k & 3x £8k
Who is available for selection? (international players & domestic players)
122 domestic players & 139 international players have put themselves forward for the draft! There are 12 overseas and 28 domestic slots left for the tournament, but only 20 of those domestic slots are available to fill at this stage due to the Vitality Wildcard Draft (mentioned earlier)
Link – Domestic Players Available (Complete List)
Link – International Players Available (Complete List)
Ones to Watch!
Domestic:
- Amy Jones
- Katie George
- Grace Ballinger
- Eve Jones
- Lauren Filer
- Lizzie Scott
- Danielle Gregory
- Abtaha Maqsood
International:
- Meg Lanning (Australia)
- Shreyanka Patil (India)
- Asha Sobhana (India)
- Jess Kerr (New Zealand)
- Ash Gardner (Australia)
- Nonkululeko Mlaba (South Africa)
- Chamari Atthapththu (Sri Lanka)
- Deepti Sharma (India)
My point of view:
For many The Hundred remains a controversial solution to the issues women’s cricket faces in this country, for me however it’s been the turning point and if I’m honest, there are very few negatives in my mind regarding the women’s side of things.
Unfortunately though, I reckon whatever combination of overseas players is selected this evening I’ll end up being disappointed.
It’s rather predictable, the nations and more specifically the players within them who will get the call up. For many, they’d argue there’s a firm reason for that, these players from the big two of India and of course Australia have proved themselves over and over again, so why shouldn’t they be given the opportunity to shine on English soil.
I don’t disagree with that as an argument, in fact I think it is crucial for the growth of the game in England to have those big names over here. So then, what am I sat complaining about?
You see as I sit and I read this incredible list of cricketers from all around the globe, representation from countless nations I can’t help but to think to myself what if? What if some of the teams this evening handed opportunity to less known international stars to shine? What if players from associate nations were picked up? What if the predictable players from the likes of India and Australia were joined by young stars from those nations?
My main priority is the growth of the game as a whole, and as we only give those opportunities to the “big nations”, how do player’s from the smaller ones grow?
I know that any associate player or young player or player from a less predictable side who was given an opportunity in a franchise tournament would grab it eagerly with both hands and I well and truly hope that the draft this evening isn’t as predictable as I expect.
But for now, I reckon those hopes remain a dream, as much as it hurts to admit.
Where To Find Me (Press on Word for Link):
Instagram | X (Formerly Twitter) – Main Account, Podcast Account | Tiktok | Spotify (My Podcast) | YouTube |
Contact – contactrosatalksball@gmail.com
