The Hundred draft
Flickr photo by Ben Sutherland shared under a Creative Commons (BY 2.0) license.

The Hundred draft ushers in cricket’s newest format

Mustafa Ismail·
Cricket
·0 Comments·

Hot on the heels of an extremely enjoyable English summer, cricketers from across the nation gathered at Sky Studios for The Hundred draft…

The Hundred, cricket’s newest limited-overs franchise league, will be the first to be played in the 100-ball format. A city-based structure has been adopted for the tournament by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), with teams acquiring players through a draft system. The inaugural competition will include eight teams, and at least one of England’s centrally-contracted Test players will be assigned to each side.

Trent Rockets kicked off the draft with Joe Root in their corner and added some quality T20 players to their squad in Rashid Khan, D’Arcy Short, and Harry Gurney. Rashid Khan was the first player to be picked in The Hundred draft, illustrating the importance of spinners in every form of the game. The Afghan captain has found success in multiple T20 leagues – including the T20 Blast and the Indian Premier League (IPL) – and has consistently impressed for his country.

Jofra Archer was recruited by Southern Brave as their central contract player and they managed to bring in plenty of firepower with the likes David Warner and Andre Russell. Russell has performed tremendously well in T20 cricket, with some jaw-dropping showings in competitions like the IPL. It’s almost inevitable the the West Indian star will make his mark in The Hundred as well.

England’s World Cup hero, Ben Stokes, was picked to lead the Northern Superchargers – and he’ll be accompanied by the explosive Australian duo of Aaron Finch and Chris Lynn. Mujeeb Ur Rahman was also drafted in and his unorthodox spin should prove useful. Given his imperious displays over the summer, Stokes will be expected to channel the same energy during The Hundred and lead his side from the front.

Welsh Fire are led by Jonny Bairstow and swooped in both Steve Smith and Mitchell Starc during the draft. Despite being world-class players, Smith and Starc haven’t quite mastered the T20 format. Even so, their team will be counting on them to deliver on English pitches. The Oval Invincibles opted for Sam Curran as their icon player and he has some bright English talent supporting him – including his brother Tom Curran, Jason Roy, and Sam Billings. Sunil Narine is another versatile T20 player in their squad and will undoubtedly add plenty of international experience.

The Manchester Orignals favoured a more localised approach and invested in players who excelled for Lancashire Lightning in the T20 Blast. Among those names are Phil Salt, Dane Vilas, and Saqib Mahmood. Despite the team’s lack of household names, they do boast Joss Buttler as their centrally-contracted player. Buttler is one of the best in the world when it comes to the shorter formats, with a penchant for smashing the ball over the boundary. In fact, it wouldn’t be surprising if he opens the innings and sets some records at the inaugural event. The likes of Dan Christian, Wayne Parnell, and Mitchell Santner will add to the mix for Manchester and the team’s chemistry could help fill any gaps in terms of quality.

World Cup winning captain Eoin Morgan was drafted into London Spirit – along with the likes of Glen Maxwell, Mohammad Nabi, Mohammad Amir, and Mark Wood. To add to their quality, the side will be coached by Shane Warne. The Australian legend possesses a brilliant cricketing brain and has the experience of building a team from scratch under his belt, courtesy of his time with the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL. Warne has built a reputation for thinking outside the box, and there’s no doubt he can guide his team to the title in The Hundred’s very first season.

In terms of Englishmen, Birmingham Phoenix have the likes of Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali at their disposal. They’re further reinforced by Kane Williamson, who’s a sublime batsman in every format. The team’s bowling options might feel a bit light, but they have a decent mix of local and international talent to work with. Each of the aforementioned eight teams seem well-matched on paper – and the even distribution of star names across the board will make the competition all the more exciting. Chris Gayle, Lasith Malinga, and Babar Azam were among the stars who were overlooked in the draft – but any injuries going into the tournament could force teams to reshuffle their squads and accommodate those who missed out.