Eight new teams. World-class players. 100 balls to make an impact. Cricket like never before
Sunday 13 October 2019 10:48, UK
England all-rounder Ben Stokes has been snapped up by Northern Superchargers in the opening player picks for next year's new competition, The Hundred.
Stokes was selected for the Headingley-based team, which represents Yorkshire and Durham, ahead of Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow, who will play for Trent Rockets and Welsh Fire respectively.
Each of the eight teams in the competition was able to pick one England red-ball contracted player and two local icons on Thursday.
Nottinghamshire seamer Stuart Broad was earmarked to play for the Rockets but his place now goes to Root as neither Broad nor James Anderson will compete as players in the new competition.
The pair, who have 281 Test caps between them, will instead act as mentors - Broad for the Rockets and Anderson for the Manchester Originals.
Bairstow will represent Welsh Fire - the team based at Cardiff, as there are currently no red-ball contracted England players playing for Glamorgan, Gloucestershire and Somerset.
The women's competition will run alongside the men's under the same team names with England Women's captain Heather Knight representing London Spirit, while PCA Women's Player of the Summer Sophie Ecclestone will play for Manchester Originals.
World-Cup winning captain Eoin Morgan will represent London Spirit under head coach Shane Warne as one of their two local icon players, who are drawn from the pool of cricketers associated with the catchment area for that team.
Discarded Test opener Jason Roy will join Surrey team-mate Tom Curran at the Oval, while all-rounder Moeen Ali will play for Birmingham Phoenix.
The rest of the squads will be decided at the first ever player draft in English cricket - an event that you can watch live on Sky Sports Cricket from 7pm on Sunday October 20.
The star-studded event has attracted interest from some of the biggest players on the planet, including West Indies opener Chris Gayle, Australian batsman Steve Smith and Sri Lankan pace ace Lasith Malinga.
The women's teams are being selected over a two-stage system, which began on September 1 when each team was obliged to sign two players from the current 22-strong England Women's central contract list.
Each team was then free to sign their remaining 13 players from across three different player pools from the start of October, from the remaining England Women's centrally contracted players, overseas players and domestic players.
'The Hundred Draft - Live' will be live on Sky Sports Cricket, Main Event & Sky One from 1900-2200 on Sunday October 20. It will also be available via Sky Sports' Facebook and YouTube channels, as well as live on the Sky Sports app and streamed on skysports.com.
