England's Nat Sciver-Brunt was sold for £320,000 in the WPL auction; Sophie Ecclestone will play for the UP Warriorz after being sold for £180,000
Monday 13 February 2023 17:33, UK
England's Nat Sciver-Brunt has been sold for £320,000 in the first Women's Premier League auction.
There was fierce competition for the all-rounder, with the Mumbai Indians beating out the UP Warriorz in the end.
However, the UP Warriorz did secure England spin bowler Sophie Ecclestone for £180,000, with England coach Jon Lewis at the helm of the side.
Their biggest competition for Ecclestone came from the Gujarat Giants and Delhi Capitals but the Warriorz came in late to secure the 23-year-old.
Australia all-rounder Ash Gardner was sold for £320,000 to the Giants, while the highest price so far has been commanded by India's Smriti Mandhana, who was bought by the Royal Challengers Bangalore for £340,000, while her international teammate Deepti Sharma was bough by UP Warriroz for £259,000.
Despite missing out on Ecclestone, the Giants also secured Australia's Beth Mooney for £200,000, plus England opener Sophia Dunkley for £60,000.
Ecclestone will be joined at the Warriorz by fast bowler and England team-mate Lauren Bell after a late bid was put for the 22-year-old of £30,000, with Heather Knight heading to Royal Challengers Bangalore after an opening bid of £40,000.
England all-rounder Alice Capsey heads to the Delhi Capitals after being sold for £75,000, while 20-year-old bowler Issy Wong heads to the Indians alongside Nat Sciver-Brunt for £30,000.
Although some England players have been picked up, there were no bids for Tammy Beaumont, Sarah Glenn, Danni Wyatt, Katherine Sciver-Brunt and Freya Davies.
The England players were left to decide whether they would follow the draw in the immediate build-up to their T20 match, or find out afterwards, which Knight admitted was a slightly odd situation.
"It was very weird actually," the England captain said, adding: "We tried to have a team meeting before we got on the bus and all the Indians were watching it in our hotel and we had to move the meeting because there was lots of cheering.
"So it was strange and something we'd never experienced and you don't often get it in the men's game when it's on matchday, so it was all (about) trying to manage it as best we could.
"(We were) trying to do what individuals wanted and also trying to (keep) our main focus on the game."
The five franchises picked their squads from 409 cricketers, including 27 from England.
A total of 448 players were auctioned, with a maximum of 90 earning deals.
The Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) received 1,525 applications for the tournament - the equivalent of the men's Indian Premier League - with 246 Indians and 163 overseas players reaching the shortlist.
Across the five franchises, 90 slots were available, with 30 places reserved for overseas players - six per franchise.
Each team had roughly £1.2m to spend to form their 15-18 player squads, with the most sought-after players earning six-figure deals.
