England trio Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow and Jofra Archer have been retained by their Hundred franchises for the 2023 season.
The trio missed final 12 months’s version with Stokes and Bairstow citing their heavy workload following a packed summer time of Test cricket whereas Archer was on his manner again from a long-standing elbow challenge.
On Thursday, Hundred groups confirmed their retained checklist forward of the draft on March 23 and Welsh Fire saved maintain of Bairstow, Stokes will stay with Northern Superchargers and Archer remains to be a part of the Southern Brave.
England batter Sophia Dunkley will probably be up for grabs within the first ladies’s draft after Southern Brave opted to let her transfer on, with Danni Wyatt and Kate Cross additionally concerned within the draft the place Tammy Beaumont’s Welsh Fire could have first choose.
Dunkley stated: “It’s very exciting to be in the draft. It’s a different emotion not knowing where you’ll be playing your cricket, but you look across the eight teams and there’s so much quality across the competition.
“I’m looking forward to seeing where will become home next season, and I can’t wait to play in the third year of the Hundred – it’s already done great things for women’s cricket and I can’t wait to be a part of it again.”
Last week Dunkley was picked up by Gujarat Giants for simply over £60,000 within the inaugural Women’s Premier League (WPL) public sale.
Her England team-mate Nat Sciver-Brunt went for a six-figure deal of round £320,000 to Mumbai Indians and unsurprisingly Trent Rockets have retained her providers.
Sciver-Brunt stated: “It’s great to be retained by Trent Rockets. We came pretty close last time round and we want to build on that this year.”
India’s Smriti Mandhana, who fetched round £340,000 within the WPL public sale, will symbolize Southern Brave once more later this 12 months with Ellyse Perry to play for Birmingham Phoenix.
Overseas stars Rashid Khan and Glenn Maxwell have been retained by males’s champions Trent Rockets and London Spirit respectively with Jos Buttler additionally set to be a part of the Manchester Originals squad.
Moeen Ali’s Birmingham Phoenix completed runners-up in 2022 and have saved the majority of their group from final 12 months.
“We’re really excited about having retained 10 players ahead of the third year of the competition,” Moeen added.
“We’ve seen across short-form competitions around the world that keeping a core squad together can make a real difference and hopefully it’ll help us win the Hundred this year.
“We’ve got a lot of talented players and it’s a great group, so we can’t wait to get out in front of the Edgbaston crowd again.”
Teams within the males’s competitors have been capable of retain 10 gamers whereas the ladies’s franchises may preserve 4 of their 2022 group.
Welsh Fire males, underneath the management of Australian Mike Hussey, have eight areas to fill at subsequent month’s draft.
The checklist for the draft will probably be introduced on February 28 with groups within the males’s competitors capable of make two wildcard picks.