The draft for the 2022 edition of the men’s Hundred took place on Tuesday
(Picture: The Hundred)Big-name internationals such as David Warner and Babar Azam went unselected but Jacob Bethell and Rehan Ahmed, stars of England’s Under-19s World Cup campaign this year, were picked up in the draft for the second edition of the men’s Hundred.
While four West Indies players – Kieron Pollard (London Spirit), Andre Russell (Manchester Originals), Sunil Narine (Oval Invincibles) and Dwayne Bravo (Northern Superchargers) – were picked up in the top bracket for £125,000, one of the defining aspects of the draft was teams’ prioritisation of homegrown talent ahead of overseas stars, due to complications around availability.
So that saw uncapped English batters Joe Clarke (Welsh Fire), Tom Kohler-Cadmore (Trent Rockets) and Laurie Evans (Manchester Originals) all sold in the top bracket. Liam Dawson was another big winner, picked up for £125,000 by London Spirit.
All-rounder Bethell was picked up for £30,000 by Welsh Fire and leg-spinner Ahmed, 17, by champions Southern Brave for £50,000 following impressive U19 World Cup campaigns with England.
The ECB may have been disappointed that teams did not pick up stars of the international game like Warner and Babar, but there has been caution over availability with a packed international calendar at that time.
For instance, West Indies are playing India and New Zealand around this time, as well as hosting the Caribbean Premier League, so Pollard may not play a game despite being the No1 draft pick.
Teams have opted for overseas players who are likely to have better availability, even if their marketing pull might not be as strong.
London Spirit picked up Australian quick Riley Meredith – a favourite of their late coach Shane Warne – alongside Pollard and Dawson. Jordan Thompson and Daniel Bell-Drummond have also joined their squad.
Invincibles re-signed Narine, as well as picking up South African Rilee Rossouw and Australian Hilton Cartwright, who should be available for the whole tournament. They also signed Danny Briggs, the former England spinner.
Domestic players who might feel unfortunate not to be picked up include Middlesex duo Stevie Eskinazi and Tom Helm, as well as Worcestershire’s Pat Brown and Dillon Pennington.
Despite already having as many as 16 players on their lists, each team will pick two more up before the tournament starts in two wildcard drafts. One is for overseas players, taking the tally in each squad to four (but only three can play each match), the other is for locals, based on performance in the Vitality Blast.
