Increase in team purses from £800,000 to £1 million should help attact overseas stars too
England’s leading white-ball cricketers will earn up to £135,000 for their involvement in the Hundred next summer, following a 25% increase in salaries for the competition, ESPNcricinfo can reveal.
Men’s teams will be allow to retain up to 10 players who were contracted for the 2021 season, including those who withdrew due to injury or Covid-related factors like Maxwell, Warner and Shaheen. The window for retentions opened at 9am on Wednesday morning and will run until mid-February, before the draft is held in March.
The order of picks in March’s draft will be the reverse of the final standings for the 2021 season, meaning London Spirit will pick first in the first round and defending champions Southern Brave will pick last. Each team will have one ‘right-to-match’ option available in which they can re-sign a player who was contracted for 2021, so long as they have a free spot at the salary band offered to them by another team.
Australia and New Zealand players are expected to prove popular, with the majority of other major international teams due to play series during the Hundred’s window. New Zealand are due to play three Tests in England in June before white-ball series in Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands in July and early August, while Australia have a window free between a tour of Sri Lanka and three early-season ODIs at home to Zimbabwe.
Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @mroller98