Bairstow had been due to play for Welsh Fire, and was expected to be available for the first two or three games – including Wednesday’s season opener against defending champions Southern Brave – before linking up with England’s Test squad to play South Africa. But he has pulled out to rest ahead of that series and a busy winter ahead.
England’s limited-overs players will be available for the full season of the Hundred but only a handful of Test players will take part, while others will be withdrawn to play for England Lions against South Africa in a four-day warm-up match in Canterbury.
The Hundred’s schedule allows centrally-contracted Test players to appear in two or three group games and the knockout stages, and the number of games for which they will be available should increase in 2023, when the competition has a three-week window in the English summer.
Elsewhere, fast bowler Jamie Overton will miss the Hundred for the second season in a row after suffering injuries to his hand and foot during Surrey’s County Championship game against Warwickshire. Paul Walter, the Essex allrounder will replace Overton at Manchester Originals.
Tom Abell, Somerset’s captain, has been ruled out of his Birmingham Phoenix stint because of a hamstring injury, while Ollie Robinson (Originals) and Rory Burns (Oval Invincibles) have been released to play in the Royal London Cup for their counties.