Mitchell Starc, Harmanpreet Kaur among registrations for the Hundred draft

The eight teams announced which players they had retained ahead of the draft earlier this month. Their squads for this summer’s 100-ball tournament – which runs from August 1-27 – will be fleshed out at the draft next month, which will be televised live on Sky Sports for the first time since 2019.

In the women’s competition, each team could only retain four players, though will be able to use one Right-To-Match (RTM) card at the draft in order to keep hold of one extra player: Danni Wyatt (Southern Brave), Kate Cross (Manchester Originals) and Sophie Devine (Birmingham Phoenix) are all expected to return to their 2022 teams.

Harmanpreet, Rodrigues set top reserve price

As ESPNcricinfo revealed, several leading Australian women’s player are skipping the Hundred this year to give themselves a break after the Ashes. Forty-three Australian women have entered the draft including Megan Schutt, Amanda-Jade Wellington and Grace Harris, but Meg Lanning, Tahlia McGrath, Ash Gardner and Beth Mooney have opted out.

Six Indian women have registered, with Harmanpreet and Rodrigues setting themselves the top reserve price of £31,250 (INR 31 lakh approx). Shikha Pandey, Deepti Sharma, Disha Kasat and Kiran Navgire have entered the draft without a reserve price.

Laura Wolvaardt, Diana Baig, Lizelle Lee and Dane van Nierkerk have also entered. In total, 148 overseas players are competing for 15 spots, including players from Brazil, Papua New Guinea, Sweden, Afghanistan, Kuwait, France, Bhutan and Vanuatu.

Each women’s team will pick four players at the draft, except Welsh Fire who will sign five after opting to retain only three players. After the draft, each team will have filled their eight best-paid slots, three of which will go to overseas players; an open-market window will follow for teams to complete their squads.

Starc leading Australian entrant

Most of Australia’s multi-format players have opted out of the men’s Hundred, with Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith and David Warner’s names all absent from the longlist. The Hundred starts the day after the scheduled fifth day of the fifth men’s Ashes Test.

But Starc has opted to put himself forward, and could appear in the competition for the first time if selected in one of the five vacant £125,000 slots that is available for an overseas player. His availability may depend on the dates for Australia’s white-ball tour to South Africa, which is due to start in the last week of August.

ESPNcricinfo understands he considered playing in the competition last year and had been lined up as a top draft pick by Northern Superchargers – where his wife Alyssa Healy plays – only to withdraw shortly before the registration deadline.

Superchargers are unable to sign him this year, since they do not have a vacant £125,000 slot. His most likely destinations are Mike Hussey’s Welsh Fire – who signed him in the 2019 draft, before he opted to withdraw – and Trevor Bayliss’ London Spirit.

Adam Zampa and Marcus Stoinis have also set £125,000 reserves. Other notable Australian registrations include Mitchell Marsh, Jhye Richardson (both £100,000), Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja (both £60,000). Tim David (£75,000) is expected to return to Southern Brave while Ashton Turner (no reserve) could be a contender for the Northern Superchargers captaincy.

Availability rules the roost

A number of leading Pakistan players have signed up for the draft including Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi. But their availability will depend on the dates for a three-match ODI series against Afghanistan, due to be played in the third week of August according to the Future Tours Programme.

Pakistan are also due to play a two-Test series in Sri Lanka towards the end of July which could run into August and further limit availability. Shadab Khan (Birmingham Phoenix) was the only Pakistan player retained.

New Zealand’s players are expected to be in high demand at the draft, with a clear window in their schedule in August ahead of a white-ball tour to England in September. Trent Boult and Lockie Ferguson have both registered with £100,000 reserves, while Southern Brave are understood to be lining up Devon Conway (£50,000) with an early pick.

A number of West Indian players including Andre Russell, Kieron Pollard, Shimron Hetmyer and Jason Holder have registered but are unlikely to be signed due to a clash with the Caribbean Premier League. Sunil Narine was retained by Oval Invincibles, but they are expected to replace him after four or five games.

Uthappa signs up

Uthappa could become the first Indian man to appear in the Hundred, though seems unlikely to be picked up at the draft. The BCCI does not permit active Indian men’s players to appear in overseas short-form leagues, but Uthappa retired from international cricket and the IPL in September.

He has entered the draft with a reserve price of £40,000. Harbhajan Singh is the only previous Indian player to register for the Hundred draft, but he withdrew from the longlist after ESPNcricinfo revealed his interest in 2019, fearing his involvement could jeopardise his IPL contract.

No reserve for Duckett, Topley

Only seven domestic players have entered the men’s draft with a reserve price – including Lancashire’s Tom Bailey, who has demanded £125,000 for his services. David Willey, who was not offered a deal by Northern Superchargers, has a reserve price of £60,000.

Tom Abell, who has been lined up as a potential captain by Welsh Fire, has a £40,000 reserve, along with Chris Dent, Graeme van Buuren, and England seamers Ollie Robinson and Olly Stone.

Ben Duckett, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Reece Topley and Tom Banton, who are expected to be among the most lucrative England-qualified signings have all entered without a reserve price.

Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @mroller98

This article was originally published by Espncricinfo.com. Read the original article here.