Aaron Finch and Andre Russell among flurry of confirmed signings on The Hundred's retention deadline day

Players and clubs have been negotiating price brackets over recent months, and any remaining spots on each team's roster will be filled via a behind-closed-doors mini draft, the results of which will be announced on February 23

The Hundred 2021: Full squad lists

Aaron Finch, Andre Russell and Kane Williamson are among the star names confirmed to be taking part in the first season of The Hundred on the competition's 'deadline day'.

Wednesday is the final day for the eight clubs to confirm their retentions for the men's version of the tournament, whose launch was postponed from 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Players and clubs have been negotiating price brackets over recent months, and any remaining spots on each team's roster will be filled via a behind-closed-doors mini draft, the results of which will be announced on February 23.

A total of 35 spots will need to be filled in the draft, including 10 at Manchester Originals. Welsh Fire have seven spaces in their roster following the latest batch of confirmed acquisitions, while London Spirit, Southern Brave and Trent Rockets all require just two more players to complete their squads.

The ECB will be delighted to have ensured some of world cricket's stellar short-format performers for The Hundred, which is a major part of their five-year plan for growing the game in the UK - titled Inspiring Generations.

Finch, the Australian white-ball captain, will be turning out for his former international coach Darren Lehmann at Northern Superchargers, while his compatriot Maxwell will work under Shane Warne at London Spirit.

Finch said: “I loved my time as a player at Yorkshire and I’m really looking forward to getting back up there and hopefully putting on a show. We have a batting line-up that can do some damage and with some smart additions at the draft we should have a very strong squad.”

West Indies allrounder Andre Russell - the world's No.2-ranked T20 player according to the T20 Player Index - will be entertaining Southern Brave fans, while New Zealand captain Kane Williamson is heading for Birmingham Phoenix, where exciting Pakistani seamer Shaheen Shah Afridi has been signed despite being unlikely to be available for a large portion of the 2021 competition.

Williamson said: “I’m really pleased to be staying at Birmingham Phoenix. It's always been great to play against Moeen [Ali] and Chris [Woakes] and it’ll be exciting to line up alongside them. You want to test yourself against the best and that’s what The Hundred is all about.”

Among the England internationals to have their Hundred team confirmed on Wednesday are Mark Wood (London Spirit), Liam Livingstone (Birmingham Phoenix), Joe Denly (London Spirit), Sam Billings (Oval Invincibles), and Lewis Gregory (Trent Rockets).

THE HUNDRED MEN'S PLAYER RETENTIONS CONFIRMED ON DEADLINE DAY

Birmingham Phoenix: Shaheen Afridi, Chris Cooke, Liam Livingstone, Kane Williamson

London Spirit: Mason Crane, Joe Denly, Glenn Maxwell, Roelof Van Der Merwe, Mark Wood

Manchester Originals: Wayne Madsen, Matt Parkinson,

Northern Superchargers: Aaron Finch, Brydon Carse, Chris Lynn, John Simpson, Mujeeb Ur Rahman

Oval Invincibles: Sam Billings, Laurie Evans, Will Jacks, Sandeep Lamichhane

Southern Brave: Craig Overton, Andre Russell, Marcus Stoinis, Ross Whiteley

Trent Rockets: Nathan Coulter-Nile, Ben Cox, Lewis Gregory, D'Arcy Short, Luke Wood, Luke Wright

Welsh Fire: Qais Ahmad, Ryan Higgins, David Payne, Liam Plunkett

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