The Professional Cricketers’ Association has sent its members full details of The Hundred and its draft process, as the countdown to the arrival of the new competition continues
The Professional Cricketers’ Association has sent its members full details of The Hundred and its draft process, as the countdown to the arrival of the new competition enters its business stage.
The Cricketer has seen the documents distributed by the PCA, the core elements of which can be found below.
The men’s version of The Hundred is due to run for a month from July 17 until its Finals Day on August 15, 2020. The women’s competition, meanwhile, will run for four weeks leading up to its Finals Day on August 14, 2020.
In much the same way as the Kia Super League previously has. In both women’s and men’s competitions, a round robin league system will see the top team advance automatically to the final, with second and third fighting out a qualification match to join them.
There is one difference between the two tournaments, however, and that relates to the number of games being played in the group stages. In the women’s competition, each side will play everyone else one - some teams will get four home games and three away fixtures, which will be reversed in The Hundred’s second year. This adds up to 28 group matches.
In the men’s competition, each team will play eight times - three home games and three away plus a home-and-away double against a paired ‘local rival’ (London Spirit and London Invincibles, for example). It is unclear which franchises will be paired at this time.
As widely reported, innings will last 100 balls with a 25-ball powerplay. Bowlers will bowl in chunks of five or 10 deliveries, with a maximum of 20 per person. Play will change ends every 10 balls. Further playing conditions are to be published in March.
Sky Sports will show the entire men’s schedule and at least 10 of the women’s matches. The documentation sent to PCA members says “the final broadcast schedule for the women’s competition is yet to be confirmed” but there is an absolute commitment from the BBC to provide live coverage of Finals Day.
Eight of the men’s league matches - one from each venue - will be live on the BBC, including Finals Day.
Organisers say that “there will be numerous international broadcast agreements that will cover other territories” within the paperwork sent to male PCA members. There is no such mention in the women’s tournament FAQs.
Nothing has changed from previous ECB releases on the location of the franchises.
Sedbergh School in Cumbria has been chosen as the host venue for the Manchester Originals’ home games. The ground was an unpopular choice among Lancashire members for a County Championship match earlier this season.
The women’s teams will play one of their group games at the men’s primary venue as part of a double-header. This counters what Lancashire chief executive Daniel Gidney told The Cricketer in relation to Manchester Originals' plans. He said: “We are going to run two double-headers [at Emirates Old Trafford alongside the men’s team’s games]. I think that’s appropriate with a Manchester-based team.”
Sanjay Patel has been handed a key role in the planning of the new competition
The men’s and women’s teams will choose their squads in very different ways, as described below.
Men’s competition
The eight teams will take part in a layered draft process, which has four stages: England centrally contracted players, “local icons”, the main draft and a wildcard selection. Squads will be made up of 15 players, plus England’s centrally contracted Test stars, with a maximum of three from overseas.
England centrally contracted players
A draft for England players will take place on October 3. These players are due to have limited availability during the tournament, due to clashes with the international calendar - in fact, Test players will only be available for the first three league matches and Finals Day.
Any franchise whose management board counties (for example Surrey and Kent for London Invincibles) have an England player on their books will be permitted to pick him - or if more than one, pick their preferred player - at this time. It would seem strange for Birmingham Phoenix not to select Chris Woakes, but Moeen Ali falls under the same franchise, for example. Northern Superchargers, meanwhile, will have to decide which of Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes is the most important selection.
The franchises are not obliged, at this stage, to select a player associated with their counties. If they don’t, they can choose to look elsewhere.
Once every team has chosen one of England’s centrally contracted players - 10 have red-ball deals and 12 have white-ball deals in the latest tranche of contracts - the remaining stars will be allocated to the franchise with which their home county is paired.
Local icons
As of October 3, franchises will be able to sign up to two players who are contracted to one of their paired management counties (London Spirit could recruit Ravi Bopara, for example). They can agree a salary band with the players individually, but that would then be removed from their options in the draft. If Bopara went for £60,000, for instance, London Spirit would lose a round 7 draft pick.
Main draft
This is due to take place at Sky’s Isleworth studios on Sunday, October 20 at 7pm. Players will be selected from the highest salary bands to the lowest.
Wildcard draft
This will take place in the latter stages of the 2020 T20 Blast group stage - around two weeks from the start of The Hundred. It gives an option for high-performing players who were not picked in the main draft to get a Hundred contract.
Women’s competition
Players will be picked during a two-stage “open market” selection process.
Every team will be allowed to select up to six “marquee” players - a maximum of three centrally contracted England women and three overseas stars.
The first player signing window is already open, and lasts throughout September. In this time each franchise must select two England Women’s players.
In theory, the second window will run from October until May, with 13 further players being signed.
The Cricketer has been told of concerns among some players, however, that entire squads have already been selected in advance, with tales of large numbers of county cricketers missing out on deals.
Unlike in the men’s competition, there is no significance to the county allegiances of players.
The Manchester-based women's team will play at Sedbergh School
In the men’s competition the seven salary bands are: £125,000, £100,000, £75,000, £60,000, £50,000, £40,000 and £30,000. The Wildcard pick will be paid £30,000. Captains will receive a bonus of £10,000. The total salary money per franchise is £1million.
In the women’s competition, salaries are close to the Women’s Big Bash and are much smaller. In fact, the highest salary band in the female version is half the lowest band in the men’s tournament.
The women’s seven salary brackets are: £15,000, £12,000, £9,000, £7,200, £6,000, £4,800 and £3,600. The captains will receive a £1,200 bonus.
Players can put a reserve price on themselves in the draft.
In the men’s competition, teams can sign overseas players who will be away on international duty for part of the tournament, and call in replacements. They will be paid on a pro rata basis.
Franchises will also be able to call up replacements in the event of injury. Players must make it known prior to the draft if they want to be considered for a replacement position. Teams can only call in replacement players at the same salary band, or lower, of the unavailable or injured player.
Women’s sides are also permitted to call up replacements should players withdraw from the competition.
If players miss out on a place in the men’s competition via the main draft, the only routes into a squad would be as a replacement player or via the wildcard selection next year.
The ECB have successfully lobbied to tweak visa criteria, and overseas players will be permitted to play in The Hundred if they have satisfied the following:
One Test in previous 24 months or five in last 60
12 ODIs or T20Is in previous 24 months
Centrally contracted or in most recent ODI or T20I squad
20 elite domestic T20 appearances in a full ICC member country between October 1, 2017 and September 30, 2019
Players have been told to register by 4pm on September 30.
Players have also been notified that 12.5 per cent of their county salary will be deducted in the event they win a Hundred deal.
No agents fees are being paid out by The Hundred and will have to come directly from the players.
All players coming from overseas have been promised business class flights, in both the men’s and women’s competitions, while a standard £35-per-day sustenance stipend will be given to all players in the tournament for “basic expenses such as food and drink”.
Welcome to www.thecricketer.com - the online home of the world’s oldest cricket magazine. Breaking news, interviews, opinion and cricket goodness from every corner of our beautiful sport, from village green to national arena.