The World Cup and Ashes hero for England, Ben Stokes, has been signed by the Northern Superchargers in the player draft today that officially launched ‘The Hundred’.
In the first-ever tournament of a new format, ‘The Hundred’ will feature eight franchises in both men’s and women’s cricket each. Each franchise had the right to pick two ‘icon players’ from their state and two women cricketers representing their state sides.
The Headingley-based franchise Northern Superchargers picked up Ben Stokes. His teammate and Test captain Joe Root has been signed by the Nottingham-based franchise Trent Rockets.
Apart from these two, the Southern Brave signed Jofra Archer, the Manchester Originals will have Jos Buttler in their side, Chris Woakes will play for Birmingham Phoenix and the Curran brothers Sam and Tom will represent Oval Invincibles.
Their ODI captain Eoin Morgan will play for the Lord’s-based franchise London Spirit. Their women’s team will be led by England women’s captain Heather Knight. Wicket-keeper Jonny Bairstow will be playing for Welsh Fire in the inaugural edition of the tournament.
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In ‘The Hundred’, each team will play 100 balls in their innings in overs consisting of 10 balls each. A bowler can bowl either 5 balls or 10 balls at a stretch. All the cricketers are excited about the new format.
Joe Root said, “The best players in the world are coming here to compete and we're going to get the chance to test ourselves against them once again. There has never been a more exciting time for cricket."
Bairstow, too, expressed his thoughts saying, “I enjoy Cardiff, I made my England debut there and it's an amazing place. It's a new competition, a new format, and new teams. It will feel weird going to Headingley and being in the away dressing room, but it's an amazing honor to be one of the guys to figurehead a team."
Here are the teams and players they have picked:
Northern Superchargers (Headingley) - Ben Stokes, Adil Rashid, David Willey, Lauren Winfield, Linsey Smith
Manchester Originals (Old Trafford) - Jos Buttler, Saqib Mahmood, Matt Parkinson, Sophie Ecclestone, Kate Cross
Trent Rockets (Trent Bridge) - Joe Root, Alex Hales, Harry Gurney, Katherine Brunt, Nat Sciver
Birmingham Phoenix (Edgbaston) - Chris Woakes, Moeen Ali, Pat Brown, Kirstie Gordon, Amy Jones
Welsh Fire (Cardiff) - Jonny Bairstow, Tom Banton, Colin Ingram, Bryony Smith, Katie George
London Spirit (Lord's) - Rory Burns, Eoin Morgan, Dan Lawrence, Heather Knight, Freya Davies
Oval Invincibles (The Oval) - Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Jason Roy, Fran Wilson, Laura Marsh
Southern Brave (Ageas Bowl) - Jofra Archer, James Vince, Chris Jordan, Anya Shrubsole, Danni Wyatt
(Inputs from AFP)
