Published: Oct 21, 2019, 08:56 AM (IST)
Edited: Oct 21, 2019, 08:56 AM (IST)
T20 stars Chris Gayle, Lasith Malinga alongside Kagiso Rabada were not picked by any teams at the inaugural player draft of The Hundred on Sunday. The trio had set their reserve price at £125,000 – the highest category for overseas players but failed to find any takers in the first round of the draft.
However, the likes of Steven Smith, David Warner and Mitchell Starc, who had also set their reserve price in the top category, were picked. Smith and Starc went to Welsh Fire while Starc will play for Southern Brave.
Babar Azam (reserve price £75,000) was the other high-profile star who was also ignored despite being the top-ranked T20I batsman.
The first eight players to be picked in the draft include Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan (Trent Rockets), West Indies’ Andre Russell (Southern Brave), Australia’s Aaron Finch (Northern Superchargers) and Starc (Welsh Fire), West Indies’ Sunil Narine (Oval Invincibles), South African Imran Tahir (Manchester Invincible), Australian Glenn Maxwell (London Spirit) and England’s Liam Livingstone (Birmingham Phoenix).
England’s players, who were picked before the drafts
Trent Rockets: Joe Root, Alex Hales
Southern Brave: Jofra Archer, James Vince, Chris Jordan
Northern Superchargers: Ben Stokes, David Willey, Adil Rashid
Welsh Fire: Jonny Bairstow, Tom Banton
Oval Invincibles: Tom Curran, Sam Curran, Jason Roy
Manchester Originals: Jos Buttler, Saqib Mahmood, Matt Parkinson
London Spirit: Rory Burns, Eoin Morgan
Birmingham Phoenix: Chris Woakes, Moeen Ali, Pat Brown
