The Hundred 2024 Player Draft was as thick and fast as it could get. With 43 players to be picked in the women's draft and 32 for the men, the eight teams were on the clock with their choices as some of the biggest names were selected across both drafts while a few of them were snubbed. Smriti Mandhana and Richa Ghosh, the two Women's Premier League (WPL) winning stars were the only Indians to get picked. While Mandhana was bought back by Southern Brave in the top bracket of £50k, Ghosh reunited with her RCB teammates Sophie Devine and Ellyse Perry in the £40k price bracket.
There could be an availability issue for the Indian players with the business end of the Asia Cup set to clash with the start of the Hundred competition but Mandhana and Richa fresh from their success in the WPL were always going to be the first choices. Among other players, the Australians were in demand as expected with the price bands increased for each category. Delhi Capitals skipper and Australian legend Meg Lanning found a home in London Spirit while Beth Mooney was the first pick by the Manchester Originals as she will reunite with her Gujarat Giants opening partner Laura Wolvaardt.
Player of the final in WPL, Sophie Molineux too went to the Originals while the two-time champions got their hands on Sri Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu. Welsh Fire got Jess Jonassen while Northern Superchargers settled with all-rounder Annabel Sutherland among other picks. Ash Gardner was snapped up by the Trent Rockets while Phoenix chose to add as many as three keepers including Ghosh and Amy Jones. All the eight teams filled the 13 spots as of now with the Southern Brave, the defending champions looking the most solid side.
As far as the men were concerned, Jason Roy was the biggest snub among the home international players as the England opener who is on the downside after giving up his central contract was overlooked in the £100k bracket while Sunil Narine too didn't find takers as the West Indies hard hitters ruled the roost. With the ECB reaching an agreement with the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) of not clashing with the dates, the calypso men were in huge demand.
The Northern Superchargers with the first ones to pick got Nicholas Pooran to their side alongside Australian all-rounder Daniel Sams while the London Spirit got the duo of Andre Russell and Shimron Hetmyer. Southern Brave acquired the services of Kieron Pollard along with local English star Laurie Evans and West Indies spinner Akeal Hosein. The Originals showed their faith in Sikandar Raza from Zimbabwe and Fazalhaq Farooqi from Afghanistan and the Welsh Fire bought back Shaheen Afridi apart from a local star in Tom Kohler-Cadmore.
Rovamn Powell and Imad Wasim were the Trent Rockets' choices while Birmingham Phoenix increased their pace stocks with the addition of Naseem Shah in the £125k bracket apart from Sean Abbott. The defending champions Oval Invincbles with a settled squad added England international Dawid Malan and South African wicketkeeper-batter Donovan Ferreira to their line-up. The likes of Babar Azam, David Warner and Tim David were among the other big names to not get picked.
