Image Credit- ECB
After being released
by the defending men’s champion Oval Invincibles on Wednesday night, Jason Roy
was not chosen for the draft held at the Shard in London. As a result, he will
not be playing in the Hundred this summer.
With three ducks compared to one half-century, Roy did not have an impact on
the Invincibles’ summer performance and was released by head coach Tom Moody
last month. Despite having a reserve price of £100,000 going into the draft,
the eight men’s teams gave priority to foreign players in the first several
rounds.
Although Mark Wood
had a £100,000 reserve price when he entered the competition, it was less
noteworthy that he was not selected because he had missed the first three
seasons of the Hundred due to injury or work-related issues. Due to a
scheduling conflict with the third Test against the West Indies, England’s
red-ball players will not be available when the championship kicks off on July
23 of this year.
Due to his Major
League Cricket commitments with the LA Knight Riders, which are anticipated to
stretch until July 28th, Roy would have been unavailable for the first few days
of the Hundred. For the same reason, Roy is scheduled to miss some of Surrey’s
T20 Blast group games. Even though he might still play in the Hundred this
summer as a replacement, Roy’s reputation has quickly declined in the four and
a half years since England’s World Cup victory in 2019.
West Indies power
hitters made up five of the seven players signed to top-bracket deals in the
men’s draft; Nicholas Pooran was the first player selected by new Northern
Superchargers coach Andrew Flintoff. Rovman Powell was a first-round pick of
the Trent Rockets, Kieron Pollard joined the Southern Brave, and Andre Russell
and Shimron Hetmyer will play for the London Spirit.
Due to their participation in the MLC, some West Indians might miss the first
few games, but they should be available for the bulk of the season. They might
also choose to forgo a T20I series against South Africa. It seems that the
ECB’s discussions with the Caribbean Premier League’s organisers early this
year prevented a confrontation with the Hundred.
Each team will add a
further two players to both their men’s and women’s squads ahead of the start
of the season in July, who will be offered ‘wildcard’ contracts based on their
performances in domestic T20 cricket. These will be worth £30,000 in the men’s
competition and £8,000 in the women’s.