The Hundred: Chris Gayle, Steve Smith, David Warner, Eoin Morgan available for the main draft

Another format of cricket is about to take center stage. Yep! Next year in England, we’ll see the inaugural season of ‘The Hundred’. The inaugural 100-ball competition, which boasts of eight city-based franchises, will take place in the 2020 English summer between July 17- August 16.

And, already the who’s who of World cricket have started to show their interest in the obscure competition. The big names that have stated their interest in the tournament are Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan, Australia’s tearaway opener David Warner, Steven Smith, ‘The Universe Boss’- Chris Gayle, the mercurial former Pakistani all-rounder Shahid Afridi and England’s world-cup winning captain Eoin Morgan.

World-Cup winning skipper Eoin Morgan has been a vocal supporter of the new competition. During the English summer earlier in the year, Morgan alluded as to how a franchise-based tournament, with fewer teams, is crucial in order to consistently see the game to the people of the UK.

Speaking earlier in the summer, Morgan said, “The Hundred, yes, I do think we need it. We need one franchise-based tournament, with fewer teams, in order to consistently sell the game to the country.”

Morgan also referred to the fact [probably indicating towards T20 Blast] that how having 18 teams who are going around for a considerable need of time. “Anybody I speak to who loves the sport but doesn’t necessarily love cricket is crying out for a tournament that he or she understands because 18 teams going for a long period of time just doesn’t make sense to anybody.”

England Test regulars not part of the main draft

Meanwhile, England Test cricketers like Joe Root, Jofra Archer, and Ben Stokes are not a part of the list because they will be part of the initial draft scheduled for the country’s red-ball cricketers. In the mini-draft, the city-based franchises from Leeds, Birmingham, London [×2], Nottingham, Cardiff, Southampton, and Manchester will have to select up to three players.

The main draft, however, will be held later this October, and among the International elite that has thrown their hat in the ring are Aaron Finch, Lasith Malinga, Kieron Pollard, Kagiso Rabada, Jason Roy, Mitchell Starc, Kane Williamson, Shakib Al Hasan, Moeen Ali, Babar Azam, Tom Curran, Quinton de Kock, and Faf du Plessis.

The players are allowed to set their own base price. Each team will have two spaces in the squad in the following pay brackets: £125,000, £100,000, £75,000, £60,000, £50,000, £40,000 and £30,000.

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