What is The Hundred Draft in Cricket? New Process Explained

What is the Hundred Draft in cricket: The ECB has confirmed that they will follow the same Defat procedure for both men’s and women’s divisions of the Hundred tournament.

Women’s Hundred 2023 Draft Process

Women’s Hundred 2023 Draft Process: Prior to the draft, each team will be permitted to retain up to four players from their existing squads when the retention window opens in December.

A minimum of four players per squad will be signed during the draft, while the teams will be permitted to use one “right to match card” on the night, if they wish to retain a player who had been on their books for 2022, so long as they have a slot available in their squad at the same salary band.

Following are the three stages of the Women’s Hundred 2023 Draft Process:

Stage 1 – Retention

Duration: December – January

Process: Each team can retain up to four of their 2022 squad, with a maximum of three marquee players – a maximum of two England Women or two overseas players.

Within a squad, each team has a number of “marquee players.” These are either England Women’s central contract players or overseas players. During retention, a squad can keep a maximum of three marquee players – but with a maximum of two England or overseas players.

All players signed in Stage One must sign in salary bands A to D, which means that players can negotiate a different salary to which they were signed in 2022.

Stage 2: Draft

Duration: March

Process: Each team will pick at least four players to bring their squads to a total of eight. The draft pick order will be the reverse of the 2022 standings. Each team will have a ‘right to match’ card to use on any player from their 2022 squad.

Each team will draft players in turn until they have eight members of their squad selected. All signings must be within salary bands A to D.

All players must register ahead of the Draft and, when doing so, they’ll get the option to set themselves a reserve price. This is the lowest salary band they can receive. So, if a player made their reserve price band B, no team could sign them at band C or D.

Stage 3: Open Market

Duration: March to June

Process: Teams will sign their remaining seven players on the open market. Signings at this stage will be within the bottom three salary bands.

The remaining seven players in each squad will be signed on the open market ahead of the new season, although a limit of three centrally contracted England players and three overseas players will apply throughout the process. The men’s and women’s overseas wildcard draft will not take place in 2023.

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What is the Hundred Draft in cricket?

As of every country tournament, The Hundred cricket too follows the same pattern of choosing players for the team. But ECB introduced a change in drafting method as of they introduced the Hundred cricket rules, which varies from formal cricket rules.

The first draft for the competition took place in October 2019, but the tournament was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic and hosted in 2021.

The eight city-based teams have since retained a number of players they originally selected, and are now filling the remaining gaps in their side through the draft.

Thirty-five slots are currently available across the eight sides, with seven to be filled by overseas players, and the remainder by domestic stars.

How Was the Men’s Team selected in The Hundred 2020?

Each men’s team had a squad of 15 players. Among each 15 was one England red-ball contracted player, and 14 Drafted players. Teams were permitted a maximum of three overseas players.

How was the Men’s Team selected in The Hundred 2021?

The Hundred men’s team selection follows a changes in it’s drafting process. ECB introduced a three-step process which are as follows:

1. England player allocation
2. The Player Retention Window
3. The Hundred Draft

Stage 1: England player allocation

Players from the 2020/21 England red-ball contract list will fit into one of four categories:

• An England player who was centrally contracted in 2019/20 and will be again in 2020/21 can be retained by their 2020 team.
• An England contracted player in 2019/20, who is not given a contract in 2020/21, can negotiate with their 2020 team for a position in 2021. If no agreement is made, they will be released to the draft.
• A player drafted by a team in The Hundred who was not England contracted in 2019/20, but is contracted in 2020/21 can be retained by their team for 2021. However, the team’s other England player must be released to the ‘England pot’ (More on the ‘England pot’ in a minute).
• A player not drafted by a team in The Hundred who wasn’t England contracted in 2019/20, but is in 2020/21 will go straight into the ‘England pot’.

England’s red-ball players will be selected in Stage One

• England players and management will be able to once again withdraw from team selection.
• If there are eight eligible contracted players, all teams will have one player.
• If there are more than eight eligible contracted players, some teams will have more than one player. No team will have more than two players.
• Once teams have retained/released players, any teams without an England player need one. They would select a player from the ‘England pot’ until all teams have one player. This would be done in a draw order.
• If there are more than eight eligible contracted players, a new draw will be made to select the remaining player(s).

Stage 2: The retention window

• Teams start with their 2020 squad lists.
• From this they can negotiate to retain any or all of their men’s players for 2021.
• A maximum of three overseas players are permitted.
• Players can move up or down the squad list in terms of salary bracket.

New salary bands for 2023

Women’s salary bands will range from £7,500 to £31,250, with men paid between £30,000 and £125,000. Bonus payments are available for those who captain the teams.

The Hundred’s top pay bracket for men of £125,000 is considerably lower than the reported £390,000 being offered by the new International League T20 sides, while the leading players in the SA20 are to be paid anywhere from £150,000 up to £450,000.

• Negotiations may take place during a retention window.
• Any player who has not agreed to terms by the end of the retention window is automatically released.
• Only players contracted to a team for previous year’s tournament will be able to sign contracts during the retention window.

Stage 3: The Hundred draft 

• At the end of the retention window, The Hundred will publish the final retained player list.
• This will highlight slots available to teams for the upcoming tournament’s draft.
• If only one player is retained in a salary band, the higher slot in that band will be left open for the draft.
• A draw for the picking order of the draft will take place after the retention window.
• Each team will have a ‘Right to Match’ option. This will apply to players contracted for previous year, but released into the current tournament’s draft pool.
• If a new team wishes to sign that player, his previous team may stop this by guaranteeing him the same salary band.
• Each team may only do this once, and only if they have an available slot in their squad list at that salary band.

What happens after The Hundred draft?

• Each team have the opportunity for a final ‘Wildcard’ pick
• Chosen before The Hundred tournament begins
• Wildcard players will receive the lowest salary band

How are the Women’s Team Picked?

The women’s Hundred team too follows the same procedure as of men’s division. The women’s team will be picked based on the draft process explained above.