Women’s Hundred 2023 Draft Process: The Hundred introduced new women’s selection process for t upcoming Hundred 2023 season. The Hundred Women’s selection will take place in a three-stage process.
Welsh Fire, who finished bottom of the standings in the 2022 season, will be given the first selection, while Oval Invincibles, the two-times reigning champions, will go last.
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.
Teams select in turn from their top salary band down, skipping any slots where they retained a player. The Draft order is the reverse of the final 2022 standings, so Welsh Fire will go first, and Oval Invincibles will go last.
The Draft Order follows:
- Welsh Fire
- London Spirit
- Manchester Originals
- Super Northern Chargers
- Birmingham Phoenix
- Trent Rocket
- Southern Brave
- Oval Invincibles
Teams using their “Right to Match” must offer the same salary as the player’s prospective new team. If they’ve already filled up all their slots at that band, the option isn’t available to them. Once the Draft is complete, each team will still have seven vacant slots.
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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The head of the women’s Hundred, Beth Barrett-Wild, described the introduction of the draft as “another landmark moment”.
“The impact of The Hundred on the women’s game after just two editions of the competition has been enormous, generating unprecedented levels of visibility, making household names of our brilliant female players, and driving performance standards,” she said in a statement.
“The inclusion of a draft going into year three builds on all of this. It demonstrates progress off the field, and also acts to support all eight teams in creating evenly balanced squads on the field, with the aim of delivering the most exciting contest yet for fans to enjoy.”
“It is brilliant news that The Hundred will be holding the first-ever draft in the women’s game, and it’ll be fascinating to see who is first pick!” said London Spirit’s Heather Knight.
“We’ve already talked about it as a playing group – it’s really exciting and I think we’ve seen in the men’s game that drafts really get people discussing and debating selection, so it’s great that the women’s competition will be part of that conversation”, she added.
