England trio Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow and Jofra Archer have been retained by their Hundred franchises for the 2023 season.
The trio missed last year’s edition with Stokes and Bairstow citing their heavy workload following a packed summer of Test cricket while Archer was on his way back from a long-standing elbow issue.
On Thursday, Hundred teams confirmed their retained list ahead of the draft on March 23 and Welsh Fire kept hold of Bairstow, Stokes will remain with Northern Superchargers and Archer is still part of the Southern Brave.
England batter Sophia Dunkley will be up for grabs in the first women’s draft after Southern Brave opted to let her move on, with Danni Wyatt and Kate Cross also involved in the draft where Tammy Beaumont’s Welsh Fire will have first pick.
Dunkley said: “It’s very exciting to be in the draft. It’s a different emotion not knowing where you’ll be playing your cricket, but you look across the eight teams and there’s so much quality across the competition.
“I’m looking forward to seeing where will become home next season, and I can’t wait to play in the third year of the Hundred – it’s already done great things for women’s cricket and I can’t wait to be a part of it again.”
Last week Dunkley was picked up by Gujarat Giants for just over £60,000 in the inaugural Women’s Premier League (WPL) auction.
Her England team-mate Nat Sciver-Brunt went for a six-figure deal of around £320,000 to Mumbai Indians and unsurprisingly Trent Rockets have retained her services.
Sciver-Brunt said: “It’s great to be retained by Trent Rockets. We came pretty close last time round and we want to build on that this year.”
India’s Smriti Mandhana, who fetched around £340,000 in the WPL auction, will represent Southern Brave again later this year with Ellyse Perry to play for Birmingham Phoenix.
Overseas stars Rashid Khan and Glenn Maxwell have been retained by men’s champions Trent Rockets and London Spirit respectively with Jos Buttler also set to be part of the Manchester Originals squad.
Moeen Ali’s Birmingham Phoenix finished runners-up in 2022 and have kept the bulk of their group from last year.
“We’re really excited about having retained 10 players ahead of the third year of the competition,” Moeen added.
“We’ve seen across short-form competitions around the world that keeping a core squad together can make a real difference and hopefully it’ll help us win the Hundred this year.
“We’ve got a lot of talented players and it’s a great group, so we can’t wait to get out in front of the Edgbaston crowd again.”
Teams in the men’s competition were able to retain 10 players while the women’s franchises could keep four of their 2022 group.
Welsh Fire men, under the leadership of Australian Mike Hussey, have eight spaces to fill at next month’s draft.
The list for the draft will be announced on February 28 with teams in the men’s competition able to make two wildcard selections.
