The squads for the Hundred were burped out on Tuesday, two days from the start of the County Championship season. There was a smattering of stardust through Australia’s World Cup-winning women, the odd glaring omission such as David Warner, and a remarkable elevation for county pros such as Liam Dawson, Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Laurie Evans with top-tier deals worth £125,000 apiece.
But lower down in the men’s draft a couple of names also stood out. Rehan Ahmed and Jacob Bethell were among the young England cricketers who finished runners-up in this year’s Under-19s World Cup and have now secured £50,000 and £30,000 contracts at Southern Brave and Welsh Fire respectively, despite neither having fully broken through in county cricket just yet.
