The Hundred Draft 2022: All the Top Highlights!

The English clocks have gone forward, and summertime hours are in full effect, which can mean only one thing – The Hundred is back!

The biggest domestic cricket competition in the UK returns for its second season, and the build-up is beginning in earnest – starting with The Hundred draft.

Who are the major moneymakers? Which side can be most satisfied with their work? Is there a franchise that receives a C- on their recruitment report?

We break down everything you need to know about The Hundred draft from 2022 below and some free cricket betting tips on the house.

The Hundred Auction Headlines

There is one significant difference between the Indian Premier League and The Hundred when it comes to player recruitment. The Hundred is a draft rather than an auction, which means teams take turns to pick the best talents rather than engage in outright bidding wars.

Before the draft had taken place, teams could pick two centrally-contracted England internationals from their catchment area. For example, the Northern Superchargers could choose from Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, and Joe Root.

Before we get into the draft headlines, let’s see which teams opted for which centrally contracted England international players:

• London Spirit – Zak Crawley, Mark Wood
• Welsh Fire – Jonny Bairstow, Ollie Pope
• Manchester Originals – Jos Buttler, Ollie Robinson
• Northern Superchargers – Ben Stokes
• Oval Invincibles – Sam Curran, Rory Burns
• Trent Rockets – Joe Root, Dawid Malan
• Birmingham Phoenix – Chris Woakes, Jack Leach
• Southern Brave – Jofra Archer

The Most Expensive Signings Per Franchise

The maximum a franchise could spend on a single player is £125,000, and teams could only purchase a maximum of two players at this price.

Find the list of the most expensive Hundred players – all costing £125,000 – in the list below:

• London Spirit: Kiron Pollard, Liam Dawson
• Welsh Fire: Joe Clarke, Tom Banton
• Manchester Originals: Andre Russell, Laurie Evans
• Northern Superchargers: Adil Rashid, Dwayne Bravo#
• Oval Invincibles: Jason Roy, Sunil Narine
• Trent Rockets: Rashid Khan, Tom Kohler-Cadmore
• Birmingham Phoenix: Liam Livingstone, Matthew Wade
• Southern Brave: Marcus Stoinis, Quentin de Kock

Which Team Had The Best Hundred Draft?

In this writer’s humble opinion, it’s a toss-up between the Oval Invincibles and the Trent Rockets – but I’m going to stick with the former.

After playing their right-to-match card to retain West Indies star Sunil Narine, they managed to add serious firepower in Rilee Rossouw (£60,000) and Hilton Cartwright (£50,000) to fill the three overseas spots in what look like cut-price deals!

It’s the hoovering up of domestic talent that catches the eye! The Curran brothers will provide wicket-taking prowess and control, while Saqid Mahmood – bought for £75,000 – is the pointy end of their bowling attack.

Jason Roy and Sam Billings are the main stars of a line-up that bats deep – with Rory Burns the glue at the top of the order. There is good balance throughout the side, and I can see them competing for honours at the business end of the season.

The Hundred Draft Headlines

There were many stories to emerge, so I have boiled down the headlines for you!

• The franchises still have two wildcard picks of an overseas player and a domestic player. These picks will happen closer to the start of the tournament.
• Teams opt to spend big on domestic players that will definitely be available rather than focus on foreign players whose availability is less guaranteed.
• Kieron Pollard was the first pick for the London Spirit. Can the Twenty20 stalwart repay the faith?
• International stars David Warner, Aaron Finch, Chris Gayle, and Babar Azam are players to miss out on the tournament after failing to find a franchise.

My Early Pick For The Hundred

I will be placing a pre-tournament bet on the Oval Invincibles as my main wager and a smaller stake on the Trent Rockets.

Early odds suggest the Invincibles will be available at 7.0, while you can back the Rockets to win at 7.0. I will be placing my bet with Pure Win – they don’t currently have odds on the competition up yet, but they tend to provide the best ante-post cricket bets in the industry. You can find out more about the site by reading our comprehensive Pure Win review.