Chris Morris, IPL’s most expensive player, and England’s celebrated wicketkeeper Ben Foakes failed to attract any bidders during the Hundred’s draft. Morris’s compatriot Quinton de Kock and Pakistan skipper Babar Azam were the other surprising snubs during the closed doors selction process.
Morris, who recently broke IPL records by securing a whopping Rs 16.25 crore deal with Rajasthan Royals, didn’t generate any interest from the Hundred teams despite his relatively lower reserve price of £60,000 (Rs 61.5 lakhs approx.). However, his omission did make some sense because there were a total of 252 players vying for the remaining seven overseas players slots. 3 of these places were taken by South Africa bowler Kagiso Rabada, West Indies batsman Nicholas Pooran, and Pakistan’s Shadab Khan, who were selected by Manchester Originals. The rest of the overseas slots were filled when David Warner was picked by Southern Brave, and Jhye Richardson and Kieron Pollard were signed by Welsh Fire.
Foakes’ snub was the most surprising element of the draft as there were 28 spots left for domestic players. He was earlier picked in the initial draft in October 2019 but was released from his £48,000 contract with Northern Superchargers. Some notable domestic picks of the draft were Tom Abell (Birmingham Phoenix), Olly Stone (Northern Superchargers), Harry Gurney (Manchester Originals), Ravi Bopara (London Spirit), and Saqib Mahmood (Oval Invincibles).
ECB’s The Hundred is 100 balls per innings tournament, devised to attract younger audiences. Originally scheduled to take place in 2020, the launch of the inaugural edition was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now set to take place in July this year, the tournament will start with the women’s competition as Oval Invincibles will play against Manchester Originals on July 21, a day before the men’s teams face off. The women’s teams did not have a draft as they will continue filling their squads over the coming months.