James Coles was the highest bidder in the first round of the men’s Hundred auction as London Spirit paid £390,000 for the 21-year-old Sussex all-rounder.
Wales Fire spent more than half of their budget on their batting duo, securing England’s Joe Root (£240,000) and last year’s tournament MVP Jordan Cox (£300,000).
Additionally, Pakistani leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed has moved to Sunrisers Leeds, a franchise fully controlled by the owners of IPL team Sunrisers Hyderabad, for £190,000, ending fears that Pakistani players would be ignored by Indian-run teams.
Pakistan’s Usman Tariq signs with Birmingham Phoenix in first men’s auction
Usman Tariq, the unconventional Pakistani spinner, also signed a £140,000 deal with Birmingham Phoenix, who are not part of an IPL team.
Ahead of the auction, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) was forced to formally repudiate its de facto “shadow ban” on Pakistani players employed by some teams receiving investment from India.
The country’s only female representatives, Fatima Sana and Sadia Iqbal, remained unsold at Wednesday’s women’s auction.
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Wales Fire captain Phil Salt was happy with the price the team paid for Jordan Cox and Joe Root during the auction
England’s leading white-ball spinner Adil Rashid collected £250,000 from Southern Brave, James Vince moved to MI London for £190,000 and Jonny Bairstow became London Spirit’s first new signing for £160,000.
Sunrisers, the rebranded successor to the Northern Superchargers, were unable to get any of their first set of marquee players over the line and surprisingly allowed all three local favorites – Root, Rashid and Bairstow – to move to other teams.
Pressure on ‘promising’ Coles, but his ‘limits to bigness’
Former England all-rounder Ravi Bopara signs £390,000 deal with James Coles
“As a young guy with that price tag on his head, there’s obviously going to be pressure to perform. Hopefully he’s young and naive and doesn’t feel the pressure of the price tag.”
“It was a pleasure to play with him at Sussex University. He’s a very promising cricketer. He’s got plenty of time to bat and can contribute with the ball. He’s done well in franchise cricket around the world, so it’s a great opportunity.”
Sky Sports Cricket’s Eoin Morgan added of Coles:
“His ceiling is huge. He has the fundamentals in the shortest format of the game, but he also has strong fundamentals with eight first-class hundreds.
“He has impressed with the England Lions, bats in the top five and makes a huge contribution with the ball in the powerplay and middle overs. All-rounders are the most sought-after players, so the signing of Coles is not at all surprising.”
Hundred Auctions – Biggest Deals of the Day
Those in bold are overseas players.
James Coles (London Spirit) – £390,000 Jordan Cox (Welsh Fire) – £300,000 Tom Curran (MI London) – £260,000 Adil Rashid (Southern Brave) – £250,000 Joe Root (Welsh Fire) – £240,000 Scott Curry (Birmingham Phoenix) – £210,000 Dan Lawrence (Sunrisers Leeds) – £210,000 Aiden Markram (Manchester Super Giants) – £200,000 James Vince (MI London) – £190,000 Abrar Ahmed (Sunrisers Leeds) – £190,000 Zak Crawley (Sunrisers Leeds) – £180,000 Jonny Bairstow (London Spirit) – £160,000
When is the 2026 edition of The Hundred?
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Highlights of Oval Invincibles’ 26-run victory over Trent Rockets in the Men’s Hundred final as Sam Billings’ team completes historic three-peat
The tournament will run from Tuesday 21st July to Sunday 16th August, with Sunrisers Leeds Women and MI London Men beginning their title defense on the first day at Kia Oval.
All of the men’s and women’s matches, including the eliminator on Friday 14 August and the final two days later, will be broadcast live on Sky Sports, with the women’s matches taking place at the same venue each day before the men’s matches.
How does the tournament work?
Each team will play eight group games, once against six teams and twice against local rivals.
MI London will play London Spirit twice, with other home and away matches being Sunrisers Leeds vs Manchester Super Giants, Trent Rockets vs Birmingham Phoenix and Southern Brave vs Wales Fire.
The male and female teams that take first place in the league match will directly qualify for the finals, and both teams will play the second and third matches in an eliminator to determine the opponent of the top team.
