British sport will hold its first major player auction this week, with many cricketers under scrutiny ahead of the 2026 edition of The Hundred in the summer.
The women’s auction will take place on Wednesday, with the men’s auction 24 hours later. Both can be watched live on Sky Sports Cricket from 10am. The players hope to buy it at Piccadilly Lights in London.
Why is there a player auction?
The change from the draft system came after significant private investment into the 8 Hundred franchises, with four teams – Manchester Super Giants, MI London, Southern Brave and Sunrisers Leeds – being taken over either partially or fully by IPL owners. Player auctions have been a staple of the Indian Premier League for many years.
Joe Root is one of the big men’s players on the auction list
How does this player auction work?
Players are divided into three different categories: hero players, ranked players, and named players.
Hero players are your big stars. Each team has already named key contract players, and the squad includes 50 men’s and 50 women’s players.
The men’s auction will include former or current England internationals Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Josh Tan, Jordan Cox and Adil Rashid, as well as South Africa’s Aiden Markram, New Zealand’s Finn Allen and Pakistan’s Haris Rauf and Usman Tariq.
The hero band for the women’s event includes England’s Sarah Glen and Tammy Beaumont, as well as future England player Davina Perrin, who scored 42 balls in The Hundred last season, Australia’s Beth Mooney and India’s Deepti Sharma.
The Hundred’s first player auction will be held in London this week and will be broadcast live on Sky Sports
Once you have completed the heroes section, move on to the ranked categories.
Here, each team picks and acquires their 25 most popular players. These may include unsold hero players or other players not yet proposed outside of that set.
Now it’s time to introduce the designated players.
When a team selects an unsigned player, the player will be auctioned after a random drawing determines the order of selection. If no other franchise makes a bid for them, they will join the team that picks them first.
178 women’s players and 247 men’s players are up for sale. Previously, teams could only have three overseas players in The Hundred, but that has increased to four.
England star Jacob Bethel remains at Birmingham Phoenix
How much money do you need to spend on the side?
The women’s total annual salary was £880,000 per team and the men’s salary was £2.05 million, but teams have already spent some of that money on retaining or signing up to four players per team ahead of the first auction.
Manchester Super Giants Women, MI London Women, Sunrisers Leeds Women and Wales Fire Women have £310,000 deducted as they only signed three players.
The other four women’s teams – Birmingham Phoenix, London Spirit, Southern Brave and Trent Rockets – were deducted £360,000 after signing or staying four times.
Each men’s team had £950,000 reduced from their total £2.05m salary pot after making all four player signings allowed during the pre-auction period.
Big names such as Jacob Bethel (Birmingham Phoenix), Jos Buttler (Manchester Super Giants), Jofra Archer (Southern Brave) and Nat Silver-Blunt (Trent Rockets) remained, but three new players were added: Mitchell Marsh (Sunrisers Leeds), Alice Capsey (Birmingham Phoenix) and Smriti Mandhana (Manchester Super Giants).
Jofra Archer will once again represent Southern Brave
Is Ben Stokes up for auction?
no. The England Test captain, who previously played for Northern Superchargers (now known as Sunrisers Leeds), will focus on his international contribution with the three-Test series against Pakistan starting three days after The Hundred final. England will also play a red-ball series at home against New Zealand in June.
Can teams sign players after the auction?
yes. Two spots will remain open for each team for wild card picks based on performance in the men’s and women’s Vitality Blast competitions later this summer.
When is the 2026 edition of The Hundred?
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.
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Highlights of Northern Superchargers’ victory over Southern Brave in the Women’s Hundred final at last summer’s Rose Tournament
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 the London Spirit twice, with other home and away games being Sunrisers vs. Giants, Rockets vs. Phoenix, and Brave vs. 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.
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Highlights of Oval Invincibles’ 26-run victory over Trent Rockets in the 2025 Men’s Hundred final as Sam Billings’ team achieves historic third straight victory
We’ll soon find out who will form the core of the team, so be sure to tune in to The Hundred Auction on Sky Sports Cricket. The women’s event will be livestreamed Wednesday at 10 a.m. and the men’s event will be held Thursday at 10 a.m. Streaming without a contract.
Hundreds of troops so far
*Player remains
**New signature
male
Birmingham Phoenix: Rehan Ahmed** (England), Jacob Bethell* (England), Donovan Ferreira** (South Africa), Mitchell Owen** (Australia)
London Spirit: Dewald Brevis** (South Africa), Liam Livingstone** (England), Jamie Overton* (England), Adam Zampa** (Australia)
Manchester Super Giants: Noor Ahmad* (Afghanistan), Jos Buttler* (England), Liam Dawson** (England), Heinrich Klaasen* (South Africa)
MI London: Sam Curran* (England), Will Jacks* (England), Rashid Khan* (Afghanistan), Nicholas Pooran** (West Indies)
Southern Brave: Jofra Archer* (England), Jamie Smith** (England), Marcus Stoinis** (Australia), Tristan Stubbs** (South Africa)
Sunrisers Leeds: Harry Brook* (England), Brydon Kearse* (England), Nathan Ellis** (Australia), Mitchell Marsh** (Australia)
Trent Rockets: Tom Bunton* (England), Tim David** (Australia), Ben Duckett** (England), Mitchell Santner** (New Zealand)
Wales Fire: Marco Jansen** (South Africa), Rachin Ravindra** (New Zealand), Phil Salt** (England), Chris Woakes* (England)
woman
Birmingham Phoenix: Alice Capsey** (England), Lauren Filer** (England), Lucy Hamilton** (Australia), Elise Perry* (Australia)
London Spirit: Charlie Dean* (UK), Grace Harris* (Australia), Mahika Gaur** (UK), Marisanne Kapp** (South Africa)
Manchester Super Giants: Sophie Ecclestone* (England), Meg Lanning** (Australia), Sumitri Mandhana** (India)
MI London: Mary Carr** (New Zealand), Hayley Matthews** (West Indies), Danny Wyatt Hodge** (England)
Southern Brave: Lauren Bell* (England), Maia Bouchier* (England), Jemima Rodriguez** (India), Laura Wolvaardt* (South Africa)
Sunrisers Leeds: Kate Cross* (England), Phoebe Litchfield* (Australia), Annabel Sutherland* (Australia)
Trent Rockets: Sophia Dunkley** (England), Ash Gardner* (Australia), Kim Garth** (Australia), Nat Silver-Blunt* (England)
Welsh Fire: Freya Kemp** (England), Georgia Voll** (Australia), Georgia Wareham** (Australia)
