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The Hundred: Draft prices revealed for Chris Gayle, Lasith Malinga, Steve Smith and more star names Louis Sealey

17 Oct 2019 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}      

Chris Gayle and Lasith Malinga are among the star players who have entered the Hundred draft at the highest possible reserve price of £125,000. The ECB’s new 100-balls-a-side tournament will see eight city-based teams go head-to-head next summer. 

The teams – London Spirit, Oval Invincibles, Southern Brave, Welsh Fire, Northern Superchargers, Manchester Originals, Trent Rockets and Birmingham Phoenix – were all assigned one England Test player and two ‘Local Icons’ at the start of the month. Chris Gayle will hope to land a lucrative deal 

On Sunday, the rest of the 15-man squads will be confirmed at a draft which almost 600 players have entered. At the top reserve price of £125,000 are Gayle, Malinga, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner and Kagiso Rabada. 
The group at £100,000 include Shakib Al Hasan, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Williamson and Trent Boult. 

International stars and white-ball legends Babar Azam, Dale Steyn, Shahid Afridid, Wahab Riaz, Evin Lewis and Jason Holder have entered the draft at lower prices. Hundreds of other international players will also hope to be picked up having entered the draft without a reserve price. Joe Denly, Liam Livingstone, Samit Patel and Mark Wood will be the most expensive domestic players, all entering at £60,000. 

The likes of Ian Bell, Morne Morkel and Liam Plunkett are £50,000, while Kyle Abbott, Daniel Bell-Drummond and Richard Levi will hope to secure deals at £40,000. More than 300 other domestic players could also land contracts with the eight teams and go into the draft without a reserve price. Each team will select 12 players on Sunday night, with a maximum of three overseas stars allowed in each franchise.