Key events
Ryan Rickelton joins SunRisers Leeds for £150,000
South Africa’s batters are very much in demand. Ryan Rickelton is off to Headingley.
Finn Allen joins Trent Rockets for £160,000
Right then, here’s Finn Allen, who slapped that 33-ball ton against South Africa at the World Cup. He has the Rockets, Super Giants and Spirit all going for him … and he’s heading to Trent Bridge.
Something I failed to clock: Aiden Makram is part of the Super Giants teams in the IPL and SA20, too.
Phil Salt, Welsh Fire’s captain, is looking fairly dapper at the auction. He’s got quite a decent crew of teammates: Marco Jansen, Rachin Ravindra, Chris Woakes, Joe Root and Jordan Cox.
Welsh Fire, having spent big on Joe Root and Jordan Cox, have £487,000 left in their purse. Trent Rockets, SunRisers Leeds and Birmingham Phoenix are yet to sign a player today.
Aiden Markram joins Manchester Super Giants for £200,000
Aiden Markram, South Africa’s T20 captain, is quickly in the middle of a bidding war between Trent Rockets and Manchester Super Giants. He’ll join his compatriot Heinrich Klaasen at Old Trafford.
David Miller joins Southern Brave for £110,000
Now South Africa’s David Miller, who does get a bid for £100,000 from Trent Rockets. Southern Brave want him, too, and they get him for £110,000.
Here’s Pakistan’s Haris Rauf … his base price at £100,000. He, too, goes unsold.
Daryl Mitchell, a solid all-format operator for New Zealand, does not attract any bids. His base price was £75,000.
The domestic marquee names are done. Time for the big overseas stars.
Jonny Bairstow joins London Spirit for £160,000
The Yorkshireman could be coming home … SunRisers Leeds have the paddle up. But London Spirit, quiet so far today, put their name in the ring. And he’s off to Lord’s for £160,000.
James Vince joins MI London for £190,000
James Vince, very much on the T20 treadmill nowadays, finds love from MI London and Manchester Super Giants. Alec Stewart and Kieron Pollard, on the MI table, get their man for £190k.
Jordan Cox joins Welsh Fire for £300,000
Here’s Cox, once of the Oval Invincibles. Trent Rockets and Birmingham Phoenix go at one another, before MI (Mumbai Indians) London and the Rockets start their battle.
SunRisers are late entrants … as are Southern Brave. The price goes to £270k and the Brave aren’t that brave, pulling out. But now come Welsh Fire. The price goes to £300k and SunRisers pull out. Cox is off to Wales with Joe Root. They’re spending big early.
Adil Rashid joins Southern Brave for £250,000
England’s masterful leggie is up next. Southern Brave and Trent Rockets are raising their paddles, and SunRisers enter the mix, too. Southern Brave take it to £250k – Rashid is off to Southampton, joining forces with Jofra Archer.
Joe Root joins Welsh Fire for £240,000
Richard Madley welcomes us to this “historic” auction. Joe Root is the first name up, his base price at £75k. Manchester Super Giants open things up and are in competition with Southern Brave. The price balloons past £100k … the two teams tap out as Welsh Fire and SunRisers Leeds start going at each other. We’re past £200k … and it’s the Fire who get him for £240k. He’s off to Cardiff, not Headingley.
Here are the “marquee” names on the Hundred auction longlist: Jonny Bairstow, Adil Rashid, James Vince, Jordan Cox, Joe Root, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Haris Rauf and Daryl Mitchell.
I reckon Cox could be the most expensive: top run-scorer in last year’s tournament, 25 years young and one to build your team around for the next few years.
Here’s your guide for today. The key thing to note: each team has a salary cap of £2.05m. There are only 16 overseas spots still available.
Here’s Andy Bull’s great piece on the women’s auction yesterday.
Preamble
Welcome to another day of gavel-slamming, subcontinental tensions and hefty sums. Am I alone in feeling a touch icky about these auctions? Or are we all OK with watching a room of people bid for other human beings? Am I just overthinking this? Anyway, let’s get out of my head: Jonny Bairstow, Adil Rashid and Jordan Cox are some of the big domestic names up for grabs.
Among the overseas, there’s been an update overnight from the ECB: Sunil Narine, Quinton de Kock, Shaheen Afridi, Allah Ghazanfar and Peter Siddle (still going!) are no longer on the auction list. Of course, we’ll keep a close on eye on those Pakistan players in the mix, not just to see if they get a gig, but whether any of the Indian-owned teams place a bid on them. It’s quite grim that this is a storyline, but here we are.
