Intrigue aplenty ahead of The Hundred's maiden men's player auction

What to expect?

Another intense day at the auction table barely 24 hours after the first ever Women's Hundred auction. The inaugural Men's auction will also be held at the same venue - London's Piccadilly Lights.

The involvement of IPL owners in the competition has added plenty of intrigue ahead of the 2026 season. Not only has it seen the competition do away with the draft system to move into an auction format that's been synonymous with the IPL, it has also seen some of the teams getting rechristened.

However, the most notable impact it has made prior to the season is ask questions over the involvement of players from Pakistan. All franchises alongside the ECB did release a statement recently confirming that no player would be sidelined based on nationality. Needless to say, there will be plenty of eyeballs whenever a Pakistan player's name pops up during the auction.

Expect teams to place plenty of focus on the local English talent given they can all have only four overseas players in their squads.

What is the format for the Men's Hundred auction?

Each franchise will head into the auction with a salary cap of 2.05 million GBP, a stark rise compared to the 880k GBP for the women's auction. Deductions for each team have already been made given they have all made direct signings/retentions already prior to the auction.

Teams are allowed a maximum squad size of 18 players, with up to four overseas players permitted in the final squad. Over 240 players will go under the hammer, with the auction pool divided into three categories - Hero Players, Ranked Players and Nominated Players, mirroring the format introduced for the women's competition as well.

Hero Players

The auction will begin with the Hero Players category. Franchises were asked to nominate players they are most interested in signing. The 50 most-nominated players from that list have been grouped into sets. Players who carry the highest reserve price of 100,000 GBP are expected to feature in this phase.

Ranked Players

The next phase of the auction will see teams nominate up to 25 players they are interested in signing, including any phase one players who may have gone unsold in the earlier stage. Players with the highest number of nominations will then be grouped together.

Nominated Players

Following the Ranked Players round, the auction will move into the Nominated Players stage. Each franchise will take turns nominating a player from those who remain unsigned. If another team expresses interest, bidding will follow. Otherwise, the player will automatically join the team that nominated him.

Players retained/signed and purse remaining

Ahead of the auction, teams were permitted to retain or directly sign up to four players, ensuring a core group was already in place before bidding begins. Those early moves have already seen several high-profile players secured across the eight franchises. While some teams in the women's section had signed three, there's no disparity in the men's section. All eight teams here have already signed four players and as a result, 950k GBP has been reduced from their purse. Therefore all teams will begin with identical purse of 1.1 million GBP.

Welsh Fire

Direct signings -Marco Jansen, Phil Salt, Rachin Ravindra

Retained - Chris Woakes

Trent Rockets

Direct signing -Tim David, Ben Duckett, Mitchell Santner

Retained - Tom Banton

Sunrisers Leeds

Direct signings - Nathan Ellis, Mitchell Marsh

Retained -Harry Brook, Brydon Carse

Southern Brave

Direct signings - Jamie Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Tristan Stubbs

Retained - Jofra Archer

MI London

Direct signings - Nicholas Pooran

Retained - Will Jacks, Rashid Khan, Sam Curran

Manchester Super Giants

Direct signings - Liam Dawson

Retained - Noor Ahmad, Jos Buttler, Heinrich Klaasen

London Spirit

Direct signings - Dewald Brevis, Liam Livingstone, Adam Zampa

Retained - Jamie Overton

Birmingham Phoenix

Direct signings - Rehan Ahmed, Donovan Ferreira, Mitchell Owen

Retained -Jacob Bethell

Who are the big players available at the Men's Hundred auction?

The list of players available includes a strong mix of England internationals and established global T20 stars. Among the overseas players expected to attract attention are New Zealand's opening duo of Finn Allen and Tim Seifert having made an impact in the recently-concluded T20 World Cup. The likes of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sikandar Raza, Jason Holder, Shimron Hetmyer, Aiden Markram and Sunil Narine are expected to be in demand as well.

Amongst the English players, the 2025 season's MVP Jordan Cox is expected to be in demand. The likes of Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Adil Rashid, James Vince, Luke Wood and Chris Jordan are the other prominent names on the list.