Livingstone in top band for Hundred
LANCASHIRE’S Liam Livingstone is one of only four domestic players to be given the top reserve price in Sunday’s draft for The Hundred.
The Red Rose all-rounder has a reserve price of £60,000 along with Joe Denly, Samit Patel and England World Cup winner Mark Wood.
Livingstone was overlooked by the Manchester Originals as one of their two ‘local icon’ picks, with spinner Matthew Parkinson and fast bowler Saqib Mahmood signed up instead in the £75,000 bracket.
There are seven set salary bands, with teams allowed to select two players at each of the following: £125,000, £100,000, £75,000, £60,000, £50,000, £40,000 and £30,000. Captains will receive a bonus of £10,000.
But if Livingstone isn’t picked up for at least his reserve price, he can’t be chosen lower down the draft and will miss out altogether.
With Jos Buttler also picked by the Originals as their England central contracted player, Manchester head coach Simon Katich will have 12 players to select in the historic draft – one of which of course could still be Livingstone.
Teams are allowed a maximum of three overseas players, with superstars Chris Gayle, Steve Smith and Mitchell Starc among the star names available at the top £125,000 reserve price.
There are plenty of Lancashire links in the 239 overseas player who have entered the draft, including South Africa captain Faf du Plessis (£100,000), Glenn Maxwell (£100,000) and James Faulkner (£40,000).
All 19 of Lancashire’s remaining professional – including club captain Dane Vilas, Alex Davies, Keaton Jennings and Graham Onions - are among the 331 domestic players up for grabs, none of which have been given a reserve price so could be selected at any stage of the draft.
James Anderson will be a ‘mentor’ for the Manchester team, but will not play or train. Lancashire head coach Glen Chapple and his assistant Mark Chilton will both be on Katich’s coaching team.
Spinner Rashid Khan is tipped to be one of the top picks on the night, with the likes of David Warner, Shakib Al Hasan and Andre Russell also expected to be snapped up in the opening rounds.
Manchester, who will play their home games at Emirates Old Trafford, will have the sixth pick in the first round, with Trent Rockets tacking the first slot. Head coaches will have just 100 seconds to select their picks for each round. Manchester also get the 11th, 22nd, 27th, 54th, 59th, 70th, 75th, 86th, 91st, 102nd and 107th selections.
Each team can also select at ‘wildcard’ after next year’s T20 Blast – which is played before The Hundred.