Hundred’s coming up trumps

LEADING English cricketers will be guaranteed to play for their home teams in next year’s Hundred as counties increasingly influence its set-up.

The ECB carried out a dummy draft this week for the new 100ball tournament in which three wildcards were used to protect the best players being snapped up by teams outside their region.

If a player who is identified as being a key recruit is taken by a rival, the home side can trump the bid.

The draft involved players being placed into six sections of diminishing financial tranches from £125,000 down to £30,000.

The organisations took it in turns to select one by one, with two chosen from each tier.

It is anticipated that the selection of three overseas stars — all of whom were placed in the top two financial brackets — will follow the same process.

The move to enhance the local flavour follows venue bosses demanding control of coaching recruitment in the face of a push for independence. The ECB, which is to invest £180million in the Hundred between the five-year period of 2020-2024, wanted the venture to be separate from the traditional 18-county system. But the management teams of the new entities — effectively existing chief executives and heads of cricket from the areas they represent — have been empowered to formulate the backroom teams, using a budget of £200,000 separate to the £1.2m salary cap.

Team names — Birmingham is one of the cities that will feature in the titles — are expected to be announced on the eve of the 2019 domestic season.