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

Another intense day at the auction table follows the first ever Women's Hundred auction. The inaugural Men's auction will also be held at London's Piccadilly Lights.

The involvement of IPL owners has added significant intrigue for the 2026 season. This shift has moved the competition from a draft system to an IPL-style auction and prompted some team rebranding.

A notable pre-season development has been questions over the involvement of players from Pakistan. All franchises and the ECB recently confirmed no player would be sidelined based on nationality, ensuring attention whenever a Pakistan player's name arises.

Teams are expected to focus heavily on local English talent, as squads are limited to just four overseas players.

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

Each franchise enters the auction with a salary cap of £2.05 million, a significant increase from the women's £880k cap. Deductions have already been made for pre-auction direct signings and retentions.

Teams can have a maximum squad of 18 players, with up to four overseas players permitted. Over 240 players will be auctioned, divided into three categories:

• Hero Players
• Ranked Players
• Nominated Players

The auction begins with the Hero Players category, featuring the 50 most-nominated players, including those with the highest reserve price of £100,000.

The Ranked Players phase follows, where teams nominate up to 25 players they are interested in, including any unsold players from the first stage.

The final Nominated Players stage allows each franchise to take turns nominating a remaining unsigned player. If another team expresses interest, bidding occurs; otherwise, the player joins the nominating team.

Players retained/signed and purse remaining

Teams were permitted to retain or directly sign up to four players before the auction. All eight men's teams have signed four players, deducting £950k from their purse. Consequently, every team begins with an identical remaining purse of £1.1 million.

• Direct signings: Marco Jansen, Phil Salt, Rachin Ravindra
• Direct signing: Tim David, Ben Duckett, Mitchell Santner
• Direct signings: Nathan Ellis, Mitchell Marsh
• Retained: Harry Brook, Brydon Carse
• Direct signings: Jamie Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Tristan Stubbs
• Direct signings: Nicholas Pooran
• Retained: Will Jacks, Rashid Khan, Sam Curran
• Direct signings: Liam Dawson
• Retained: Noor Ahmad, Jos Buttler, Heinrich Klaasen
• Direct signings: Dewald Brevis, Liam Livingstone, Adam Zampa
• Direct signings: Rehan Ahmed, Donovan Ferreira, Mitchell Owen

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

The available player pool features a strong mix of England internationals and global T20 stars.

Overseas players expected to attract attention include New Zealand's Finn Allen and Tim Seifert, along with Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sikandar Raza, Jason Holder, Shimron Hetmyer, Aiden Markram, and Sunil Narine.

English players in demand feature the 2025 season's MVP Jordan Cox, alongside Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Adil Rashid, James Vince, Luke Wood, and Chris Jordan.