The Hundred: Joe Root to play for Trent Rockets as England stars' teams are revealed

NICK FRIEND AT THE HUNDRED TEAM REVEAL: Jonny Bairstow will play for Welsh Fire after both he and Root were overlooked in favour of Ben Stokes at Northern Superchargers, their local franchise

Joe Root will play for Trent Rockets in The Hundred, it has been revealed at the launch of the new competition.

England’s Test captain was overlooked by Northern Superchargers in favour of Ben Stokes, who was picked by Darren Lehmann’s side as their red-ball contract player.

Jonny Bairstow, also overlooked by Superchargers, whose paired management counties consist of Durham and Yorkshire. The England wicketkeeper and white-ball opening batsman will play for Welsh Fire, forming one half of a potentially explosive partnership with Somerset youngster Tom Banton.

Rory Burns, the third England Test contract-holder to miss out on a spot playing for his ‘local’ team – Sam Curran was selected by Oval Invincibles as their marquee Test player ahead of England’s red-ball opener – will remain in the capital however, representing Shane Warne’s London Spirit.

Elsewhere among England’s Test players, there were few surprises. Lancashire’s Jos Buttler will play at Emirates Old Trafford for Manchester Originals, who are the only single-county franchise of the eight new teams. He is joined by England’s pair of new international call-ups in the shape of Matt Parkinson and Saqib Mahmood, both 22-year-olds.

Following Moeen Ali’s decision to step away from red-ball cricket and the subsequent loss of his red-ball contract, Chris Woakes was unopposed in his selection for Birmingham Phoenix – making a potentially difficult decision far easier for his franchise.

Moeen, though, will play alongside his England teammate as one of the two local icon players picked by the Edgbaston team. Pat Brown, Moeen’s Worcestershire teammate, is the other man to be signed up by Andrew McDonald.

England’s World Cup-winning captain, Eoin Morgan – a vocal supporter of the tournament throughout its inception – will play for London Spirit, based at Lord’s, alongside Burns. Perhaps, the most surprising name to be revealed at the typically rustic Brick Lane venue was that of Dan Lawrence.

The 22-year-old Essex batsman is highly-regarded in all quarters and played a key role in his side’s maiden T20 Blast triumph at Edgbaston. He was picked by the Lord’s franchise ahead of the likes of Ravi Bopara and Dawid Malan as the team’s second local icon player – after Morgan who, one suspects, will captain his franchise.

^{Ben Stokes will play for Northern Superchargers}

Across London, Sam Curran, selected ahead of his county captain Burns, will be joined by his brother, Tom, and fellow England star Jason Roy.

Jofra Archer, meanwhile, will play for Southern Brave; he has been picked alongside his Sussex teammate – and great friend – Chris Jordan, while Hampshire captain James Vince, a member of England’s T20 squad for their tour of New Zealand, is the third player selected by Mahela Jayawardene.

Given the breadth of franchise regulars at both Sussex and Hampshire, there can have been few teams where the local icon selection process was more competitive. Jayawardene’s decisions mean that Tymal Mills, Phil Salt, Luke Wright and David Wiese – among others – will become available in the main draft.

Root will be joined at Trent Bridge, where his brother Billy previously played before joining Glamorgan, by two Englishmen who have made stars of themselves on the global T20 circuit.

Alex Hales, currently playing for Barbados Tridents in the Caribbean Premier League and set to represent Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash this winter, will play at his home ground, where he smashed hundreds in both of England’s world record-breaking ODI totals – first against Pakistan, before latterly against Australia in 2018.

He will be joined by Harry Gurney, whose stock has risen stratospherically in recent times as a supreme death bowler. Like Hales, the left-arm seamer has been playing for the Tridents in the CPL, and has become a staple of white-ball franchises around the world.

Bairstow, who will play his home games at Cardiff, is accompanied by Banton and Glamorgan T20 captain Colin Ingram, who has been tipped to lead his new franchise.

Only Babar Azam scored more runs in this year’s T20 Blast than Banton, who secured the PCA Young Player of the Year award at the organisation’s annual dinner on the evening before the teams were revealed.

^{Jofra Archer will represent Southern Brave}

David Willey, culled from England’s World Cup squad on the eve of the tournament to make room for Archer, has been picked up as one of Northern Sueprchargers’ local icons, alongside Adil Rashid.

All eight franchises will make their remaining choices at the main player draft on October 20.

The order for the first round of the draft has also been revealed; it was decided by the drawing of lots. Trent Rockets will have the very first pick of the draft, followed by Southern Brave, Northern Sueprchargers, Welsh Fire, Oval Invincibles, Manchester Originals, London Spirit and Birmingham Phoenix.

Birmingham Phoenix will, therefore, have both the eighth and ninth picks. Trent Rockets, having gone first, will then have the 16^th selection.

England Test players by franchise

Northern Superchargers: Ben Stokes

Manchester Originals: Jos Buttler

Trent Rockets: Joe Root

Birmingham Phoenix: Chris Woakes

Welsh Fire: Jonny Bairstow

London Spirit: Rory Burns

Oval Invincibles: Sam Curran

Southern Brave: Jofra Archer

Local icon players by franchise

Northern Superchargers: David Willey, Adil Rashid

Manchester Originals: Saqib Mahmood, Matt Parkinson

Trent Rockets: Alex Hales, Harry Gurney

Birmingham Phoenix: Pat Brown, Moeen Ali

Welsh Fire: Tom Banton, Colin Ingram

London Spirit: Eoin Morgan, Dan Lawrence

Oval Invincibles: Tom Curran, Jason Roy

Southern Brave: Chris Jordan, James Vince

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