All change at Welsh Fire as The Hundred retentions are confirmed for 2023

Fire finished rock bottom of the league table last year, losing all eight of their matches, and have since swapped head coach Gary Kirsten for Mike Hussey

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Welsh Fire face a major rebuild after retaining just five men for The Hundred in 2023.

Fire finished rock bottom of the league table last year, losing all eight of their matches, and have since swapped head coach Gary Kirsten for Mike Hussey.

Hussey and his analysts will be very active on draft day (March 23), with eight spots set to be filled. 

The only players to keep their places in the Fire squad are Jonny Bairstow, Ollie Pope, David Payne, Joe Clarke and George Scrimshaw. 

They will have the first pick in the draft, and have vacancies to fill in each of the first three rounds - with two £125,000 contracts and one £100,000 to hand out. 

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Joe Clarke has been retained by Welsh Fire [Getty Images]

Fire will be by far the busiest of the men's teams at the televised draft, with six opting to retain the maximum 10 players. 

Southern Brave have two top-tier contracts to fill, having opted against holding on to Quinton de Kock and Marcus Stoinis. Brave have also released Jake Lintott, the left-arm wrist-spinner, but New Zealand batsman Finn Allen is retained. 

Northern Superchargers have two £100,000 spaces, having not renewed the contracts of Faf du Plessis and Dwayne Bravo. Harry Brook has been given a pay rise, from £75,000 to £125,000. 

Manchester Originals are hopeful Wanindu Hasaranga will be available this year, having retained the Sri Lanka allrounder and boosted him into the top pay bracket. The Originals have two £100,000 slots to fill at the draft.

Birmingham Phoenix have one top-level contract open ahead of the draft, which will go to a domestic player as Phoenix have retained Shadab Khan, Adam Milne and Kane Richardson as their overseas quota.

Oval Invincibles can bring in two more overseas players, but they will be in the latter stages of the draft as the first six spots on their roster are already filled. Will Jacks has jumped up to the top pay bracket, with Jason Roy accepting a £25,000 pay cut. Sunil Narine is retained.

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Oval Invincibles have promoted Will Jacks to a top-level pay bracket [Getty Images]

Champions Trent Rockets have a £125,000 spot available, having opted against retaining Tom Kohler-Cadmore, though the combative opener could be picked up again by the club in the first round of the draft. Overseas stars Rashid Khan, Colin Munro and Daniel Sams will be back for another season.

London Spirit, now without former captain Eoin Morgan, have retained Glenn Maxwell and Nathan Ellis but have one other overseas player to add to the group, having not renewed the contract of Kieron Pollard. 

The draft, which will be screened on Sky Sports News, will complete the initial 13-man squads. Each team will then bring in two wildcards, based on their performances in the T20 Blast. The wildcard draft is expected to take place in July, in the same week as the Blast quarter-finals. 

 


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