After the eight teams were revealed on Thursday, NICK FRIEND looks at how the franchises are shaping up, with three players selected in each side
There was little in the way of surprises as The Hundred launched with its team reveal on Thursday morning in a trendy converted brewery on Brick Lane.
The very beginnings of teams have been constructed, the skeletons not yet substantial enough to take any real guess at how each coach intends to tackle a new format and a competition that will, theoretically, see a host of the world’s best overseas players mix in amongst a compressed, concentrated group of the top white-ball players in England and Wales.
For all the competition’s issues – and, boy, do they exist, the early signs are that the cricket should not be among them.
Quite how or why grassroots participation will improve because of the tournament remains an outstanding query.
Quite how – long-term – the 18 counties that form the backbone of the game in this country can coexist alongside eight city-based well-backed behemoths is a major cause for concern, and one currently without a truly adequate answer.
Quite how the Blast – at its commercial peak – can continue to thrive is another. There are other questions too – of the research that went into the formation of the competition, of where it leaves supporters, who pay good money for membership of their counties.
But it’s not going away. It’s here. It’s going nowhere. The crisps on the kits? Well, I like them. And, they’re only crisps. We live in a sporting era of online gambling operators splashing their logos across sporting institutions and alcohol brands holding the naming rights to prestigious, historic tournaments.
So, let’s talk about the cricket. Strip away everything else for a moment and analyse a pretty well-stocked barrel of talent.
Because actually, it is difficult to stare at the draft list and then at the initial picks made on Brick Lane and not be fairly fascinated by it all.
If Jofra Archer picks himself both as the team’s sole Test player and as a world-renowned T20 gun-for-hire, then there can have been few franchises whose local icon picks were so competitive, with legitimate reason to plump for any number of options.
Luke Wright, Phil Salt, Laurie Evans – perhaps the top-order trio that goes hardest in the T20 Blast – were overlooked. They will surely head into the main draft with a certain confidence. All three have forged secondary careers on the franchise circuit.
The same can be said for their bowlers; Chris Jordan, to a degree, was a left-field pick, if only because of his seemingly ever-fluctuating stock. David Wiese remains a useful all-round option, while Tymal Mills had a terrific Blast until a back problem flared up. Hampshire’s spin duo of Mason Crane and Liam Dawson had fine Blast campaigns – it was not long ago that both were in England’s T20 setup.
With Vince and Jordan slotting in as fourth-round and sixth-round draft prices, Mahela Jayawardene’s side have given themselves the chance to go hard in the early stages of the draft.
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A curious day for Shane Warne’s London Spirit, that began with the drawing of lots. Talk in the buildup was of the relative romance of Joe Root, England’s Test captain, joining Eoin Morgan, England’s one-day captain, on the same side – a marketing dream, even for this competition’s blundering PR strategy.
Ultimately, that did not happen. Lots were drawn and, if truth be told, Spirit drew shortest, with Root and Jonny Bairstow the alternatives. Just a single T20 half century for Rory Burns in 36 innings. Quite simply, he is a fine red-ball player.
If they use the draft wisely, then there is every chance that Burns will end up as a face of the team, but not necessarily a playing member. After all, England’s Test players are around only for the first three games and finals day.
Morgan’s pick was an obvious foregone conclusion – he will surely lead his side. Barring Ben Stokes, it is not to exaggerate his cause to describe him as both the most recognisable and most popular man in English cricket.
In Dan Lawrence, however, there was one of the more surprising moves of the day. A hugely talented young player, of course, but left-field nonetheless. Particularly when that field contains both Ravi Bopara and Dawid Malan – the former central to Essex’s Blast success, the latter back in England’s T20 squad.
Warne, for all the glitz and glamour, was Rajasthan Royals’ captain when they Moneyballed their way to IPL glory in its inaugural year. Could Lawrence, a really intelligent pick – his part-time off-breaks an added bonus, be the first sign of that canny strategy taking shape at Lord’s? Alternatively, does the omission of Bopara hint at a desire for a big-money finisher?
It is very possible that Welsh Fire have their top three nailed down already. Certainly on paper, it is a fairly thrilling prospect.
The decision to tie down Tom Banton on a £100,000 deal is a huge – and merited – leap of faith in a desperately talented 20-year-old, while the signing of Colin Ingram on another £100,000 packet is a pragmatic investment.
With Jonny Bairstow not currently in England's immediate red-ball plans, they may even have the Yorkshireman for longer than they'd bargained for. Bairstow, of course, formed a record-breaking IPL partnership with David Warner earlier this year.
Whether opting for three top-order hitters will come back to bite them, however, is an intriguing question. Welsh Fire are one of only two sides not to have picked up a bowler thus far. Filling up their third-round and fourth-round draft picks before the event is a risk.
Ingram is likely to captain the franchise – as he has done both at Glamorgan and Adelaide Strikers, while Banton’s outrageous Blast summer made him an absolute must-pick.
It means, therefore, that Lewis Gregory and Benny Howell, both part of the controversially-named team’s catchment area, have been ignored initially. Both will be picked up early in the draft – two of the circuit’s better three-dimensional cricketers: Gregory a fine finisher, Howell the canniest of seamers.
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It is difficult to see how Birmingham could have done much better on Thursday. Andrew McDonald’s life was made easier in September with the news that Moeen Ali would not be offered a red-ball central contract, ending any toss-up between the Worcestershire skipper and Woakes as his Test player.
But for that moment of fortune, Phoenix would have lost one of their prize local assets. As it is, they will be thrilled with their business – both on a cricketing and commercial level.
Given what this competition stands for, it is tough to overstate the significance of Moeen – a local icon – to his ‘home’ franchise.
While Sam Hain, Ross Whiteley, Ed Pollock, Ben Cox and Riki Wessels would all have had their merits as possible options, the Worcestershire pair of Moeen and Brown – both so instrumental in their county’s runs to successive Blast finals days – are tough to beat.
In Brown, Birmingham might already have secured one of the tournament’s prize bargains. He has been picked up in a deal worth £60,000 – the equivalent to an eighth-round draft pick. Alongside Dan Lawrence, it makes him the cheapest player signed on Thursday, but almost certainly one of the most important signings his side will make.
“Hopefully he can bowl the death overs, so I don’t need to,” Woakes joked on Thursday.
It’s all being kept very in-house at The Oval – three Surrey players, two brothers.
The selection of Sam Curran over Rory Burns was no surprise. Curran, of course, held down an £800,000 IPL deal with Kings XI Punjab earlier this year, even if he struggled through it in parts. A large part of Tom Moody’s job will be in finding the allrounder’s most effective role in his side.
Surrey utilised him at number three to good effect at times in this year’s Blast, while he opened the batting on occasion in India, where his bowling often suffered.
In Jason Roy, whose value in this competition will have skyrocketed after his Test struggles all but confirmed his prolonged availability, Invincibles have laid £125,000 on England’s World Cup-winning opener, while the £75,000 put on Tom Curran is money well spent.
Bowlers win games in T20 cricket and, in Curran, they have a death bowler with the kind of determined approach to relish the absurd mystery of the 10-ball marathon.
Sam Billings is unfortunate to miss out, though with only two of eight teams picking wicketkeeping options (one being Manchester who will need cover for Jos Buttler), both he and Ben Foakes will be early draft picks.
Liam Plunkett and Joe Denly could also have been picked up, and will surely be signed up at the main draft. Denly’s situation, one suspects, is complicated by the combination of a potential Test summer and his lack of red-ball contract. In the history of English T20 cricket, only two men have scored more runs than him, but will his unknown availability count against him?
Tom Banton has risen to prominence after his breath-taking displays in the Blast
Thursday was a good day for Stephen Fleming’s team but then, given his ready-made pair of local icon options, it was always going to be. Joe Root is an added bonus; despite his struggles in last year’s Big Bash, he remains a fine T20 player. Curiously, he possesses a better strike-rate and higher average in T20I cricket than in domestic competition.
In Hales and Gurney, Rockets have signed up one of the world’s hardest-hitting T20 batsmen, alongside one of T20 cricket’s best death bowlers.
And Gurney, a £75,000 sixth-round pick, represents some bargain. A batsman of his equivalent record would command a far greater fee.
Given the prestige of the pair – both are at the Caribbean Premier League at the moment, with Gurney starring, it was tough to see where else Fleming might look.
Ravi Rampaul was the top wicket-taker in this year’s Blast, doing so at a fine economy rate as well, while Wayne Madsen, Luis Reece, Billy Godleman and Matt Critchley all enjoyed fine campaigns as Derbyshire reached their first finals day.
Matt Carter will surely get picked up in the main draft; the wily off-spinner bowls from a height that makes depositing him over the ropes a tough proposition.
It was also revealed on Thursday that Rockets will have the first pick come draft night. For a split moment, the world will become their oyster.
In truth, there was only ever one decision for Darren Lehmann to make. And while Root and Bairstow are Headingley boys, Ben Stokes wrote his name into the ground’s folklore this summer.
He is joined by David Willey and Adil Rashid as local icon players, making them the only side not to pick up a frontline top-order option on Thursday, though Willey has played the role in the past.
Tom Kohler-Cadmore enjoyed a strong enough year for Yorkshire in the Blast that he could have been an alternative, while Scott Steel impressed at Durham in his maiden T20 Blast season and should get a go through the draft.
Yet, Willey’s allrounder abilities and Rashid’s status as one of the world’s finest white-ball spinners made the pair a fairly obvious choice.
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Harry Gurney has developed a reputation as one of the best white-ball death bowlers around
One of the quirks of being The Hundred’s only single-county franchise is that Simon Katich, in essence, had one squad of players to choose from as he analysed his local icon options.
In Jos Buttler, who signed a new deal with Lancashire recently amid speculation that he might head back down to Somerset, Originals have the ideal figurehead. A future England white-ball captain, one of the very greatest T20 cricketers on earth, the sort of player for whom this competition is ready-made. It is a shame, thus, that it will – in all likelihood – only see him for its first half.
It also means that Katich will need to tie down a second wicketkeeping option among his squad. Alex Davies and Dane Vilas might have been options as Manchester’s local icon options.
However, it is tough to argue with either Saqib Mahmood or Matt Parkinson – both 22-year-olds in England squads for the first time as they head out to New Zealand for red-ball and white-ball tours.
There is certainly an argument that Liam Livingstone is unfortunate to miss out – belligerent with the bat, canny with the ball. Mahmood’s selection ahead of him, perhaps, is slightly surprising.
In Parkinson, though, Manchester have one of the country’s most exciting prospects – a ballsy leg-spinner, unafraid to toss it up, a bowler of very few poor deliveries.
Having filled two bowlers’ spots in their squad, the draft is set up nicely. No team spent less on their local icons than Originals, with Parkinson and Mahmood coming in at £75,000 each.
It makes them the only team to have all four £125,000 and £100,000 brackets to pick from on October 20. Given the strength of the international draft list, that seems a good place to be.
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