The Hundred 2026: women’s player auction – live

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Nicola Carey joins MI London £95,000

Australia’s Carey, right hand bowler, left-hand batter, and who has just been selected for Australia’s white-ball tour of West Indies, is in demand, but MI (MY) London win.

Mady Villiers joins Manchester SuperGiants for £45,000

Villiers, a spinning allrounder and advocate for the climate, will spend her summer at Old Trafford.

Em Arlott joins Welsh Fire for £110,000

Paddles fly around the room for Arlott. Welsh Fire, who have shunned leisurewear for grey suit jackets, outbid MI London.

Grace Scivens joins the Supergiants for £40,000

Daniel Gidney stares at the table, but Scrivens is heading to Manchester. I’m surprised there isn’t more cheering when the teams get their girl.

Paige Scholfield joins Manchester Super Giants for £115,000

Quite the bidding war for Scholfield, who has Big Bash and England experience under her belt

Eve Jones and Sune Luus unsold

Anyone? Anyone?

Hollie Armitage joins MI London for £27,500

MI London outbid Manchester Super Giants.

Tier two batters are next under the hammer.

What’s left in the purse? MI London still have a £405,000 kitty to spend, Manchester Super Giants £382,000. Welsh Fire £300,000, Trent Rockets £270,000, London Spirit £202,500; Birmingham Phoenix £195,000, Sunrisers Leeds £175,000, and Southern Brave just £95,000.

During another quick break we go to Anya Shubsole. “It’s really exciting, I’d rather be my side of the table than the players. We’re really happy with where we’re at, I’m really excited to get Issy Wong, she’s one of the best bowlers in England on her day.

“Opening the bowling with Belly too, very exciting. And some world-class spinners. In terms of the top order and the bowling attack we’re pretty much there.”

Seren Smale joins London Spirit £15,000

A last minute bid at the base price by London Spirit snaps up Smale.

Yastika Bhatia and Georgia Redmayne unsold

Tumbleweed blows across the florescent-lit room.

Richa Ghosh joins Manchester Supergiants for £50,000

The opening bid wins it for Manchester elephants.

Lauren Winfield-Hill is unsold

No bids.

Now for the wicketkeeper-batters.

Kirstie Gordon joins MI London for £27,500

A capital arm-wrestle won by MI London.

Alana King joins Welsh Fire for £37,500

Wow. £105,000 for an uncapped teenager, and £37,500 for the world’s leading female ODI bowler.

Sophia Smale joins Welsh Fire for £20,000

Short and sweet for Sophia Smale, as Welsh Fire see off Sunrisers.

Tilly Corteen-Coleman joins Southern Brave for £105,000

A pinch-yourself moment for 18 year old left-arm spinner Corteen-Coleman, who took four wickets in four balls for South East Stars in the Charlotte Edwards Cup in 2024.

Linsey Smith joins Birmingham Phoenix for £100,000

Slow left armer Smith, who has thrived under Charlotte Edwards’ England regime, is picked up by Birmingham Phoenix after lots of football manager whispers behind hands.

Now for the spin bowlers. Alana King should open a few purses.

Deandra Dottin joins London Spirit for £37, 500

Just one bid for Dottin, who will be peppering the Lord’s boundary this summer.

Jess Jonassen joins Sunrisers Leeds for £110,000

Lots of intense staring at laptops, whispered exchanges, and Jess Jonassen becomes the first allrounder to pass the £100,000 barrier. London Spirit come in at £105,000, but Sunrisers win the day.

Georgia Adams is unsold

No interest at this stage, even from Southern Brave.

Chinelle Henry joins MI London for £70,000

The first West Indian player to be sold joins MI London. London Spirit hop into the bidding late and pushed the price up only to withdraw and leave Henry to move to The Oval.

MI London place a bid during the auction. Photograph: John Phillips/ECB/Getty Images

Kathryn Bryce joins Manchester Super Giants for £65,000

It looks as if Bryce is going up north at the opening price but Welsh Fire’s interest pushes up the price.

Now for the allrounders.

Maitland Brown joins Supergiants for £40,000

Welsh Fire have a sniff, but Supergiants win Brown, a right-arm quick Australian.

Issy Wong joins Southern Brave for £130,0oo

The popular and media friendly/savvy Wong, who has played IPL and Big Bash, goes to the south coast for six figures.

One woman amongst the eight women's head coaches

Just had a google:

Manchester Super Giants: Matthew Mott

London Spirit: Jon Lewis

Birmingham Phoenix: Alistair Maiden

MI London: Lisa Keightley

Southern Brave: Jonathan Batty

Sunrisers Leeds: Daniel Vettori

Trent Rockets: Chris Read

Welsh Fire: Michael Klinger

Shabnim Ismail and Lauren Cheatle are unsold

No bids for the world’s fastest female bowler or left-arm Australian seamer Cheatle.

Grace Ballinger joins Trent Rockets for £42,500

From their elephant-branded swivel chairs, Manchester Supergiants spend their first money of the day on seam bowler Ballinger.

Bryony Smith joins Sunrisers Leeds for £27,500

The hammer falls again after just one bid.

Emma Lamb joins Birmingham Phoenix £27,500

Only one club shows any interest, so Lamb goes for the opening price.

No bids for Tazmin Brits

A second South African goes unsold.

Lizelle Lee joins Souther Brave for £27,500

Southern Brave pick up a bargain with wise old head Lizelle Lee.

Sterre Kalis is unsold

The first of the tier one batters doesn’t receive a bid. She can pop up again though later in the auction.

The official Hundred stream has lost 1,000 viewers in the last hour, now down to 1,400. But some life-changing sums of money have already exchanged hands.

What’s left in the purse? MI London and Manchester Supergiants still have a £530,000 kitty to spend. Birmingham Phoenix have £360,00, Southern Brave £357.500, Welsh Fire £320,000; Sunrisers Leeds £312.500, Trent Rockets £270,000 and London Spirit £240k.

Welsh Fire women’s head coach Michael Klinger on Sophie Devine “she’s one of the best allrounders in the world, we’re really happy to have her.”

Time for a break from the auction while everyone tots up their shopping list. It’s not the world’s most enthralling watch – could do with a bit more Supermarket Sweep energy.

Beth Mooney joins Trent Rockets for £210,000

The Australian “wicketkeeper batsman” becomes the joint most expensive player of the morning as the Supergiants are outbid once more.

Sophie Mollineaux joins Southern Brave for £47,500

A slow burn for Mollineaux but she inches close to a £50,000 pay packet eventually.

Sophie Devine joins Welsh fire for £210,000

A fantastic retirement present for Sophie Devine. Welsh Fire outbid MI London – things are looking up across the Severn Bridge.

Deepti Sharma joins Sunrisers Leeds for £27,500

A complete bargain for Sunrisers Leeds. I find that a bit baffling.

I wonder if the men’s auction tomorrow will be dominated by women with ipads. I have spotted Anya Shrubsole with her arms folded in a regulation Southern Brave baseball jacket.

Anya Shrubsole in her Southern Brave baseball jacket. Photograph: John Phillips/ECB/Getty Images

Nadine de Klerk joins London Spirit for £170,000

Not entirely sure Richard Madley from Bargain Hunt knows who Nadine de De Klerk is. Anyway, as the first of the overseas players, she gets a huge pay cheque as London Spirit outbid their rival over the Thames.

Dani Gibson joins Sunrisers for £190,000

A whopping pay day for Dani Gibson, in a bidding war between Welsh Fire, Sunrisers Leeds and Southern Brave.

Tammy Beaumont joins Birmingham Phoenix for £70,000

Phoenix outbid the Trent Rockets for England’s own pocket rocket.

Forgive me, I’ve just spotted two women in an ocean of men in leisurewear. Remember when the WCA amalgamated with the ECB and all the women lost their jobs?

The scene at the auction. Photograph: John Phillips/ECB/Getty Images

Where are the women?

I’d like to point out that it might be the women players who are for sale but I’m yet to see a woman on any of the team tables. Welcome to 2026.

Southern Brave buy Sarah Glenn for £75,000

A first purchase for Southern Brave.

London Spirit buy Amy Jones for £70,000

London Spirit open and close the bidding for England’s wicketkeeper.

Birmingham Phoenix buy Davina Perrin for £50,000

A volunteer picks a name from a hat, and it’s Davina Perrin – a bit of to-ing and fro-ing until Birmingham Phoenix make the first ever Hundred auction purchase!

Davina Perrin comes up at the Hundred women’s auction at Piccadilly Below the Lights in London. Photograph: John Phillips/ECB/Getty Images

Finances

The investors have brought with them a bigger purse, meaning bigger salaries. The women’s salary cap has doubled to £880,000 per team (though still significantly less than the men’s £2.05 million)

The teams still have a fair share of that booty left: Birmingham Phoenix, London Sprit, Southern Brave and Trent Rockets have £480,000.

MI London, Sunrisers Leeds, Welsh Fire and Manchester Super Giants have £530,ooo.

Okay, so the likeable Charles Dagnall and Kenzie Benali are our hosts on Sky.

There will be 178 names in the women’s pool. Each team is allowed four overseas players per squad (and per team). Each team has already signed up a handful of players, with some teams already looking.

Manchester Super Giants: Sophie Ecclestone (retained) Smriti Mandhana, Meg Lanning (both pre-signed)

London Spirit: Grace Harris, Charlie Dean (both retained), Marizanne Kapp, Mahika Gaur (both pre-signed)

Birmingham Phoenix: Ellyse Perry (retained). Alice Capsey, Lucy Hamilton, Lauren Filer (all pre-signed)

MI London: Hayley Matthews, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Melie Kerr (all pre-signed)

Southern Brave: Laura Wolvaardt, Lauren Bell, Maia Bouchier (all retained), Jemimah Rodrigues (pre-signed)

Sunrisers Leeds: Kate Cross, Annabel Sutherland, Phoebe Litchfield (all retained)

Trent Rockets: Nat Sciver-Brunt, Ash Gardner (both retained), Sophia Dunkley, Kim Garth (both pre-signed)

Welsh Fire: Georgia Wareham, Freya Kemp, Georgia Voll (all pre-signed)

Many eyes will be on how Pakistan’s players fare after reports that Indian-owned franchises would follow the IPL and refuse to sign players from across the border.

There are 16 Pakistan names in the auction – two women (fast-bowling allrounder Fatima Sana and left-arm spinner Sadia Iqbal) and 16 men including Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf and Shadab Khan.

The Franchises

Manchester Super Giants, once Manchester Originals, are now 70 per cent owned by India’s RSPG group and part of a growing empire including IPL side Lucknow Super Giants and SA20’s Durban Super Giants. Lancashire CCC own the other 30 per cent. Their new badge features the famous Manchester elephant.

London Spirit American based consortium Tech Tech have a 49 per cent stake, while the MCC kept the majority stake.

Sunrisers Leeds were sold lock stock and barrel to The Sun Group which in the process killed off Northern Superchargers. They too become part of a portfolio of sides, joining Sunrisers Hyderabad and Sunrisers Eastern Cape.

MI London, once the Oval Invincibles, also lost their name in the sell-off to India’s Ambani family. Reliance Industries Ltd now hold a 49 percent stake, with Surrey keeping the majority share. Their sister club is Mumbai Indians.

Southern Brave keep their name. GMR Group, the power behind Delhi Capitals and Hampshire, have a 49 percent stake.

Welsh Fire are half owned by Glamorgan, and half owned by India-American businessman Sanjay Goval, who also controls Major League Cricket franchise Washington Freedom.

Trent Rockets break the mould a little. Notts retain a 51 percent share, with the other 49 percent sold to Cain International, owned by Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly.

Preamble

Good morning brave new world. Today we crush the Hula Hoops and strut into the era of billionaire owners and player auctions, with a side dish of geopolitics

The women go under the hammer in about an hour’s time, tomorrow bids will be made on the men. In brief, each player will be listed in turn and the highest bidder wins their labour for six weeks in the summer.

The players are ranked into three groups – hero players (the 50 players who had the most interest from franchises), ranked players (each team then ranks 25 from the best of rest) and finally nominated players (each team selects an unsigned player they like, they then get auctioned, and if no other team bids they remain with the team who selected them.)

Media aren’t allowed into the auction room, but our man Andy Bull will be darting into the mixed zone when he can. We’ll be keeping an eye from the sofa, do join us.