“It’s really exciting to see the women’s squads begin to take shape”, says Meg Lanning after being picked in The Hundred

“It’s really exciting to see the women’s squads begin to take shape”, says Meg Lanning after being picked in The Hundred.

The Hundred is the title of a professional 100-ball cricket tournament in England and Wales run by the England Cricket Board commencing on July 2020. The league will consist of eight city-based franchise teams, each of which will field both a men’s and women’s team. Before moving forward, here are some interesting rules of this format:
• There would be 15 traditional 6-ball overs and a final 10-ball over.
• LBW law is removed.
• 100 balls each innings.
• Change of ends after 10 balls.
• Bowlers deliver either 5 or 10 consecutive balls.
• The first 25 balls would be played in the power-play.
• Only two fielders are allowed outside the initial 30-yard circle in the power-play.
• The playoff system will include the top four teams at the conclusion of the league stage and will be similar to the format used in the IPL, known as the Page playoff system.

The draft took place on 20th October 2019 at Sky studios where players were allocated to their selected franchises. Australia’s skipper Meg Lanning was picked by Welsh Fire as a Marquee player where she joins Katie George and Bryony Smith alongside head-coach Matthew Mott. Lanning said in a conversation with Espncricinfo,

“I’m absolutely delighted to be joining up with Matthew Mott at Welsh Fire, We obviously know each other really well from working together for Australia and hopefully that can give us an edge. It’s really exciting to see the women’s squads begin to take shape, and hopefully alongside the men’s players who joined up in tonight’s draft we can give Welsh Fire a strong chance in the first season of The Hundred.”

Welsh fire Men’s team head coach Gary Kirsten used his first two picks to grab Australians Mitchell Starc and Steve Smith, who will play alongside England’s star Jonny Bairstow.

Star-cricketer Alyssa Healy, who recently struck a world record by squash-buckling century (148 not-out) in T20’s for Australia against Sri-Lanka was picked as a marquee player by Northern Superchargers, where she will play alongside England’s Lauren Winfield and Linsey Smith.

Australia’s 21-year-old spin-bowling all-rounder Sophie Molineux was picked by Trent rockets as their marquee pick, she joins England couple Katherine Brunt and Natalie Sciver. Molineux, who has played 17 T20 internationals since making her debut in 2018, played all three of her ODIs the same year, is in her 5th WBBL with Melbourne Renegades. “Allrounders, especially ones like her will do really well in this competition,” Brunt told Sky Sports during the draft broadcast.

Tammy Beaumont was bought by London Spirits and will join her captain Heather Knight. While South Africa’s Lizelle Lee will head to Manchester Originals, On the other side her International Captain Dan Van Niekerk was picked by oval invincible. Beaumont said:

“The competition is obviously getting closer and now we know the names, the kit and the players it’s all starting to feel real. There’s so much world-class talent across both competitions and we are keen to get started.”

New Zealand’s All-Rounder Sophie Devine will play for Birmingham Phoenix and team-mate Suzie Bates heads to Southern Brave. Women’s team head coaches have until May 31st to finalize their squads.

Sources: ESPNCRICINFO.COM, Wikipedia.