UK sport will host its first major player auction this week as a host of cricketers go under the hammer ahead of the 2026 edition of The Hundred over the summer.

The women’s auction is on Wednesday with the men’s 24 hours later – both of which you can watch live on Sky Sports Cricket from 10am – as players hope to be purchased at Piccadilly Lights in London.

Why is there a player auction?

The change from a draft system has come after heavy private investment into the eight Hundred franchises, with four of the sides – Manchester Super Giants, MI London, Southern Brave and Sunrisers Leeds – taken over, in part or in full, by IPL owners. A player auction has been a staple of the Indian Premier League for years.

How does this player auction work?

Players have been split into three distinct categories: hero players, ranked players and nominated players.

Hero players are your big stars. The ones teams have already earmarked as potential key signings, with 50 men’s and 50 women’s players in this batch.

They include – for the men’s auction – England internationals past or present in Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Josh Tongue, Jordan Cox and Adil Rashid, South Africa’s Aiden Markram, New Zealand’s Finn Allen and Pakistan duo Haris Rauf and Usman Tariq.

In the women’s event, those in the hero banding include England’s Sarah Glenn and Tammy Beaumont as well as Davina Perrin – surely an England player of the future after her 42-ball ton in The Hundred last season – Australia’s Beth Mooney and India’s Deepti Sharma.

Once the hero section is complete, we move on to the ranked category.

Here, teams will nominate 25 players each with the most popular picks then up for grabs. These could include hero players who went unsold or others outside that set yet to be put forward.

Finally, it is on to the nominated players.

Once a team picks an unsigned player, after a random draw to determine selection order, that player will be put up for auction. If no other franchise bids for them, they will join the team that initially nominated them.

There are 178 women’s players up for sale and 247 men’s. Previously, teams could only take on three overseas players in The Hundred but that has been upped to four.

How much money do the sides have to spend?

The overall women’s salary pot was £880,000 per team, with the men’s standing at £2.05m, although teams have already spent some of those funds through retaining or acquiring up to four players each ahead of the inaugural auction.

Manchester Super Giants Women, MI London Women, Sunrisers Leeds Women and Welsh Fire Women only signed three players so have had £310,000 deducted.

The other four women’s sides – Birmingham Phoenix, London Spirit, Southern Brave and Trent Rockets – have had £360,000 deducted after making four signings or retentions.

Each of the men’s teams have had £950,000 removed from their overall salary pot of £2.05m after making all four permitted signings during the pre-auction window.

Jacob Bethell (Birmingham Phoenix), Jos Buttler (Manchester Super Giants), Jofra Archer (Southern Brave) and Nat Sciver-Brunt (Trent Rockets) were among the big names retained, while Mitchell Marsh (Sunrisers Leeds), Alice Capsey (Birmingham Phoenix) and Smriti Mandhana (Manchester Super Giants) are three of the new signings.

Is Ben Stokes in the auction?

No. The England Test captain, who has previously played for Northern Superchargers (now known as Sunrisers Leeds), will focus on international commitments, with the three-Test series against Pakistan beginning three days after The Hundred final. England also play a red-ball series at home to New Zealand in June.

Can teams sign players after the auction?

Yes. Two spots will be left vacant in each squad for wildcard picks based on performances in the Men’s and Women’s Vitality Blast competitions later this summer.

When is the 2026 edition of The Hundred?

The tournament runs from Tuesday July 21 to Sunday August 16, with Sunrisers Leeds Women and MI London Men starting their title defences on day one, at The Kia Oval.

Every match from the men’s and women’s competitions will be live on Sky Sports, including the eliminators on Friday August 14 and finals two days later, with every day seeing a women’s game precede a men’s fixture at the same venue.

How does the tournament work?

Teams play eight group games, meeting six sides once and their local rivals twice.

MI London face London Spirit on two occasions, with the other home and away fixtures Sunrisers vs Giants, Rockets vs Phoenix, and Brave vs Fire.

The men’s and women’s sides that top the league phase will qualify directly for the finals, with the sides ending second and third meeting in the eliminator to decide the table-toppers’ opponents.

We are about to find out who forms the nucleus of the squads, so make sure you catch The Hundred auctions on Sky Sports Cricket. The women’s event is from live from 10am Wednesday, with the men’s taking place from 10am Thursday. Stream contract-free.

Hundred squads so far

*player retained
**new signing

Men

Birmingham Phoenix: Rehan Ahmed** (England), Jacob Bethell* (England), Donovan Ferreira** (South Africa), Mitchell Owen** (Australia)

London Spirit: Dewald Brevis** (South Africa), Liam Livingstone** (England), Jamie Overton* (England), Adam Zampa** (Australia)

Manchester Super Giants: Noor Ahmad* (Afghanistan), Jos Buttler* (England), Liam Dawson** (England), Heinrich Klaasen* (South Africa)

MI London: Sam Curran* (England), Will Jacks* (England), Rashid Khan* (Afghanistan), Nicholas Pooran** (West Indies)

Southern Brave: Jofra Archer* (England), Jamie Smith** (England), Marcus Stoinis** (Australia), Tristan Stubbs** (South Africa)

Sunrisers Leeds: Harry Brook* (England), Brydon Carse* (England), Nathan Ellis** (Australia), Mitchell Marsh** (Australia)

Trent Rockets: Tom Banton* (England), Tim David** (Australia), Ben Duckett** (England), Mitchell Santner** (New Zealand)

Welsh Fire: Marco Jansen** (South Africa), Rachin Ravindra** (New Zealand), Phil Salt** (England), Chris Woakes* (England)

Women

Birmingham Phoenix: Alice Capsey** (England), Lauren Filer** (England), Lucy Hamilton** (Australia), Ellyse Perry* (Australia)

London Spirit: Charlie Dean* (England), Grace Harris* (Australia), Mahika Gaur** (England), Marizanne Kapp** (South Africa)

Manchester Super Giants: Sophie Ecclestone* (England), Meg Lanning** (Australia), Smitri Mandhana** (India)

MI London: Melie Kerr** (New Zealand), Hayley Matthews** (West Indies), Danni Wyatt-Hodge** (England)

Southern Brave: Lauren Bell* (England), Maia Bouchier* (England), Jemimah Rodrigues** (India), Laura Wolvaardt* (South Africa)

Sunrisers Leeds: Kate Cross* (England), Phoebe Litchfield* (Australia), Annabel Sutherland* (Australia)

Trent Rockets: Sophia Dunkley** (England), Ash Gardner* (Australia), Kim Garth** (Australia), Nat Sciver-Brunt* (England)

Welsh Fire: Freya Kemp** (England), Georgia Voll** (Australia), Georgia Wareham** (Australia)