ECB announce venues and player selection process for The Hundred

The England and Wales Cricket Board has announced as many as 11 venues for the standalone Women’s Competition in The Hundred, which is meant to begin in July next year. These will be paired alongside eight venues that have been announced for the men’s tournament.



"We're delighted to be able to take the Women's Competition to a number of excellent venues around the country,” said Beth Barrett-Wild, head of the Women's Competition - The Hundred. "The venues for the men's and women's competitions respectively are working together incredibly closely and that connection will help The Hundred inspire more people to attend, watch and play cricket.”



"It's particularly exciting that the Women's Competition will be seen by fans across all 18 First-Class counties, this represents a huge opportunity to grow women's cricket - while the double-headers at the men's venues provide another chance to present the men's and women's teams on the same platform.”



"Many of the venues for the Women's Competition have an excellent track record in supporting and nurturing the women's game and we look forward to that continuing across The Hundred,” she concluded.



Player registration— for both the men’s and women’s competitions— begins in September. While the men’s teams selections will take place via a player draft scheduled for October 20, the women’s competition will see a ‘bespoke player selection process’. In this method, players will be selected across two stages with a standardised player fee band.



First, each of the eight teams will be obliged to select two players from the current list of centrally contracted England players. This stage will last for the entire month of September. Following that, between October 1 and May 30, each team must sign the remaining 13 members of their squads. This group will included the remaining England centrally contracted players, domestic and overseas signings.



Teams will be allowed to have a maximum of three centrally contracted players, and three overseas players as well. The head coaches will be the ones in charge of these player selections. In the women’s competition only four coaches have been announced so far— Lisa Keightley (London - Lord’s), Danielle Hazell (Leeds), Matthew Mott (Cardiff) and Charlotte Edwards (Southampton).



"It's really exciting that we'll have an open market system and that all of the teams will be recruiting their own players for the first time,” said Edwards. “It shows how the women's game has evolved and developed. I know I can't wait to start building our team and I'm sure for the players it will be a really interesting process, as they develop more of an idea of their value and what they can bring to a team.”



"The depth of the women's game isn't yet at a stage where a draft would be the best way forward, and it's important that we don't just match the template of the men's game. There are areas in which the needs of the women's game are different and it's right that we find the right approach for them.”



The following are the venues meant to host the tournament:

Men's venues	Paired women's venues
Sophia Gardens	Bristol County Ground County Ground, Taunton
Edgbaston	Blackfinch New Road, Worcester
Headingly	York Cricket Club South Northumberland Cricket Club
Lord's	County Ground, Chelmsford County Ground, Northmapton
The Oval	County Ground, Beckenham
Old Trafford	TBC
Trent Bridge	County Cricket Ground, Derby County Ground, Liecester
Rose Bowl	County Ground, Hove