The Hundred 2026: Lavish bids, high stakes and a seven-hour auction as cricketers go under the hammer

Beneath the glow of Piccadilly’s giant digital screens, English cricket surrendered to a new kind of theatre on Thursday as The Hundred staged its inaugural men’s player auction, a seven-hour marathon that ended with a fresh cast of millionaires and a tournament reborn under private ownership.

Auctioneer Richard Madley, familiar to IPL audiences for his brisk cadence, opened proceedings at 10 a.m. sharp. By the time the gavel fell soon after 5 p.m., £16 million in guaranteed men’s salaries had been committed for the 2026 season, with 243 names on the long-list trimmed to 96 winning bids. Each of the eight franchises still had £1.1 million to burn after earlier retentions; every pound was spent in a room heavy with analysts, colour-coded paddles and spreadsheets rather than flashing cameras or player smiles.

The headline act was not Joe Root, despite the former England captain being the first man sold. Welsh Fire instead saved their fireworks for 22-year-old Sussex all-rounder James Coles, whose price spiralled to £390,000—£50,000 more than any other buy on the day. London Spirit coach Andy Flower, who has worked with Coles before, called the fee “just above” internal projections but justified it by saying, “all-rounders are valuable in auctions” and praising the youngster’s self-belief.

Root still cashed in handsomely, joining Welsh Fire for £240,000 alongside Kent batter Jordan Cox (£300,000). The Cardiff-based side spent almost half its purse on the pair, signalling an intent to build a top-order built for the slow, turning conditions at Sophia Gardens. “We targeted domestic top-order batting,” said Fire captain Phil Salt. “Guys that have played at Cardiff before know what the conditions are like.”

Elsewhere, teenage England Under-19 captain Thomas Rew was summoned out of a school lesson to learn Southern Brave had bought him for £80,000, while 2019 World Cup winner Jason Roy had to wait until the final throes of the auction before MI London, the rebranded Oval Invincibles, secured him at base price (£31,000). “We were delighted to land him for the lowest possible price,” said club advisor Alec Stewart, who admitted the franchise had run multiple mock drafts for weeks to prepare.

Pakistan’s Abrar Ahmed became the focus of geo-political intrigue after reports that Indian owners might boycott Pakistani talent. Sunrisers Leeds, now fully owned by Hyderabad’s Sun Group, ended the speculation by grabbing the wrist-spinner for £150,000. Head coach Daniel Vettori, veteran of IPL auctions, shrugged off the issue: “We just planned for everyone that was in the auction.”

Veteran England leggie Adil Rashid will continue in Southern Brave colours after they matched his £250,000 tag, while Sunrisers’ pursuit of Rashid pushed them toward Abrar as a consolation prize. In the women’s draw held the previous day, Sunrisers had already spent £190,000 on all-rounder Danielle Gibson and watched Southern Brave counter with £130,000 for quick Issy Wong, underlining the competition’s commitment to making its female cricketers among the best-paid athletes in the UK.

The sums are impossible to ignore now that private money has replaced ECB control. Franchise stakes sold for a collective £520 million ahead of the 2026 season, with four teams fully or partly IPL-backed and four others gaining American investors, including Todd Boehly’s Cain International taking 49 per cent of Trent Rockets. The ECB says every penny will filter down to the 18 first-class counties and grassroots programmes, but traditionalists lament the final break from county structures that have fed England players for 140 years.

Yet for all the cash, the event itself struggled for spectacle. Cricketers were absent, unlike the star-studded drafts of the NFL or NBA, and bidding pauses for data checks sapped momentum. “Drafts are easy,” Vettori conceded. “Auctions are fun, though… the back half’s tough, but the early on bit is good.” By late afternoon, even Madley’s polished patter could not disguise weary faces inside the Piccadilly Lights venue.

When the last bid was logged, The Hundred emerged with a re-engineered roster, deeper pockets and the same 100-ball format that has polarised fans since 2021. Whether the gamble on auctions, private equity and an unproven format propels English cricket into a new era or merely complicates it will be judged when the action begins at grounds like Lord’s, where Coles will stride out in London Spirit’s MCC-nodding blue-and-yellow kit, the most expensive young symbol of a game still searching for its identity.