18 Lankan cricketers register for The Hundred men’s draft

Eighteen Sri Lankan players have registered for the ECB’s The Hundred’s upcoming men’s draft on February 23 .

The 18 Lankans are among 252 overseas players who have registered for the draft. However only 35 spots will be up for grabs of which only seven are available to overseas players. Thus the chances of any Sri Lankan player being brought up by any one of the eight franchises looks extremely slim.

Overseas players from 13 different nations have entered, including Ireland, Netherlands, Oman and USA. Sandeep Lamichhane, is the only Nepalese player involved. No Indian players have put their names forward.

Five Sri Lankan players figure in the Overseas reserve price of 40,000 pounds sterling namely, Dhananjaya de Silva, Niroshan Dickwella, Kusal Perera, Thisara Perera and Isuru Udana. Two Sri Lankans figure in the Overseas reserve price of 32,000 pounds sterling Thikshila de Silva and Lasith Embuldeniya while the remaining 11 players figure in the Overseas no reserve price list - Wanindu Hasaranga, Akila Dhananjaya, Avishka Fernando, Asela Gunaratne, Danushka Gunathilaka, Lahiru Kumara, Kusal Mendis, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dasun Shanaka, Lahiru Thirimanne and Thilan Walallawita.

The top ten players who have entered with a reserve price of 100,000 pounds sterling each are Shakib Al Hasan, Babar Azam, Quinton de Kock, Lockie Ferguson, Jason Holder, Tamim Iqbal, Kieron Pollard, Nicholas Pooran, Kagiso Rabada and David Warner. At most four of them are likely to be picked.

The Hundred an initiative by ECB, will commence on 17 July 2021 and will run till 13 August 2021 with a total of 8 city-based franchise squads each having both men and women teams. (ST)