Jason Roy enters Hundred draft as most expensive English domestic player
- Planet Sport writer
- 5 March 2024
Jason Roy has entered the draft for this year's Hundred competition with a £100,000 reserve price, making the opener the most expensive domestic player up for grabs.
The 2019 World Cup winner was not retained by Oval Invincibles but he has put a high price on his availability when the teams convene at the Shard on March 20.
Roy played in the American Major League Cricket (MLC) tournament last year and, with the two competitions overlapping in the summer, whether or not he gets picked up could yet depend on whether or not he plans to head across the Atlantic again.
If he does find a deal it will be a with a new franchise, as the Invincibles' 'right to match' option is invalidated by the fact that their £100,000 and £125,000 slots are all filled.
Roy is one of just five domestic-qualified players to put a reserve on their services. Dawid Malan, the Hundred's top run-scorer in 2022, is in at £50,000 after being let go by Trent Rockets while Englad's Test vice-captain Ollie Pope is listed at £40,000 alongside Marchant de Lange and Chris Wood.
Pope was freed by Welsh Fire, who opted to keep Jonny Bairstow instead, but is likely to receive plenty of attention at the draft.
Mark Wood could choose to sit out entirely as the England management continue to manage the workload of their fastest bowler but he currently remains on the list with no minimum price tag.
On the women's side, England internationals Amy Jones and Lauren Filer are both up for grabs after leaving Birmingham Phoenix and London Spirit respectively.
There are 75 squad places to fill across the two competitions, with a clamour of overseas interest.
A total of 389 foreign players have registered for the 14 available places in the men's edition, with 127 women chasing 12 berths.
David Warner, who will end his Australia career after the T20 World Cup in June and carries a £100,000 base, is one of the biggest names to go forward, with Kane Williamson, Naseem Shah, Kieron Pollard, Daryl Mitchell, Nicholas Pooran and Matthew Wade also among the leading names.
Star names from Australia's all-conquering women's side are also in abundance, with the likes of Ashleigh Gardner, Meg Lanning and Beth Mooney vying with Smriti Mandhana, Jemima Rodrigues, Deandra Dottin, Chamari Athapaththu and Suzie Bates for the remaining contracts.
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