Ten Aussies picked up in inaugural Hundred draft

Glenn Maxwell will link up with coach Shane Warne at the London Spirit after the allrounder became one of 10 Australians picked in the inaugural Hundred draft.

Aaron Finch, Mitchell Starc, Steve Smith, David Warner, D'Arcy Short along with Maxwell are the Aussies who fetched top dollar for the first season of the new 100-ball cricket tournament to be played in England and Wales next year.

Those six were all snapped up on £125,000 (AUD $236k) contracts, while Chris Lynn, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Dan Christian and Adam Zampa were all taken in subsequent rounds.

Allrounders Mitch Marsh, Marcus Stoinis and Shane Watson, along with Test players James Pattinson, Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne and Nathan Lyon headlined the Australians to be overlooked.

Australia captain Meg Lanning (Welsh Fire), star keeper Alyssa Healy (Northern Superchargers) and spinner Sophie Molineux (Trent Rockets) were confirmed as marquee players for the women's Hundred competition.

The Trent Rockets made Afghan spinner Rashid Khan the first overall pick in the men's draft, while West Indies allrounder Andre Russell went next to the Southern Brave, as the first-round picks came thick and fast.

Finch and Lynn went to the Leeds-based Northern Superchargers, coached by Australian Darren Lehmann, before World Cup star Starc went to the Welsh Fire.

Spinners Sunil Narine and Imran Tahir were the next two off the board.

They are off to the Oval Invincibles and the Manchester Originals, coached by Australians Tom Moody and Simon Katich, respectively.

Maxwell was next before Liam Livingstone was picked by the Birmingham Phoenix, coached by Australian Andrew McDonald, who snapped up Zampa later in the draft.

Each of the eight teams had two picks in the first round except for the Phoenix, Spirit and Invincibles, who had allocated the second spots in the £125,000 price band to pre-selected "local icon" players.

Smith headed to the Fire, where he will link up with Starc, while the Superchargers took spinner Mujeeb ur Rahman, Warner went to the Brave and D'Arcy Short was given the nod by the Rockets.

The teams picked in reverse order for the second half of the round and Manchester selected Dane Vilas, who has had success as a T20 Blast overseas player for Lancashire, before later picking up journeyman allrounder Christian.

That left West Indies blaster Chris Gayle, Sri Lanka paceman Lasith Malinga and his South Africa counterpart Kagiso Rabada undrafted after failing to meet their allotted price tags.

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson was the highest-profile name taken in round two, heading to Birmingham, while the Spirit paired Afghanistan's Mohammad Nabi and Pakistan paceman Mohammad Amir.

Round three started with two overseas picks as Australia bowler Coulter-Nile joined Short at the Rockets and Pakistan's Shadab Khan went to the Brave.

English players dominated the remainder of the round - including Adam Lyth staying on his county home ground of Headingley with the Superchargers.

Manchester sat out round three, having already taken Lancashire bowlers Matt Parkinson and Saqib Mahmood as their two picks.

Australia are scheduled to play Tests in Bangladesh next June before limited-overs matches in England in early July, which means the majority of players should be available for the tournament later in the northern summer, if given clearance to play.

Former Western Australia quick Nathan Rimmington (Northern Superchargers) and Penrith-born leg-spinner Nathan Sowter (Oval Invincibles) were also drafted as local UK players.

The competition will be played over the height of summer in the United Kingdom with an aim of squeezing the match in two and a half hours.

It will see bowlers send down up to 20 balls each (either five or 10 balls consecutively), with a change of ends every 10 deliveries.

The powerplay lasts for 25 deliveries from the start of the innings, with only two players allowed beyond the 30-yard fielding restriction circle.

The bowling side has a two-and-a-half minute strategic timeout, similar to what is used in the Indian Premier League.

Teams will finalise their squads next year.

AUSTRALIANS DRAFTED AS OVERSEAS PLAYERS FOR THE HUNDRED

*(all prices in AUD)

Trent Rockets: D'Arcy Short ($236k), Nathan Coulter-Nile (142k)

Southern Brave: David Warner ($236k)

Northern Superchargers: Aaron Finch ($236k), Chris Lynn (189k)

Welsh Fire: Steve Smith ($236k), Mitchell Starc ($236k)

Manchester Originals: Dan Christian (113k)

London Spirit: Glenn Maxwell (236k)

Birmingham Phoenix: Adam Zampa (75k)

Oval Invincibles: none

UNDRAFTED AUSTRALIANS

Shane Watson, Mitchell Marsh, Marcus Stoinis, Jason Behrendorff, Shaun Marsh, Matthew Wade, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Usman Khawaja, James Pattinson, D'Arcy Short, Peter Siddle, Andrew Tye, Fawad Ahmed, George Bailey, Alex Carey, Ben Cutting, James Faulkner, Michael Klinger, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Kane Richardson, Jack Wildermuth, Sean Abbott, Cameron Bancroft, Hilton Cartwright, Tom Cooper, Ben Dunk, Ben Dwarshuis, Chris Green, Daniel Hughes, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Lalor, Ben Laughlin, Nic Maddinson, Ben McDermott, Billy Stanlake, Aaron Summers, Mitchell Swepson, Ashton Turner, Jake Weatherald, Jonathan Wells, Daniel Worrall.

Key playing conditions of The Hundred:

100 balls per innings

A change of ends after ten balls

Bowlers deliver either five or ten consecutive balls

Each bowler can deliver a maximum of 20 balls per game

Each bowling side gets a strategic timeout of up to two and a half minutes

A 25-ball powerplay start for each team

Two fielders are allowed outside of the initial 30-yard circle during the powerplay

- with AAP