Today has been full of shocks and surprises — good and bad. The retained players from each team for the Hundred 2022 was announced leaving lots of questions and creating a pool of unsigned players.
Firstly, Birmingham Phoenix. The Nix have kept the core of their squad of Amy Jones, Ria Fackrell, Eve Jones, Emily Arlott, Kirstie Gordon, Phoebe Franklin, Abtaha Maqsood, Gwen Davies, Issy Wong & Georgia Elwiss, losing Thea Brookes, who did not play a match last year and Marie Kelly. Kelly recently moved regional team from Central Sparks to Lightning so it is not a huge surprise that she has not been retained; I would imagine that she may move to Trent Rockets. Phoenix have chosen not to retain any of their overseas players (Shafali Verma, Erin Burns & Katie Mack) which is not a big shock considering that they were all replacements. I would imagine that Verma may be picked up by another team, especially given the fact that India will be staying on in England after the Commonwealth Games for a series against India in September. From the 2020 original draft New Zealand’s Sophie Devine and Australian all-rounder, Ellyse Perry have been retained leaving one overseas spot left. Devine will also take over the captaincy role from wicket-keeper Amy Jones. Birmingham Phoenix’s squad is really shaping up and they are looking like a very strong squad.
London Spirit’s announcement came with a few surprises. Naomi Dattani, Heather Knight, Amara Carr, Danielle Gibson, Charlie Dean, Freya Davies, Grace Scrivens & Alice Monaghan were retained, dropping all their overseas (Deandra Dottin, Deepti Sharma & Chloe Tryon). The greatest shock however, was England opener Tammy Beaumont being dropped. It will be interesting to see who opens the batting for the Spirit now and where Beaumont goes. My guess is that she may also go to Trent Rockets as she plays domestically for Lightning and they need an opening batter.
Welsh Fire struggled in their 2021 season but have retained Katie George, Alex Griffiths, Georgia Hennessy, Lauren Filer, Hannah Baker, Nicole Harvey & Hayley Matthews. Claire Nicholas was selected in 2020 but was unable to play in the 2021 season due to having a child, she has also been retained for 2022. Sarah Taylor will not be playing for this season and has taken up an assistant coaching role with Manchester Originals men’s team. Surprisingly, Fire chose not to retain Meg Lanning, Jess Jonnassen & Beth Mooney who were selected in 2020 but did not play in 2021 due to Covid-19. Why would they not select three of the world’s best players? Captain, Sophie Luff was not named which will leave a question about captaincy and one would hope that Welsh Fire bring in some strong overseas players and also an England players such as Tammy Beaumont or Lauren Winfield-Hill, both of whom could captain or keep.
Finalists Southern Brave have retained a large amount of their team, Maia Bouchier, Smriti Mandhana, Tara Norris, Carla Rudd, Paige Scholfield, Anya Shrubsole, Danni Wyatt, Lauren Bell, Sophia Dunkley & Amanda-Jade Wellington. They have one overseas spot left and I would imagine that Fi Morris may move to Welsh Fire. India’s Smriti Mandhana was a key player last year and the Brave have such depth in their batting which was vital to their high totals and success last season.
Defending champions, Oval Invincibles retained Tash Farrant, Emma Jones, Marizanne Kapp, Alice Capsey, Dane van Niekerk, Mady Villiers, Shabnim Ismail, Danielle Gregory & Grace Gibbs. The Invincibles have chosen to retain all their overseas players, the South African trio which is an extremely good decision and solid tactic after last years success. Fran Wilson and Georgia Adams have been released perhaps moving to Welsh Fire and Southern Brave however that is just my speculation based on their regional sides. Sarah Bryce was also not retained meaning they do not have a keeper so look out for who will keep for the Invincibles.
Trent Rockets only retained five players: Katherine Brunt, Nat Sciver, Kathryn Bryce, Abbey Freeborn & Sarah Glenn. There has been no explanation for this and they have retained no overseas from either 2020 or 2021. Abbey Freeborn has been retained despite the fact she has moved regional side from Lightning to Central Sparks. I will be very interested in watching who is signed for 2022.
Manchester Originals brought one of the biggest shocks. They retained Kate Cross, Cordelia Griffith, Hannah Jones, Lizelle Lee, Georgie Boyce, Ellie Threlkeld, Emma Lamb, Sophie Ecclestone & Laura Jackson however, Alex Hartley did not get a place. Hartley was a key player in 2021 and is a huge part of the heart and soul of the Manchester Originals team. Hartley announced that she could not come to a contract agreement with the board and so has decided to move team however that team has not been revealed. Furthermore, overseas players Mignon Du Preez and Harmanpreet Kaur have not been retained, a huge loss for the Originals while power hitting South African, Lizelle Lee has been retained.
Finally, Northern Superchargers have retained many of their players: Hollie Armitage, Katie Levick, Jemimah Rodrigues, Liz Russell, Bess Heath, Beth Langston, Linsey Smith, Alice Davidson-Richards, Laura Wolvaardt & Kalea Moore. The Superchargers have also retained Alyssa Healey from 2020 and have kept top scorer Jemimah Rodrigues and fiery batter Laura Wolvaardt from 2021. Phoebe Graham and Ami Campbell have not been retained and will possibly move to Manchester Originals and Birmingham Phoenix, in line with their regional squads however nothing has been confirmed. The greatest shock has been that Lauren Winfield-Hill has not been retained who both captained and kept for the Superchargers. There now is a captaincy role to fill and hopefully Healy will take that on.
For a full analysis of the teams and changes, I have an emergency podcast episode out where we discussed all of it: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2yTjYZZcC9Icr5tq50Rttz
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