Retention window open ahead of fourth year of The Hundred 

The retention window ahead of the fourth year of The Hundred opened today, allowing teams to start the process of retaining their players. 

Teams in the women’s competition will be able to retain a maximum of eight players, teams in the men’s competition will be able to retain a maximum of 10. 

Alongside the retention window opening, a number of new and updated regulations have been introduced, including an increase in salaries in the women’s competition and the news that selection in the women’s competition will now take place exclusively through retention and The Hundred Draft.

The Hundred - Women’s Competition new regulations 

An additional £100k has been allocated to each team in order to increase salaries in The Hundred women’s competition. The up to date salary bands are as below:

 1. 50,000
 2. 50,000
 3. 40,000
 4. 40,000
 5. 30,000
 6. 30,000
 7. 17,500
 8. 17,500
 9. 14,000
 10. 14,000
 11. 11,000
 12. 11,000
 13. 8,000
 14. 8,000
 15. 8,000 

There is no longer an open market element of selection. All picks will be via retention, The Hundred Draft powered by Sage or the Vitality Wildcard Draft.

There is a maximum of eight retentions per team.

Two of the three lowest salary slots to be left open for the Vitality Wildcard Draft.

Following The Hundred Draft powered by Sage, each team will nominate one player as a ‘designated marquee player’ who, if required, can be replaced by a fourth overseas or a domestic player. Each team may still only select a maximum of three overseas players in a playing XI.

The Hundred – Men’s Competition new regulations 

Salaries remain as per 2023.

With the number of England Men Centrally Contracted players with both red- and white-ball points increasing from 8 to 17, the selection mechanism has been updated. Teams will now be able to retain one England Men’s Centrally Contracted player from that list of 17 as their nominated Central Contract player. The nominated Central Contract player is the 16th member of the squad, in the salary band of £125,000.

Teams are able to retain other players from the list of 17 Centrally Contracted England Men’s players as domestic players (e.g. Birmingham Phoenix could retain Chris Woakes as their nominated Central Contract player and retain Ben Duckett on a salary band agreed with the player).

In addition, if required, the nominated Central Contract player can be replaced by either a fourth overseas player or a domestic player. In the event team(s) do not retain a nominated Central Contract player then there will be a central contract player draft to ensure all teams have one central contract player. Each team may still only select a maximum of three overseas players in a playing XI.

There is a maximum of 10 retentions per team, the nominated Central Contract player is in addition to this.

Two of the three lowest salary slots to be left open for the Vitality Wildcard Draft.