Women's salaries in The Hundred to more than double, while men to receive a 20 per cent pay rise

Players in the men’s Hundred competition will receive a 20 per cent pay rise in 2022, with the total spending per team rising to £1 million, while salaries for women’s players will more than double.

Women's salaries will increase by 108 per cent for all players for 2022, with the top players now earning £31,250, or an extra £2,500 if they are captains, too. The changes mean that the highest-paid women’s players will now earn slightly more than the lowest-paid men’s players.

Men’s players will still earn four times more than women’s players, with the total spending on salaries per team now £250,000 in the women’s competition. But the England & Wales Cricket Board will argue that the hike in women’s salaries reflects their commitment to the women’s game, and ultimate target to ensure gender parity in wages.

In the men’s competition, the changes will increase the salaries to the levels originally envisaged for the competition, before the Covid-19 pandemic led to cuts. The new salary bands will see leading players earn £125,000 a year, rather than £100,000.

While The Hundred sides have yet to retain players, this change is set to benefit players like Eoin Morgan, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone and Jason Roy, who were previously in the top £100,000 band. Star overseas players, including Rashid Khan, David Warner, Glenn Maxwell and Sunil Narine are also likely to benefit from the change and see their Hundred salaries increase from £100,000 to £125,000 should they appear in the competition in 2022.

Players in all salary bands will benefit from the 20 per cent increase in salaries. The lowest paid players in the competition will now earn £30,000, rather than £24,000.

The eight Hundred teams will be free to retain up to ten players each before the player draft in March. Teams can retain up to three overseas players, with any players contracted to play for a team in 2021 eligible to be retained, even if they did not actually represent them. This means, for example, that Birmingham Phoenix could retain Kane Williamson and Shaheen Shah Afridi in their squads although neither played a match in The Hundred last summer. London Spirit would also be able to retain Australia duo Maxwell and Warner under these arrangements.

Each Hundred team will have until mid-February to finalise their retention list ahead of the player draft the following month.

During the draft, picks will be selected in reverse order from the final positions in the inaugural 2021 season, meaning that London Spirit - who finished bottom out of eight teams - will get the first pick. During the draft each side will have one ‘right-to-match’ option, similar to that used in the Indian Premier League, allowing them to retain an additional player by matching the salary that another team has bid for the player.

The four centrally contracted players who only play in the white-ball formats for England - Morgan, Moeen, Adil Rashid, and Roy - will be available for selection in the main squads. The remaining 16 centrally contracted players, who play Test cricket, will be available in the supplementary slots for centrally contracted players, with a maximum of two such players per team.