Following the ECB's decision to rope in private investors for the eight franchises of The Hundred, the competition now heads into its first ever player auction ahead of the 2026 season. All eyes and ears will be affixed firmly on London's Piccadilly Lights with the player auction for the Women's Hundred on Wednesday (March 11) to be followed by that for the Men's Hundred on Thursday.

While the tournament has followed the draft system across the first five seasons, the ECB has done away with that in favor of the auction, which has been commonplace in the IPL.

Interestingly, there is considerable IPL flavor that has made its foray into The Hundred - evidenced by the rechristening of the franchises that are now called MI London, Sunrisers Leeds and Manchester Super Giants. GMR, the co-owners of Delhi Capitals in the IPL, have bought a 49% stake in the Southern Brave.

Come Wednesday, groundbreaking bids are on the cards for the premier superstars of England and world cricket. With the stocks of the women's cricket pool rising in wake of the Women's Premier League as well as the ODI World Cup in the subcontinent in 2025, expect a huge payday for a host of them.

And of course, considering just how important local talent is towards winning a franchise T20 competition, bidding wars for greenhorns keenly eyed by the scouts of the eight teams ought not to come as a surprise.

What is the format for the Women's Hundred auction?

The purse for each team has been capped at 880,000 GBP for the Women's Hundred auction, although deductions have been made in accordance with the number of pre-auction signings. The squad strength is to be capped at 15, with no more than four overseas players. That includes two wildcard picks who can be signed independently by teams ahead of the season.

The 178 players who will go under the hammer have been split across three categories - Hero Players, Ranked Players and Nominated Players.

Hero Players

In the first category, teams will nominate the names of the players they are most interested in signing. The 50 players most nominated from that list will be grouped into different sets based on their roles and then come up for bidding.

Ranked Players

This stage will see teams nominate up to 25 players - which may also include unsold Hero Players. The players will then come up for bidding on the basis of the highest number of nominations.