Nicholas Pooran is Northern Superchargers' first choice in The Hundred as Jason Roy misses out

On a night when Jason Roy and David Warner were overlooked by the eight franchises, Andrew Flintoff kick-started his reign as Northern Superchargers Men’s head coach by snapping up the West Indies wicket-keeper/batsman at the top of the order.

England legend Flintoff plumped for Pooran, who was bought for 2million US dollars (around £1.56million) in this year’s Indian Premier League auction.

After finishing bottom of the pile last year, the Superchargers had the first chance to fill up their squads at an event hosted at the Shard on Wednesday and Flintoff also added Daniel Sams for £100,000, Tom Lawes for £50,000 and Graham Clark for £40,000 to his roster.

Pooran has experience of playing at Headingley, where the Superchargers will play their four home games this summer, having represented Yorkshire in 2019.

The 28-year-old West Indies star, who joins Ben Stokes, Adil Rashid and Harry Brook at the Yorkshire-based franchise, said: "It was exciting seeing Freddie Flintoff make me his first pick at Northern Superchargers. The Hundred looks to be a top competition and I’ve always enjoyed playing in England.

"I know The Hundred has worked really hard to get kids and families involved so I’m sure it will be a great atmosphere at Headingley.

“I’m looking forward to returning there this summer and getting started."

In the women’s competition, 22-year-old Australian all-rounder Annabel Sutherland was chosen with the Superchargers’ first pick - joining Kate Cross and Phoebe Litchfield in Leeds. 

Grace Ballinger, an up-and-coming 21-year-old from Birmingham was also selected, alongside 26-year-old bowler Lucy Higham, 21-year-old wicketkeeper Ella Claridge and 17-year-old batter Davina Perrin.

Superchargers Women's head coach Danielle Hazell said: “I’m delighted with our picks, Annabel Sutherland and Grace Ballinger are fantastic additions to the squad.

"We’re all excited about the competition this year and I can’t wait to get going in front of all our fans on July 26 at Headingley.”

Of the many big names to be overlooked, Roy was released by Oval Invincibles after a modest past couple of seasons and a £100,000 base price plus his expected participation in Major League Cricket, which has a minor schedule clash with The Hundred this year, appears to have put off potential bidders.

England’s 2019 World Cup-winning opening batter was not the only big name snub as Australia left-hander Warner, New Zealand’s Kane Williamson and Pakistan’s Babar Azam were also unsold.

Instead, there was a distinct Caribbean flavour at the outset of the men’s draft as five of the seven buys in the top-tier £125,000 bracket went on big-hitting Windies stars.

Welsh Fire paid £125,000 for Tom Kohler-Cadmore as did Birmingham Phoenix for Pakistan quick Naseem Shah, while England duo Ollie Pope and Dawid Malan were purchased for £50,000 by Oval Invincibles and London Spirit respectively.

Mark Wood was also conspicuously overlooked at a reserve price of £100,000 for a tournament scheduled to start on July 23 and run to August 18, although England stringently manage his workload and it seems likely the express quick will be involved in a Test against the West Indies starting on July 26.

A total of 75 spots were filled, including 26 for the overseas contingent, across both drafts.

In the women’s draft, Birmingham Phoenix retained England wicketkeeper-batter Amy Jones as their first pick.

With vaunted Australia stars Meg Lanning, Ashleigh Gardner and Beth Mooney all in the reckoning, it was a curious selection from the Phoenix, who added another two wicketkeepers to their ranks in Richa Ghosh and Seren Smale.

Mooney, the world’s number one T20 batter, was chosen by Manchester Originals while former Australia captain Lanning, who announced her international retirement late last year, was also in the top women’s pay bracket of £50,000 and is set to join England skipper Heather Knight at London Spirit.

India batter Jemimah Rodrigues, who starred for Superchargers in year one, also went undrafted.

The opening game of The Hundred’s fourth year sees Birmingham Phoenix travel to The Kia Oval on Tuesday, July 23, to face Oval Invincibles.     

Northern Superchargers begin their season with a double-header against Trent Rockets on Friday, July 26.

There is currently an exclusive window open to buy tickets for fans who have previously attended The Hundred until March 27, followed by a priority window open from April 9-23 for all fans who sign up in advance at thehundred.com. The general sale period begins from April 25.  

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