London, Oct 31 : The Hundred will host its first player auction in March 2026 as several changes are implemented to the player selection model and salaries ahead of the competition's sixth year. The changes have come through The Hundred Playing Working Group, which is comprised of representatives from all eight teams, the PCA, and the ECB, and have been agreed by The Hundred Board, the organisers said on Friday.

In addition to the shift to an auction, squads will be made up of between 16 and 18 players, with four overseas players permitted. There will be a salary cap in place along with a salary collar ' a minimum amount teams must spend.

While minimum salaries will be in place, there will no longer be specific salaries set, with teams deciding how much they are willing to bid at the auction. Multi-year contracts will also be introduced.

The overall salary pot in The Hundred Men's Competition will increase 45% for the 2026 season, rising to GBP 2.05 million per team. The overall salary pot in The Hundred Women's Competition will increase 100% for the 2026 season, rising to GBP 8,80,000 per team.

The increase to the salary pot in The Hundred Women's Competition will also see the base price salaries for the lowest-paid player increase considerably to GBP 15,000, up by 50%.

Teams are allowed up to four pre-auction signings from mid-November to the end of January. A maximum of three of these can be direct signings, and must be overseas or England centrally contracted players. A minimum of one will be a retention, which can be any player ' England centrally contracted, overseas, or domestic.

Within the four pre-auction signings, teams can sign up to two England centrally contracted players and up to two overseas players. There will be no right to match this season.

Teams will have specific amounts of money taken from their final salary pot ahead of the auction, depending on how many of their four direct signings or retentions they use. To balance flexibility with fairness, a tiered cumulative cap model ' similar to the model used in the IPL ' will be in place.

The cumulative pre-auction deduction per team is as follows:

Men's competition - GBP 3,50,000 (1 signing), GBP 6,50,000 (2 players), GBP 8,50,000 (3 players), GBP 9,50,000 (4 players).

Women's competition - GBP 1,30,000 (1 signing), GBP 2,40,000 (2 players), GBP 3,10,000 (3 players), GBP 3,60,000 (4 players).

The Wildcard Draft will remain in place, allowing teams in the Men's and Women's Competitions to reward strong domestic form by finalising their squads with two final selections in June.

Speaking on the massive changes, Vikram Banerjee, Managing Director of The Hundred, said, "This is a hugely exciting time for The Hundred. These changes will help us make the competition even better, ensuring we get the best players in the world and improving the standard of cricket and level of entertainment further again.

"Working alongside our new partners, we've been exploring how we can take The Hundred forward, and we've decided that moving to an auction will allow us to improve the competition. For a competition that has always been proud to innovate, we're delighted to be holding the first auction in major UK sport.

"In making this decision, we have stuck to three key principles: i) ensuring The Hundred attracts the best players in the world, ii) maintaining a competitive balance between the squads, iii) guaranteeing whatever changes we make work across the men's and women's games.'

"The decision to increase the men's salary pot by 45 per cent has been taken because market forces in the men's game necessitate a more significant uplift to ensure we're able to attract the best players in the world.

"The salary pot for the women's competition in the first year of The Hundred was GBP 120,000, with the top-earning players earning GBP 15,000 - the pot has risen for the third year in a row. With the pot now GBP 880,000, top-earning players are set to earn in the region of GBP 130,000, as well as a significant increase in salaries for those at the base price. Salaries in The Hundred women's competition are very competitive, and they compare favourably with other franchise cricket competitions and across the landscape of women's sport,' he added.

/IANS