West Indian stars Deandra Dottin and Stafanie Taylor are among the latest raft of signings for next year’s inaugural season of The Hundred.
Dottin, the first woman to score a Twenty20 International century, is heading to London Spirit while Southern Brave have landed Windies captain Taylor, who currently sits second in the ICC’s one-day batting rankings.
The pair were announced alongside six other ‘marquee players’, bringing each of the eight women’s squads to four players.
Jess Jonassen, the top ODI bowler in the world, joins Australia team-mate Meg Lanning and their international coach Matthew Mott at the Cardiff-based Welsh Fire.
Fellow Australians Rachael Haynes and Elyse Villani will play at Oval Invincibles and Trent Rockets respectively and South Africa’s Mignon Du Preez joins fellow Proteas player Lizelle Lee at Manchester Originals.
Two franchises opted for homegrown talent as their latest acquisition, with one-time Yorkshire Diamonds player Alice Davidson-Richards agreeing terms with Northern Superchargers and Wolverhampton local Georgia Elwiss donning the colours of Birmingham Phoenix.
Taylor said: “I can’t wait to join Southern Brave. I’m really looking forward to working under Charlotte Edwards again.
“There’s also a strong Caribbean vibe in the men’s team at Southern Brave – with Andre Russell, Jofra Archer and Chris Jordan – so it will be nice to play alongside them and hopefully both teams can have success.”
Du Preez is eager to try her hand at the new 100-ball competition and hopes to find new fans along the way.
“It’s going to be something a bit different but it’s obviously all about trying to take cricket to as many people as possible and as players that’s something we want to support,” she said.
The remaining nine 11 places on each playing roster must be filled by May 31.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here