The Hundred: Influx of big names aims to boost the fortunes of competition

The uncertainty around the reception he will receive is the kind of tantalising prospect the fledgling tournament should relish; or, at least, it would be if this were a competition targeting existing cricket fans rather than new blood.

For those already accustomed to the game, Warner will serve as one of this season’s most interesting acts alongside his Australian team-mate Steve Smith and an almost 43-year-old James Anderson, who was belatedly selected this week as a wild-card pick.

The last time Warner – so long a pantomime villain for England fans – played at the Home of Cricket, he was berated by Marylebone Cricket Club members following Alex Carey’s controversial stumping of Jonny Bairstow during the 2023 Ashes – an incident that led to two MCC member suspensions and an expulsion.

Now representing the team owned by that very same membership, he has admitted he does not know what their response will be. It is a fascinating sub-plot that could even lure in The Hundred’s sceptics long enough for them to stick around.

“We just have to wait until I step foot on that park first, won’t we?” Warner said after signing. “I actually want them to come at Australians. I love that stuff. That’s what gets me going. But I want them to support London Spirit.

“If they want to boo me, boo me, but don’t boo the team or anything like that. Keep cheering for us.”

This curiosity of a tournament is valued at just under £1 billion – based on franchise equity sales earlier this year. But throughout its almost five-year existence there has been a general inability to attract the strongest overseas talent. The top men’s salaries have increased from £125,000 to £200,000 this season to compete with the US’s Major League Cricket, which concluded last weekend, and the Caribbean Premier League, which it overlaps in August.

The results have been mixed. Afghanistan spinner Noor Ahmad has quickly developed into one of the global T20 circuit’s leading bowlers but his name will struggle to put bums on seats at Manchester Originals. Rashid Khan will play at Oval Invincibles and Trent Boult at Birmingham Phoenix, while Kane Williamson has opted to captain Warner at London Spirit rather than make himself available for New Zealand’s two-Test tour of Zimbabwe.

In an indication that the new franchise owners are having an impact on this transitional season before the sale process is completed, several teams have signed players who take part in their new partners’ other overseas franchises, such as Ahmad, Khan and Smith, who is with Welsh Fire.

Having failed to gain selection in the Indian Premier League or The Hundred draft, this week’s wild-card reprieve provides justified reward for Anderson’s first T20 season in 11 years. The veteran seamer has proved wonderfully adept as a new-ball specialist for Lancashire and will become the competition’s second-oldest player – after Imran Tahir who was 43 when he last played in 2022 – if he appears for Manchester Originals.

The other main intrigue from the wild-card selections was Anderson’s Lancashire team-mate Rocky Flintoff, picked for a Northern Superchargers side coached by his father Andrew despite never having played a professional T20 match. The 17-year-old has impressed for England Under-19s in recent weeks.

If he does play, it will not be alongside Ben Stokes, who is skipping The Hundred while managing his workload before the winter’s Ashes.

The England red-ball captain tore his hamstring playing for Northern Superchargers in last year’s tournament, ruling him out of four Tests.

Photograph by Steve Bell/Getty Images