History made at Hundred Auction

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You're listening to the TMS podcast

from BBC Radio 5 Live.

Hello, I'm Stefan Schemelt,

and welcome to the Tess match special podcast

at the historic 100 auction

in Piccadilly Circus, in London.

To come, we'll hear from Sunrise's

Leeds Men's Coach Daniel Vitori,

World Cup winner, Anja Shrubson,

who's assistant coach at Southern Brave,

and legendary Australia player Meg Laning,

who's captaining the Manchester Super Giants.

Plus, we'll have analysis from two 400 players,

and now part of our team,

Stephen Finn and Alex Harley.

This is the TMS podcast

from BBC Radio 5 Live.

So the first auction for a major sport in the UK

has come to an end.

Among the highlights over the past two days,

21-year-old James Cole,

signed by London Spirit for £390,000,

all-rounder Danielle Gibson,

pace-bowler Izzy Wong,

an 18-year-old spinner,

Tilly Courteen Coleman,

receiving deals in excess of £100,000

in the women's auction,

and despite concerns that IPL-owned teams

would not bid for Pakistan players,

there was a successful bid from Sunrise's Leeds

for spinner Abrahr Ahmed.

So I joined two former 100 players,

Stephen Finn, and leading the discussion was Alex Harley.

Right then, we're here at Piccadilly Lights.

The 100 auction has finally finished.

It's been a long couple of days

with the women's auction yesterday,

the men's auction today,

before we get into it.

What a couple of days.

It's been genuinely good fun, hasn't it?

How do you know what to expect?

Because you do wonder how interesting can it be

two days of people sitting around tables raising paddles?

But yesterday, with the women's auction at first,

it felt like a real moment in time,

actually, both for British sport

and for women's sport with some of the sums of money

that was being spent on young players.

And then today, with some of the big deals that went down,

firstly, with some of the big names knocking around,

like Joe Roots and Johnny Besto and Adil Rashid.

And then, with all that money spent on James Cole's

390,000, it's been genuinely good fun.

And now, what we've got to see,

if all of these players can turn up to play cricket

in July, still fitting in form.

We've seen auctions before, Finnie, in IPL and the SA-20.

It's the first time in British history

that it's happened here in the UK.

Was it a success? Was it fun to watch?

Well, yeah, I think fun to watch, engaging,

interesting storylines.

I think the fact that young English players

fetched the most money was an interesting thing

that came out of it as well for people looking to

build cores of teams to take them through.

Yeah, I think it's been fascinating

and some interesting picks along the way.

Well, previously, we've had salary caps this year.

Obviously, there was a cap, but as a whole, as a team.

Do you think that makes the, I guess,

the competition bigger and better in a way?

I think what's interesting is one of the things

we were told about the investment that came into the 100.

All why it was needed was in order to bring

some bigger names into the competition,

certainly on the men's side,

that maybe the 100 didn't always compete

with some of the leagues with the salaries that are on offer.

I'm not sure if that's come through just yet,

in that certainly looking down the players

that have been sold for a men's point of view,

I do think that a lot of those players were available anyway,

and were playing in the 100 over the past couple of years.

And maybe that some of the players that have been playing

have just got richer.

It might take a little while,

maybe there's some cricket sitting around the world today,

looking at some of the sums of money

that have been spent thinking,

do you know what, I want a piece of that in the years to come.

So I'm not sure, yeah, in terms of the players that are available.

The women's competition, that was fine already,

that already the best women's players in the world are playing.

And one of the criticisms of the 100

is the salary gap hasn't been fair,

look, it's still not the same,

but it's certainly grown from a women's point of view.

I think there's a bit of a watching brief from the man

as to which players might get involved in the years to come.

We're going to get into the details of the teams and the players

and everything that's happened over the last two days,

but from an auction point of view, Finney,

do you think it's changed English cricket forever?

Absolutely, I think the dynamic of English domestic cricket

today completely changed both days,

but the women's game is moving at a pace at the moment

and has done in the last five years,

whereas we've got like all these years

of men's domestic contracts, professional contracts.

And I do think this changes the dynamic of it

and for a number of reasons,

but one of the main ones being is a 21-year-old now,

you can astronomical amounts of money

for playing short format cricket.

I think that carrot is now dangled even harder

as a result of what's happened in this auction.

Is that going to turn people off test match cricket, Stefan?

Well, I think it's an interesting point

because still you look at someone like Joe Root,

who's the first name out of the hat today

from a men's point of view, first sale.

He went for 240,000.

Don't get me wrong, Joe Root is one of the greatest

Englishmen to ever pick up a bat,

but in terms of the shortest form of the game,

I think that price was probably slightly inflated

because of what Joe Root does.

So because of the name?

Exactly, and I think certainly in this country,

the way to make your name is still in the test match format.

So I think big names will still carry bigger sums

because of what they've done in test cricket,

but someone like James Coles,

who hasn't played international cricket for England at all,

has actually been making his name on the franchise circuit.

This winter goes to 390,000,

partly because of those performances,

but partly on potential.

But I think the dynamic has changed today.

So where Joe Root 15 years ago when he was a youngster,

he had no choice but to play test match cricket.

Because that is how he made his name.

I think auctions like this and the dynamic of this auction,

I think that changes your path to making your name

and making your career.

I think that changed today.

Well, let's talk about James Coles because my word,

was I actually had a little wager with Owen Morgan

at the start of the day how much he'd go for

and he said he'd go easily more than 300,000 pounds.

You know him, you've played at Sussex.

What is he like as a cricketer

and will he be starstruck with what's just happened today?

I don't think he'll be starstruck.

I did play them at Sussex and he was really young.

He was 18 and 19 when I played with him at Sussex

so three seasons ago.

And you knew there was a class player

in there like you watch him play

and you do the eye test on a player

and you're watching you think,

oh, he can play.

And you watched him face quick bowling

which like when you see a young player play,

you then I'll watch you like against real high-paced bowling,

dealt with that really well and calmly.

He can bowl and that's only developing

as he goes through his career.

He's an excellent fielder

and he stays calm under pressure

and I think what he did in the SA-20 this winter,

the South African version of our domestic T20 competition.

He excelled a couple of man in the matches,

his team got right to the end stages

and he was a pivotal feature in that.

So yeah, I think he might be slightly surprised

that he went for so much.

I'm not, I thought he'd go up above 300,000

when I was looking at this list today

and the rhetoric and the talking.

And as soon as five teams are bidding on it,

you know it was, he was in for a big payday.

But I don't think it will affect him.

I think he'll deal with it very well.

I think what's interesting is sometimes

these auctions are all about timing

and which players happen to be in form at a certain moment

and fashionable.

I also think sometimes it's where you come out

in the drawer as well.

But if you look at someone like Dan Mausley,

say he's a very similar cricketer to James Cole.

Spin bowling all rounder who's had decent success

in the 100 previously.

He's played for in line, similar career trajectory.

He's gone for 40,000 to Trent Rocket.

So look at the price difference there

and realistically two very, very similar cricketers

and maybe sometimes it just helps if you're fashionable

or in form or all those sorts of things.

We've seen that happen in the IPL before with guys like

I don't know, Chris Morris breaking records

and then they disappear as quickly as they arrive.

So sometimes it's a weird alchemy and auction.

It's not necessarily just on ability.

There's lots of different things that go into it

and can drive up a brand.

And what teams need, isn't it?

I think actually when you're in that first run of players,

you almost don't want to be in the icon level players

because people might be a bit guarded

with the way that they're bidding.

You've got half an eye on what's to come

and you've got 14 other slots to fill in your roster

when you come out in the first.

Whereas if you're in the middle, like James Cole's was,

people have got an idea of what other teams are looking like,

what you've managed to pick up to that stage.

There's been so many different tactics

to go about this auction though.

We saw yesterday in particular Trent Rockets

refused to spend any money for such a long period of time

and the Southern brave, they just spent all their money

on their starting 11.

And I guess here in England,

we don't really know what the right way is

to go about an auction.

I think Finne's right as well,

about the way that players come out.

Yesterday, Davina Perrin, the first name to be auction,

went for 50,000.

She'd have gone for so much more.

When you love the money that was spent in the bargain

and then we've had the opportunity to speak

to some of the coaches downstairs, after the auction.

And even then, they talk about different tactics.

You've got some saying, no, we had our targets.

We were willing to spend whatever on them.

We had other coaches saying,

if you save your money until later,

that's a terrible tactic.

You've just got to get that out there and spend,

well, they're saying,

well, we can't believe they spent that on that player

so early on that they got too giddy.

And so even now, when we've had, I don't know,

10 lots of eight people around a table over two days,

there's still no agreement on what the best way

to go about it is.

There's one player that benefited from being in the marquee

players, and that's Danny Gibson yesterday.

She went for 190,000 pounds.

I mean, there are not very many times in women's sport

in particular, they're outpaid by the men,

if that makes it so, they are outpaying the men.

There's a huge moment for women's cricket.

I mean, she had a horror season last year, bless her.

You know, she'd just come back from injury.

She only scored 33 runs in the 100 last year,

but I guess she's been picked, sorry,

on the potential that she's got.

Yeah, and I think it's one of those situations

where the team was sat down and said,

we need an all-rounder.

What all-rounders are available.

Ideally, we'd like a young English all-rounder

that we can build a team around,

because typically, T20 teams are built

around the best all-rounders.

You see the potential there,

and you look at the growth of the team

and the growth of the player,

and you hope that they can reach their peak

and you back them, so I think that's what happened yesterday

that they wanted an all-rounder.

They got their all-rounder,

and Danny Gibson benefited massively, and good on him.

Another all-rounder that benefited yesterday, Stefan,

was Sophie Devine, 210,000-pound.

Beth Mooney was also 210,000-pound.

I mean, that is just money I can't even fathom

for three, four weeks' work.

Absolutely, and it's interesting, isn't it,

how the very top names yesterday in the auction,

I mean, there's so many teams bidding on Beth Mooney.

We had the Manchester Super Giants

with Meg Lanning at their table.

They were desperate to get up.

Deaths with Matthew Marterswell,

the former Australia women's coach,

two Aussies there,

so keen to get Beth Mooney into their team,

and eventually they got outbid.

I think what'll be interesting in future,

100 auctions, because at the minute,

realistically, the depth of talent in women's crickets,

not the same as it is in the men's.

And so I think teams were much keen

at to spend big money on the real top players.

Eventually, that gap will close,

and you'll see that I think the money being spread out

a lot more, I think also just to go back

on the money spent in the men's game,

how keen teams were to spend on English,

on domestic players,

just because they know the availability is there.

Over a number of years,

you sometimes don't know which teams are touring,

all those sorts of things.

Same across both, really,

because you know, there's a world cup,

just a women's world cup just before the auction.

You never know.

Deity Sharma, absolute bargain at 29,000 pounds.

I'll be so surprised if she doesn't pull out,

because she thinks she's the highest-paid player

at the WPL in the history of the game,

and then she's one of the cheaper players in the 100.

She's probably thinking,

what's the benefit of me coming over?

I hope she comes over, obviously.

Well, you look at it.

The way that I would view it as a player

is you'd be like,

it's a bit of a hammer blow.

I've not gone for as much cash as I wanted to,

but you'd give yourself the opportunity

to be in the shop window,

and I think that these tournaments are all about shop windows.

Look at James Coles has gone to the SA-20.

He probably wasn't on groundbreaking,

or definitely wouldn't have been on groundbreaking money there,

but he's gone, he's performed.

His name's invoked.

Next auction comes along.

Bang, you've hit the jackpot.

So, yeah, I think there's a longer game to be played,

but there might be a tight-hands drink for Dink T-Shop.

We've seen some surprises throughout this auction,

and I think Tilly Cotting Coleman,

going for £105,000.

She was a shocked as anybody.

She was shocked in the first place.

She was so surprised,

but I think in the women's game in particular,

a lot of money was spent on spinners,

and Lindsay Smith for £100,000.

Her for £105,000.

I mean, she's 18 years old.

I mean, that is just a ridiculous money,

but she played so well last year,

she's now on an England training camp,

and I think the women's game in particular

has benefited so much from the 100th Stefan.

I think also the way that the money going to English players,

just shooting some of these women up,

the highest paid sports women in the UK.

And I don't know, Al, is there a spin bowl?

Has it got you looking around thinking

I could have my name in there?

If you're anxiety, I would rather go for nothing

than go for £100,000 in that auction.

I don't know why you're like Fanny,

but I couldn't think of anything worse than playing cricket.

Well, yeah, that, I'm going for £100,000,

but yeah, playing cricket side of it.

Also, it signifies how the women's game,

like we've played five seasons of the 100 now.

So we know how the game is played,

and spinners in the women's game

are the most versatile bowlers they bowl,

but power play in the middle,

at the death quite frequently,

you'll see spinners bowl in those last five balls.

So for the spinners to go big yesterday,

to me is not a surprise,

because of the versatility that they offer their teams.

And Courteen Coleman is going to be someone

who they will build the franchise around now, hopefully,

for years to come.

I mean, £15,000 was the highest wage in the women's 100

when you played in that first season in 2021, Al.

And I think one of the concerns about the sales

of these 100 franchises was so much of the chat

was around the men's game,

and whether or not there would be still focus

on the women's game.

But a lot of the investors have spoken about,

well, actually, the value in buying into these franchises

comes from the fact that you're buying

into a double-headed tournament,

men's sport and women's sport together.

The 100's quite unique from that point of view.

We've seen the growth of the WPL in the past couple of years.

And now, it's the women who sold the big money yesterday,

who have seen the benefit from that.

I guess all the players now,

they've just got a hope that they arrive,

they get there in July,

they're still fully fit, they're still in form.

Or take out their insurance.

Take out and they can make good on these big price tags.

Well, let's get into the women's teams

before we get into the men's teams.

We obviously had a mammoth day yesterday.

Is there any team in particular, Stefan,

that sticks out for you?

I mean, it's so hard.

It is.

Southern Brave always seemed to recruit well.

And they let it, don't they?

Yeah, and I don't know if that goes back to that.

And Charlotte Edwards is not involved anymore

because she's the England coach,

but she always seemed to have such a good pull

to Southampton.

So they seem to do well.

So their team is LaZellie,

Laura Wolfart, Maya Bouchier,

Jamima Rodriguez,

Jodie Grootcott, Sophie Molvynieu,

and then you've got Izzy Wong, Sarah Glen, Lauren Bell.

I mean, they're star players.

Yeah, well, and again, you look at the young English players

to build the franchise around,

yeah, they look good and they've got history

of always being,

apart from that one year,

where they had a shock on the finish bottom,

they've always been there or thereabouts,

and they've carried a few of those players through as well,

which will help them.

There's one team that sticks out for me,

and it's Manchester.

I knew you'd have to say that.

I know, and I would love to hate them, you know,

because I played for them all those years ago,

and they got rid of me,

but I think they've nailed it.

I really do, in both, actually, the men's and the women's,

but when you look at the fact you've got Tom Moody

and Matthew Mark with Meg Lanning,

you've got Smitty Mandiner, Sophie Eccleston, Grace Scribbins,

Richard Gosh, Maddy Villiers, Ballinger,

I mean, I don't really see a weakness with there.

I thought they'd done really well with their pre-sign-ins,

actually, with Lanning, Mandiner and Eccleston.

Well, as that basis, I mean, of course,

Siner, you wanted the auction after that kind of,

we've got those three players in your team,

but no, they did well.

We spoke that they were really, they really wanted Beth Mooney,

I mean, if they'd landed her as well,

I mean, what a batting line up that would have been,

but yeah, to me, Southern brave,

Manchester Super Giants, they looked like they did really well

from the women's side of things.

Men's side of things, let's get into it,

because today has been a lot longer than yesterday.

Things were a lot slower today,

but that's because teams sort of held their cards

close to their chests for a long time.

It was interest, apart from Welsh Fire,

who came up all guns blazing for,

first thing this morning, when they signed Joe Root

for £240,000, and followed that up with Jordan Cox

with 300,000, so they had batting of Phil Salton,

Ratchet and Ravindra, who had already signed

adding Cox and Roots.

Well, I spoke to Phil Salton at the end of the day,

and he said, well, then we just sat quietly

for a couple of hours and sort of rethought.

But I was remorseful, which was done.

To me, the interesting thing was my London,

so formally over in Venceables, three-time winners

who'd done really good business in their pre-signing

with the likes of Rashid Khan, Nicholas Poran,

Will Jackson and Sam Curran, so four really strong players.

And it was interesting to me just how determined they were

to get all the players that had already been linked

to the franchise before, the bidding for Tom Curran.

He ended up with 260,000.

Well, all of them didn't let go of the paddle.

Honestly, I don't think there was any amount of money

that M.I. London wouldn't have paid for Tom Curran.

He said at the end of the day, he thought he'd got him cheaper

than they were expecting, so they were expecting

to spend more money on him.

Disappointing news if you're Tom Curran here and that is true.

I just keep going to the games he sells.

Yeah, it was interesting.

It was interesting that that franchise wanted to keep

the nucleus of the team that previously bought them.

Well, that's where they got their success, isn't it?

Absolutely.

And again, going back to Manchester Super Giants,

the batting that they've managed to secure.

They had just butler and Heinrich Klaus

and beforehand, they've got Aiden Markham, Tim Cypher.

I mean, good luck if you're bowling.

I'll try for that.

I'm not too sure about their pace bowling.

Their spin bowling looks good.

Their fringe batters are pretty good as well.

Hold them, yeah, yeah, guys,

that they've got bargain basements, sort of stuff

towards the end there.

Yeah.

To supplement those main players is good business as well.

And when you look at today,

like when you're seeing everything that's unfolding,

what are your main takeaways of the day?

I mean, we've seen so many young players go.

Yes, I think it's a landmark day.

It is in both today for the men's

and yesterday for the women's.

They're both landmark days for British sport,

not just cricket, but British sport

for the way that it's all transpired.

And I think it's been fascinating to see the dynamics

within the room about people's approaches.

You can clearly tell the people who experienced in auctions,

they probably looked a bit calmer on the tables

than the people who weren't,

who were in here sort of thinking on their feet.

And I think it's only going to be more dramatic

as the years go on.

I've got a favourite moment of the day.

Both Ru has got sold, but little Ru, James Tom.

Tom Ru, we tried to get in for an interview with the 100.

He found out it'd been sold while he was in class at school.

That's how young he is.

I think one other thing as well

that we could have been talking about right now

is whether or not Pakistan players had been sold.

That was my next point.

Yeah, we could have been sold to teams

that were affiliated to IPL franchises.

And early on in the day, we had a couple of players

that came up for auction, Harris, Ralph and Shut Up,

Khan, they didn't receive any bids at all.

I think they'd probably set their reserve prices a little bit

too high, 100,000, but then Usman Tariq,

who had the spin baller who had such a good World Cup,

he received bids from Birmingham, Phoenix and Trent Rockets,

ultimately going to the Phoenix.

And then the moment of Abrahr Ahmed coming up for sale

and the Sunrise's leads who were bidding for him,

now they're obviously in the Sunrise's family

from the IPL, Daniel Vittori later on saying,

that we missed out on Adele Rashid and they did,

they went hard for him early around the day

and they went to a mystery spinner.

It's been a huge talking point now, hasn't it?

Whether or not Pakistan players will get picked up or not.

And we've had a couple that have been,

do you think that ends the conversation

or do you think it's just a start of something a little bit bigger?

Well, it's definitely the start, isn't it?

I mean, it's been done, but the conversation doesn't stop there.

It's like anything, as soon as it's happened once,

you don't just say, well, we've cracked that, it's done.

This is a starting point to move on

and to build those blocks and make sure that in future,

even more players are assigned.

I mean, there was four franchises in the room today

that were linked to IPL teams, only one bid on a Pakistan player.

Now, let's not forget there are loads of sporting reasons

why any player would not be bid in an auction.

Pakistan have a test series around about the same time.

If we're being honest, Pakistan haven't been that strong.

Recently, occasionally Pakistan players haven't been able to fill their commitments

because they haven't received no objection.

Certificates, it'll be interesting to see the fallout from this.

What is the reaction in India?

What is the reaction from Sunrise as Hyderabad to their family

buying a Pakistan player?

And I think this will come up again the next time

there's a selection process to see which teams make bids

for those Pakistan players.

It's a step in the right direction.

So just to sum up the whole two days,

there's been more money ever spent on men's and women's cricket here

at the 100th massive auction.

What excites your mouth to about 2026, funny?

I think it's a fresh start.

Well, whatever has happened in the tournament now,

up until this point, the 100th,

is white, clean, new owners, new investment,

a new shop window for both the men's and the women's.

That brings pressure because of the sums of money

that we're talking about,

but it also brings a level of excitement,

I think, to the tournament that we've not seen previously.

So it's going to be a good year.

Stefan, from a journal point of view,

you must have a little nugget or two.

I think it's just going to be interesting

because so many different ideas have been bought

into the 100 lots of different investors

and not just investors that were already involved in cricket,

but lots of different investors from tech and football

and all those sorts of things.

Where do they want to take this competition?

And what does that mean, good and bad?

We know that the 100 can be divisive.

We know that there's certain people within cricket

who think that there's too much damage

been done to the county game for the 100,

whether that being given away the month of August

or money or all those sorts of things.

So in one way, I'm interested to see where the game has taken,

but also I think it's going to take a long time

to know if everything that's coming out of this

is going to be positive.

And my last thought is, I picked a bad career

as a journalist.

My dodgy wicket keeping and my inability

to hit the ball off the square has not got me anywhere.

I'd have raised nothing in the 100.

You haven't got the temperament for it, of course.

If some books me and Finnie could have played

a different era, but we didn't.

We're sat here instead.

What are times to be alive?

Right, I'm going to put you both on the spot.

Steph, and I'm going to go with you.

Who's winning both competitions?

So in the men's, I did say that I like the look

of my London and Manchester Super Giants,

but the winners are going to be London spirit,

the Andy flower factor, he's been so well around the world.

And in the women's game, I don't think

I can look past Manchester Super Giants.

I think they've done really well with their recruitment

before the auction, they look strong to me.

Finnie.

What, I was going to say London spirit as well.

That's because you're still scared of Andy Flower, isn't it?

Boy, partly, yeah.

Yeah, terrifying scene in here, so that's in a ghost.

No, I look at it.

I think London spirit of shapes up worth it.

They recruited well.

I think they've got good right and left handers

throughout the order and with the ball in hand,

I think is an important element of building a T20 team.

So I think that they're looking good to me

and I think the southern brave will win the women's competition.

OK, for me, I'm going.

Manchester are doing the double.

They're winning the men's and they're winning the women's.

And for reasons, you will find out in the sun.

LAUGHTER

The TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live.

So as you heard, there were concerns before the men's auction

that IPL-linked franchises in the 100

would avoid bidding for or buying players

from Pakistan, mirroring a ban that is in place in the Indian

Premier League.

But those concerns were delayed when Sunrise's leads bid

for the Pakistan spinner, Abraar Ahmed,

who will now be playing in the 100 headingly.

I spoke to the Sunrise's head coach, Daniel Vittoria,

spinner himself.

I don't know if she was a real priority for us

and as soon as we missed out on him,

we had to jump into that overseas market.

And there were a number of bowlers available to us

who we thought could fill that role.

But I think Abraar, over the last little while,

has been a proven wicket-taker in all phases of the game.

I think he's unique in the amount of variations he has.

And a lot of, particularly domestic English players

will never have seen him before.

So we hope that first sight factor will really go for us

and put a lot of pressure on teams.

Plus, the fact that bonnet headingly is incredibly difficult.

So we wanted someone with a bit of mystery about them.

Before the auction, there was some conversation

about whether or not the franchises linked to IPL teams

would sign players from Pakistan.

Were you aware of that?

Well, I think he couldn't help but be aware of it.

But we went into the auction with every player available

and like I said before, if we've got Adora Sheet,

then we wouldn't have gone down this road.

But as soon as that option was required,

there were a number of very good spin bowlers

from international teams that were an option for us.

And Abra was obviously the priority,

but there were other guys there as well.

Were there any conversations amongst your management

hierarchy about players that you could or couldn't sign?

No, there wasn't.

And you were, I don't know, it might be.

It's important that an IPL linked franchise

assigned to Pakistan player.

I mean, it is from a certain country,

but we're looking at players.

We're looking at a person who can contribute

and who has obviously high school level, high track record

and can be hopefully part of a winning franchise.

And that's our priority.

That was the Sunrise's lead's head coach, Daniel Vittori,

and also linked to the Abra Ahmed move to headingly.

Test, much special commentator Atif Nawaz

has been given his reaction to the BBC Sports Editor, Dan Rowan.

Abra Ahmed being signed by an IPL own team,

the Sunrise's lead, for a substantial fee as well,

£190,000.

That's, I think that's good news for the 100.

I think that's very positive for World Cricket as well,

that any sort of geopolitical issues

that may exist in parts of the world

don't translate over to English domestic cricket.

That's really wonderful to hear.

We've already seen instances of Pakistani and Indian players

playing together in the county championship.

And it's almost a novelty to see that happen nowadays.

But I think this is a very important moment

for World English cricket.

There will still be cynics who will say,

well, this is, and I don't mean to denigrate anybody's opinion

by saying it's cynical, but it is somewhat

because there's been a Pakistani player picked.

And they'll say, well, that's just one player

and what have you.

The ownership groups could always push back

with the fact that Pakistan is playing a two-test series

against the West Indies.

The selection policies can be quite erratic as well.

We've seen that.

Erratic is the kindest way to put it.

But they can sort of pick unusual players

at any given time, which creates a little bit of uncertainty

about picking Pakistani players.

But we've seen Aswan Dadek signed up.

It was somebody who was much hyped in the T20 World Cup

recently performed brilliantly.

So it would be wonderful to see him over here as well.

And then just to see the commitment

with which the sun rises as leads, they kept bidding

and bidding and there was sort of immediate bid.

It never felt like a token bid.

It felt like they were very committed

to bringing this player on board.

I think that's a very positive development.

This is a big moment.

It's a really important, significant moment as well

because perhaps this could translate

into more Pakistani players being picked.

And for the ECB, they can now start denying any charges

of isolation and things like that.

There are still many other players in the auction.

It was sort of disappointing.

I'll say is the word I'll use for Fathima Sana

and Saadi Akbar, the two female players in the auction

who weren't picked yesterday.

I mean, there's a number of credible reasons for that.

Just maybe at the very top of them

is that they don't have an enormous amount of experience

of playing in English conditions.

The pair of them despite their sort of world rankings

and other credentials for Pakistan.

Again, there was that two test series

that could easily have given teams and out.

But despite that sort of credible reasoning for like,

well, we can't pick them because XYZ,

there would have always been a lingering asterisk.

Did they not pick them because they're from Pakistan

and because there's this movement?

So that would have lingered no doubt.

And I think, you know, for someone like me at least,

the picking of a Brahram

it puts that very much to rest for the time being.

That was a test match special commentator, Atif Nawaz.

Yesterday it was the women's auction

and some criticism on that side of the hundred

is that only one team in the tournament

has a female head coach.

That's Lisa Keitley at My London.

A 2017 World Cup winning bowler with England and your Shrub Sol,

she is an assistant coach at Sodden Brave.

And I spoke to her about how the women's game

had changed from when she began playing to where it is now.

I'm in England debut at Shenley,

probably with about 20 people there

and probably 15 of them were my family.

So to them be here, we'd have been lottery-funded

then to call a semi-professional probably

would have been a stretch to obviously be here

at this sort of venue central London with the players going.

For kind of the sums of money,

I mean if you want an indication of how far the women's game's grown,

there you go.

And what about, I don't know, the way that the hundred's grown as well

because you played at the start of the competition

when the highest salary was 15,000 pounds.

So firstly making that comparison,

but also, I don't know, at the time,

did it feel like something that could grow into what we're seeing today?

I definitely think so.

I think that that kind of first competition

and maybe it got a bit of a kind of COVID

boost people were allowed out.

And actually, especially for the women,

it was almost, there weren't many positives of COVID,

but it wasn't initially planned to be kind of in the format

that it now is.

So I think that was kind of a bit of a happy accident.

And I think for both the men and the women,

particularly the women, it's just kind of kept growing and growing

and growing and is such an amazing competition.

I didn't miss a lot when I retired.

I did miss the hundred a little bit,

admittedly only for about a game.

But it's a great competition to play in

and you see this here today and see where it's come

and that's really incredible.

It's quite like the women's competitions

almost been, I don't know, the heartbeats of the hundred.

And we've seen that today.

I mean, the women, the first tournament to be involved

in the auction, first major auction in British sport.

I don't know, like I said,

the women's 100 as the heartbeat

of the competition over these first five or six years.

It definitely feels like it.

I definitely feel like the competition

has done more for women's cricket.

Definitely in this country, possibly in the world

than it probably has for the men's.

And I'd like you to say, I think that's incredible.

And I think, and hopefully that just continues to grow.

So you've been down there on the table with Southern Brave

and you've been spending big money

on young English players.

So let's take them one of a time.

Izzy Wong, firstly, as a fast boulder, close to your heart.

Why did you want to spend almost 200,000 pounds on Izzy Wong?

I think as part of a bigger picture,

we obviously retained three batters, three out and out batters.

So it's pretty obvious that we needed some bowling.

Izzy has got so much upside.

She waxes it down the order, so that's really helpful.

And she's someone who can really kind of get a team going.

And I think she's young, she's exciting.

She's had a difficult time, but I think we saw last year

that she'd really started to come through that.

So we're excited for this competition,

but you obviously think next year, the year after,

then retention and all of that sort of stuff,

having good English talent is really important.

You mentioned the tough time that Izzy's had over the past year or so.

She really burst onto the scene as an international cricketer.

You say that you're looking at the way that she's improved

and it's not just a sign for this year, but for many years to come.

When you're making those signings, are you making those sort of long-term bets

and maybe not always taking into account

what's happened in the most recent past,

but also what could go right in the future?

Yeah, I think there's all kind of things that come into it.

It's a bit of a kind of three-year cycle,

so you're trying to build a team where that you hope will take you

most of the way through the next three years.

You always know if you get the best England players

and they're available, they'll play.

It's not like overseas who may drop out a little bit more,

but Izzy's got such a high ceiling.

She's got so much going for her as a cricketer, as a person.

And I think she compliments our team really well.

There'll be some people who aren't aware of Tilly Courtney and Coleman,

18-year-old Spin Boller,

who is now just over £100,000 richer.

Tell us about her.

She's a really exciting cricketer.

I think if anyone who watched her 100 last year saw how she performed,

how she bursts onto the scene,

she is just going to keep getting better and better and better.

I see her playing for England for a number of years.

She's obviously got a pretty sizable obstacle in Sophia Kingston,

potentially in her way,

but I think what England have shown lately

with Sophie and Lindsay playing

is they're prepared to pay two left arms spinners together.

She's just a quality cricketer.

She's another really important person

to have come ball across phases, left arms spin.

What's not to love?

Just tell us what it's like being on that table.

When you've got a certain amount of money to spend

and a squad to assemble,

now there'll be a lot of people listening to this.

They might have tried played fantasy sports before,

fantasy cricket, fantasy football,

you've got a budget, you're trying to build a squad,

you don't know what you're going to do,

you always want a bit more money.

What's it like down there?

When, I don't know, you see a player,

you want to buy her, the money keeps going up and up.

You're trying to think,

can we're going to build an entire squad?

I've only got this much money.

What's it like?

All of the teams have done a huge amount of planning.

You'll have come up with different scenarios

if we get this player, then what's it look like?

If we miss out on this, what's it look like?

How far can we push certain things?

And then part of you's just got to read the room

about what sort of category of players

are going for a kind of premium,

which is almost always all rounders.

They're the ones who kind of go,

and then there's always a couple of people

who you've budgeted a lot more money for

and go for a lot cheaper.

So you've then just got to think,

actually, we budgeted a bit more there,

we've saved some money.

What's our next most important role?

So it's kind of constantly analysts

just working overtime updating the spreadsheet.

I just sit there, give my opinion every now and then,

and then carry on watching.

And just finally a minute ago,

you said there wasn't many times,

well, there weren't many times when you misplay in.

It's the day one of them.

When you see those sums of money

going up on the screen next to some of those players,

I wouldn't mind a bit of that.

Well, I wouldn't mind the money,

but I don't want to play.

So unfortunately, the two don't go hand in hand.

Every time I play the very occasional game of cricket now,

and every time I do it,

I think what on earth am I doing?

So I think it's just one of those things,

like I'm a real believer.

You can't be bitter about it.

People in 10, 15 years time will be going

for more money than these girls on that.

That's just the way that it is.

I'm thrilled that I had the career

that I had I was involved in a really important time

for women's cricket game from amateur to professional.

If I was born 15 years later,

I might have been a bit better off,

but I'm very happy with my life.

That was the former England baller and World Cup winner,

Anja Shrubzol.

One of Shrubzol's older opponents

was the former Australia captain, Meg Laning,

who'll be playing for the Manchester Super Giants

in the 100 this year.

She was on the Super Giants auction table,

and she told me how she found the experience

and how she's looking forward to her summer in Manchester.

Yeah, it's been fun.

I'm obviously seeing things from a slightly different perspective,

being behind the scenes, seeing the strategy,

and all the different plans that you need to come up with,

heading into an auction soft.

I've really enjoyed the experience working alongside Tom Murty

and Matthew Modderswell.

I've learned a lot, so it's been a good day.

Obviously, if I'd loads of experience,

captain in teams, international cricket,

domestic cricket all over the world,

but is that slightly different for you

that's sort of behind the scene strategies?

Is that something new for you?

Yeah, it is.

It's my first auction experience being involved in how to build a list.

Yeah, especially doing it from scratch.

You get to make it up how you want to do it.

So I think having Tom Murty there with that auction experience

has been really key for us, and then it was just about,

yeah, the skill sets that we wanted, the key players

who we wanted to get in as early as we could,

and then you filled the gaps from there.

Talking about the players that you want to get in,

there was one player that you really wanted

that you didn't get in Beth Mooney.

How badly did you want to get the signature of your Aussie mate there?

Yeah, we really wanted Moons to be with us.

She's a world class player who's shown time and time again

that she can win games for your team.

So I thought we couldn't get her.

I tried to rock it's sort of people that said the end there,

but yeah, certainly would have loved to have her,

but I feel like we were able to sort of go to our next plan,

I guess, and sort of move on from there.

You say this is your first auction experience,

but obviously you've played all around the world, WPL,

Big Bash back at home, and you've got an experience

in the 100 as well.

But what about this as an event for women's cricket

and where it might take the game?

What's your experience been?

What can you see this doing for the game?

Yeah, I think it's great.

I think it's a new experience in the women's game,

especially for the local players over here in the UK,

but I think it exposes you to different things.

And there's a lot of movement when the team's as well,

which is probably something that's a bit new,

but I think for my experience,

playing in different teams, meeting new people,

you learn a lot of things as well.

So I think it's sort of the next logical step,

and I think it's been an exciting day so far,

and the tournament will roll around pretty quickly as well.

How is your UK summer looking then?

You're going to be playing for Lancashire,

playing for the Super Giants,

so plenty of time spent in Manchester.

Yes, it's actually a city I've not spent a lot of time

in before, so excited about the opportunity

to play in the Vitality Blast.

I haven't done that previously, so a new experience for me,

so looking forward to playing with Lancashire,

and then obviously linking up with Manchester after that.

So busy summer coming up,

but it'll be nice to escape the Melbourne winter,

and hopefully the sun comes out of there bit.

Okay, so you're going to escape the Melbourne winter.

I've got to tell you, it does rain a little bit in Manchester.

I have heard that, everyone I've spoken to

has sort of pointed out the weather,

so hopefully it's more sun than rain,

but we'll see how it plays out.

What's your knowledge of Manchester like?

Not much at all.

I think I spent half a day in Manchester previously,

but yeah, no, a few people have spent a bit of time there,

and they say, it's not too bad,

and there's good coffee out here,

so that's an important part for me,

but I'll learn a bit throughout the summer, I think.

Okay, Manchester City or Manchester United?

Neither.

What's your knowledge of Oasis songs like?

Minimal, minimal, yeah.

Do you feel there's going to be an education

to be had across the summer?

I think so, yeah.

I mean, I've got pretty much three months there,

so I think by the end of it,

I might have a little bit more knowledge,

and so if you ask me next year,

I'll be able to give you a bit more.

Tell you what we'll do, right?

We'll get Alex Hartley, our BBC colleague,

to show you around Manchester, Kate Cross as well,

me on the Nobles podcast,

you'll be like a local by the end of it.

Perfect, I know Kate and Alex a little bit,

so I look forward to that.

I hope they can, yeah,

teach me a thing or two about the stuff that goes on there,

and what's good and what's bad,

so we'll see how we go.

By the end of the summer, we'll be in a book at heart.

You'll be singing along to Oasis,

you'll be like a proper mancunia.

Thanks very much, your time.

No worries, thanks.

That was the former Australia captain, Meg Lanning,

so two days of the historic 100 auction have come to an end.

Now we wait until July,

when these teams will finally get on the field,

when the competition begins,

you'll be able to follow the 100 across the BBC

with every game live on BBC sounds,

plus eight double headers live on BBC TV,

including the opening games and the finals.

Keep subscribed to BBC sounds for all of our content,

including commentary on the county championship

starting next month,

and podcasts including no balls with Alex Hartley and Kate Cross,

plus tail enders who have reaction from Izzy Wong

in their latest episode.

That's all from us in Piccadilly.

We'll speak to you next time.

You're listening to the TMS podcast

from BBC Radio 5 Live.

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