Sophie Devine and Beth Mooney have topped the bidding in the inaugural Women’s Hundred auction, each securing a £210,000 payday, narrowly ahead of the biggest surprise of the morning: England allrounder Dani Gibson heading to Sunrisers Leeds for a whopping £190,000.
South Africa allrounder Nadine de Klerk, who lit up the recent 50-over World Cup with the bat and this year’s WPL where she took 16 wickets for champions RCB, went to London Spirit for £170,000. But India allrounder Deepti Sharma attracted a sole bid at her base price of £27,500 from Sunrisers Leeds and wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh had interest only from Manchester Super Giants, who got her for £50,000.
Devine will play for Welsh Fire as she enters the latter phase of her career at the age of 36, having relinquished the New Zealand T20 captaincy after lifting the World Cup in 2024 and retired from ODIs late last year.
Australian Mooney was the subject of a bidding war between Trent Rockets and Manchester Super Giants, with the Rockets winning her services as a consistently devastating batter and accomplished wicketkeeper.
Davina Perrin, the 19-year-old who grabbed headlines with her 43-ball 100 in last year’s Eliminator, became the first player sold at auction in the competition when she was snapped up by Birmingham Phoenix for £50,000.
But the most intriguing storyline of the domestic marquee section which opened the auction in central London’s Piccadilly Circus was Gibson, who seemed to come from nowhere to attract a massive price from Sunrisers Leeds.
Playing for London Spirit, Gibson managed just 33 runs at an average of 4.71 in last year’s Hundred and was unable to bowl after suffering a back stress fracture earlier in the year.
Gibson hasn’t played for England since their disappointing T20 World Cup campaign in October 2024, but she did feature as a batter for Melbourne Stars in the most recent edition of the WBBL, scoring 170 runs at an average of 18.88 and a strike rate of 139.34.
With the bidding opening at £50,000 for Gibson on Wednesday with Southern Brave, Manchester Super Giants, Sunrisers Leeds and Welsh Fire all expressed intense interest before Sunrisers eventually secured her for £50,000 more than the highest-paid pre-auction signings (Lauren Bell and Nat Sciver-Brunt, who were retained at Southern Brave and Trent Rockets for £140,000 each).
Fast bowler Issy Wong, who has been on the fringes of England selection in recent years, will join Bell at Southern Brave, who snapped her up for £130,000 and then held onto 18-year-old left-arm spinner Tilly Corteen-Coleman for £105,000.
Anya Shrubsole, the former England bowler now Southern Brave Women’s assistant coach, was excited by the prospect of working with Wong.
“She is a high quality bowler,” Shrubsole told Sky Sports. “She’s one of the best bowlers in England, especially on her day. Don’t forget she wacks it down the order as well, so the prospect of her and Belly opening the bowling is pretty exciting. And then we’ve got three world-class spinners there so we’re really pleased with where we’re at for a few more signings to go.”
Southern Brave were the most active franchise in the early rounds of bidding, also securing Sophie Molineux, the left-arm spinning allrounder and new Australia captain, for £47,500 and England legspinner Sarah Glenn for £75,000.
England left-arm spinner Linsey Smith was sold to Birmingham Phoenix for £100,000, while MI London took West Indies allrounder Chinelle Henry for £70,000 and London Spirit picked up the big-hitting Deandra Dottin for £37,5000.
Paige Scholfield enjoyed a pay rise after she had been retained by Oval Invincibles, now MI London, last season in the top salary bracket of £65,000. She was picked up for £115,000 by MSG, where she will join an impressive batting line-up spearheaded by Meg Lanning, the former Australia captain now leading her franchise, and India’s Smriti Mandhana.
Em Arlott, a seam bowler capable of hitting big runs down the order who made her England debut at the age of 27 last year, will play for Welsh Fire after attracting a £110,000 bid from them.
South Africa batters Tazmin Brits and Sune Luus went unsold in the early rounds of bidding, as did former international team-mate, fast bowler Shabnim Ismail.
