Players signed in Vitality Wildcard Draft as Southern Brave confirm squads

Southern Brave have now confirmed their squads as the Vitality Wildcard Draft selections in the men’s competition and the final round of signings in the women’s competition have been announced.

In the Vitality Wildcard Draft, leg-spinner Jafer Chohan was signed up having taken five wickets in the Vitality Blast, along with his Yorkshire teammate and England pace bowler Matt Fisher.

For the women’s team, England U19s Seren Smale and Ellie Anderson were signed, along with Southern Vipers’ seamer Mary Taylor and South East Stars’ spinner Kalea Moore.

Chohan, 20, signed a rookie deal with Yorkshire having previously played for the South Asian Cricket Academy.

The leg-spinner piqued former England Men’s Test captain Joe Root’s interest at a net session in Loughborough, who encouraged him to trial for Yorkshire.

Fisher made his Test debut in the Caribbean in 2022 before suffering a stress fracture which saw him sit out most of the 2022 season.

So far in 2023, Fisher has taken two Vitality Blast wickets and is currently Yorkshire’s leading wicket taker in Division Two of the LV= Insurance County Championship, with 19 scalps to his name.

Thunder’s Seren Smale and Central Sparks’ Ellie Anderson both starred as England reached the final of the inaugural U19 Women’s World Cup in South Africa in January.

Wicket-keeper Smale was England’s fourth leading run-scorer, with 121 runs at a strike rate of 125, whilst Ellie Anderson was the three lions’ third-leading wicket taker, dismissing eight batters in just five matches, with a phenomenal 5-12 against West Indies at Potchefstroom.

Mary Taylor has been a regular feature for Southern Vipers this season, playing in six Charlotte Edwards Cup matches and taking two wickets, having only made her senior debut in 2022. She was also named as a non-travelling reserve for the U19s World Cup.

Spinner Moore, formerly of Northern Superchargers, signed her first professional contract with South East Stars in November 2022, and has taken 16 wickets in 22 games for her region, along with four wickets for the Superchargers in the first-ever edition of The Hundred.

New signings announced today:

Birmingham Phoenix: Davina Perrin, Abbey Freeborn, Charis Pavely, Jacob Bethell, Henry Brookes

London Spirit: Richa Ghosh*, Lauren Filer, Chloe Hill, Alice Monaghan, Daniel Bell-Drummond, Matt Critchley, Matthew Wade*, Daryl Mitchell*

Manchester Originals: Ami Campbell, Amara Carr, Mahika Gaur, Laura Jackson, Max Holden, Fred Klaassen, Usama Mir*

Northern Superchargers: Georgie Boyce, Lucy Higham, Grace Ballinger, Grace Hall, Leah Dobson*, Ollie Robinson, Saif Zaib, Matthew Short*

Oval Invincibles: Sophia Smale, Beth Langston, Cordelia Griffith, Claudie Cooper, Lizzie Scott*, Tawanda Muyeye, Zak Chappell, Tom Lawes*, Adam Zampa*

Southern Brave: Kalea Moore, Seren Smale, Ellie Anderson, Mary Taylor, Jafer Chohan, Matt Fisher

Trent Rockets: Jo Gardner, Fran Wilson, Nat Wraith, Cassidy McCarthy*, John Turner, Tom Moores

Welsh Fire: Emily Windsor, Ella McCaughan, Georgia Davis, Kate Coppack, Luke Wells, Chris Cooke

*denotes replacement player

Mary Taylor said: “I’m really looking forward to playing in my first season of The Hundred, and it’s great to have the opportunity to play under Charlotte Edwards at The Ageas Bowl.

“The crowds we’ve had for our matches there so far this season have been amazing, and I can't wait to play in front of packed stands with some of the best players in the world.”

Trent Rockets and Southern Brave will go head-to-head on Tuesday 1 August, the opening matchday of the third year of The Hundred. The double-header is the first of 34 matchdays that promise high-octane men’s and women’s sporting action, live music, and a host of family-friendly entertainment.

Over half a million people attended games during The Hundred’s second year in 2022, including a record-breaking 271,000 watching live women’s fixtures across the competition and more families buying tickets than in 2021.

Tickets this year remain great value in line with 2022 pricing, with prices set at £5 for juniors aged 6-15, free for children five and under, and adults starting from £12.   

Over 14.1 million people tuned in to watch The Hundred action in 2022 and games will again be broadcast live on Sky Sports and BBC broadcast and digital channels throughout the competition. 

To stay up to date with the latest news, buy tickets or to sign up for priority access, visit thehundred.com or follow The Hundred, and the eight teams, on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube.

NOTES TO EDITORS

About The Hundred: 

The Hundred is an action-packed, unmissable cricket competition that fuses world-class cricket with blockbuster entertainment. 

Combining a short, fast format of cricket, with each game lasting less than three hours, and incredible entertainment beyond the sport, The Hundred is making cricket more accessible and reaching a broader audience. It’s simple: 100 balls per team, most runs wins, so every ball counts.  

The Hundred features eight teams from seven cities, with men’s and women’s competitions taking place side by side:  Welsh Fire (Cardiff), Southern Brave (Southampton), Northern Superchargers (Leeds), London Spirit, Trent Rockets (Nottingham), Oval Invincibles (London), Manchester Originals and Birmingham Phoenix. Each teams features some of the best international and domestic cricketers from around the world, including England Men’s & Women’s World Cup winners. 

Highlight statistics from The Hundred 2022: 

• More than 500,000 people attended games across the course of the competition 
• The Hundred continued to take cricket to new audiences with more women (28%), children (22%) and families (41%) attending than in the first year 
• 2022 once again set a new global record for total attendance at a women’s cricket competition, with 271,000 people attending  
• All eight venues broke their previous best for domestic women’s attendances
• Of the Sky and BBC TV coverage, 42% hadn’t watched any other ECB cricket in 2022 prior to The Hundred, resulting in 5.9m new viewers
• Women (31%) and children (14%) made up a significant share of the TV audience