David Warner has been surprisingly overlooked in The Hundred draft as Andrew Flintoff kick-started a West Indies rush by snapping up Nicholas Pooran with his first pick.
The Australian left-hander, who recently retired from the Test scene, has travelled the world playing white-ball cricket since 2009 and most recently featured in the UAE for the Dubai Capitals.
Warner, who set his reserve price at £100,000 (AU$194,000), was among a host of Aussies to miss out, including Tim David, Matthew Wade and Josh Inglis.
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The 37-year-old will now turn his attention to the Delhi Capitals in the IPL, which gets underway this weekend.
He is expected to be a part of Australia’s T20 World Cup squad later this year for his international farewell.
England’s 2019 World Cup-winning opening batter Jason Roy, New Zealand’s Kane Williamson and Pakistan’s Babar Azam were also unsold at an event hosted at the Shard in London on Thursday (AEDT).
Roy was released by Oval Invincibles after a modest past couple of seasons and a £100,000 ($A194,000) base price plus his expected participation in Major League Cricket, which has a minor schedule clash with The Hundred this year, seems to have put off potential bidders.
Mark Wood was also conspicuously overlooked for the tournament scheduled to start on July 23 and run to August 18.
Instead, there was a distinct Caribbean flavour at the outset of the men’s draft as five of the seven buys in the top-tier bracket went on big-hitting Windies stars.
Former England captain Flintoff, having been appointed Northern Superchargers men’s head coach in November in his first official role since returning to cricket, plumped for Pooran, who was bought for $US2 million ($A3 million) in this year’s Indian Premier League auction.
After finishing bottom of the pile last year, the Superchargers also added Sydney Thunder star Daniel Sams for $194,000 and Englishmen Tom Lawes and Graham Clark to his roster.
London Spirit offered $243,000 deals to Andre Russell and Shimron Hetmyer while Rovman Powell and Kieron Pollard are set to receive the same remuneration from Trent Rockets and Southern Brave respectively.
Those who were disregarded in the draft could still feature this year, swapping in for anyone who drops out at their base price limit or higher.
A total of 75 spots were filled, including 26 for the overseas contingent, across both drafts.
In the women’s draft, Birmingham Phoenix retained England wicketkeeper-batter Amy Jones as their first pick.
Australia’s Beth Mooney, the world’s No.1 T20 batter, was chosen by Manchester Originals while former Australia captain Meg Lanning, who announced her international retirement late last year, was also in the top women’s pay bracket of $97,000 and is set to join England skipper Heather Knight at London Spirit.
Gardner and Annabel Sutherland also got top whack with Trent Rockets and Northern Superchargers respectively.
– with 7NEWS.com.au