With Aussie’s feauturing in all 8 franchises, it shapes up to be a busy July and August for the group.
July 20th 2026:
The Hundred returns for its sixth season on 21 July, with 24 Australians set to feature across the men’s and women’s competitions. Yet beyond the cricket itself, this year’s tournament marks the beginning of a new era. Following the sale of stakes in the competition’s franchises to IPL owners earlier this year, The Hundred has become more closely intertwined with the IPL than ever before.
For some traditional supporters, the IPL’s expanding influence over the global game is a source of concern. For players, however, it presents an opportunity. The Hundred provides Australia’s players with another chance to reinforce their credentials ahead of the 2027 IPL auction.
Off the back of winning the Women’s T20 World Cup against England at Lord’s for a seventh time, Australia’s stranglehold on the women’s game has never been stronger. That dominance is reflected in The Hundred, with eleven members of the World Cup-winning squad set to feature.
On the face of it, it is not surprising that Beth Mooney fetched the highest price of £210,000 (A$403,000), the number one-ranked T20 batter in the world, who won player of the tournament at the aforementioned World Cup, will play for the Trent Rockets. While her returns in the Hundred, having passed the 200-run mark in 2022, have declined year on year, the 32-year-old had another stellar international tournament, coming second in the run-scoring charts of the aforementioned World Cup.
She will be captained by fellow Australian Ash Gardner, who retains the role, with the Rockets just missing out on the Eliminator last season. Her reappointment is another reminder of the influence the Australian set-up possesses, with players trusted to lead as well as perform. As one of the world’s leading all-rounders, her performances will go a long way to dictating the success of the Rockets’ season.
The winner of the previous two Belinda Clark awards, Annabel Sutherland, is another Australian to keep tabs on. Over the past six years, her career has gone from strength to strength, and, with the pressure of being touted to be an Australian great, at the age of 24, she has undoubtedly delivered on that potential, having appeared in 114 international matches to date and broken a multitude of records along the way.
She will be looking to build upon a superb 2025 campaign with both bat and ball for the Northern Superchargers, who have been rebranded as Sunrisers Leeds. Joining her in the North of England will be Jess Jonassen and Phoebe Litchfield.
While Sutherland represents the new generation, the player many still measure themselves against is Ellyse Perry, who continues with Birmingham Phoenix. Now 35 years old and coming up on two decades since her international debut, Perry remains the only Australian to have represented her country at both a cricket and a football World Cup, a genuine rarity in Australian sport. Her £100,000 fee is a fitting reflection of a player who was central to Australia’s latest World Cup triumph, and who continues to deliver at the very top of the women’s game. For a squad still chasing their first Hundred title, that know-how under pressure could prove invaluable.
Where the women arrive on the back of World Cup glory, Australia’s men head into this year’s Hundred with rather more to prove. A group-stage exit at the T20 World Cup earlier this year (their first since 2009) leaves plenty of questions unanswered, and a few weeks in English franchise cricket offers a timely chance to answer some of them.
The Hundred’s inaugural player auction took place in March, with the headlines belonging to James Coles, an Englishman who to date, hasn’t played international cricket. Coles, 21 at the time, became the most expensive pick, joining London Spirit for £390,000 (A$733,000). Many of Australia’s biggest names had already been snapped up during the competition’s pre-auction signing window, underlining the value franchises place on Australian talent.
One of the world’s most sought-after batters in short-format cricket, Tim David, was bought by Trent Rockets for £350,000 (A$472,000). David, who in 2025 bludgeoned his way to Australia’s fastest T20 hundred off 37 balls, arrives at Trent Rockets on the back of retaining the IPL title with Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
David went unpicked at the 2024 draft, reportedly due to availability concerns, before a scheduling clash with Australia’s series against South Africa ruled him out again in 2025. Yet his performances across franchise leagues around the world have ensured his value continues to rise in the modern T20 market. The Rockets will be hoping he can add a second Hundred title to the one he won with Southern Brave in the tournament’s inaugural 2021 season.
Formerly a middle-order batter, the destructive Mitchell Owen’s switch to the top of the order 18 months ago proved transformative, with the now 24-year-old finishing as the top run-scorer for the Hobart Hurricanes in the 2024/25 Big Bash season. That form has been harder to find since, with Owen’s returns for Washington Freedom in the recent Major League Cricket competition poor, even as his side reached the final. He will be making his Hundred debut, hoping to rediscover that touch.
With the cricketing calendar overflowing with franchise tournaments, you would be forgiven for thinking that this is just another one of them. But, as outlined above, particularly on the men’s side, there are some fascinating stories to keep an eye on. With the Australian summer on the horizon, this is an opportunity for each of these players to head home either carrying the momentum of World Cup glory into the new season or looking to leave a difficult few months behind them.