The Hundred: Overseas Wildcards unveiled

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Ben McDermott, Mohammad Hasnain, Daniel Sams, and Imran Tahir are among the overseas wildcard picks for The Hundred's second season. Each of the eight men's teams have added a fourth foreign player to their squads but can only feature three in a playing XI.


Australian batsman Ben McDermott has signed with London Spirit after an impressive stint with Hampshire Hawks in the Vitality Blast, including a 30-ball 83 against Middlesex.


Pakistan fast bowler Hasnain was selected as the first choice and will play for the Oval Invincibles. The 22-year old was banned from bowling in international cricket after his action was deemed illegal during a Big Bash League match in January, but his ban has now been removed.


"I'm overjoyed to be joining Oval Invincibles," he said. 


"The Hundred looked like great fun last year and I can't wait to get involved. The opportunity to play alongside stars like Sunil Narine, Jason Roy and the Curran brothers is hugely exciting. I'm really looking forward to getting back out on the field again."


Imran Tahir has rejoined the Birmingham Phoenix after being released and then not being picked in the player draft. Last year, the 43-year-old lit up the event with the first hat-trick in competition history against Welsh Fire.


Finn Allen, who played for Phoenix last season, has been signed by Southern Brave, the defending champions.


Northern Superchargers have signed David Wiese, who was previously with London Spirit.


Manchester Originals have signed Durham's Ashton Turner, and Afghan left-arm spinner Noor Ahmad has joined Welsh Fire. Daniel Sams joins Trent Rockets to round up the new signings.


Qais Ahmad, Shimron Hetmyer, Marnus Labuschagne, and Evin Lewis were among those who were ignored. At the same time, Dewald Breivis, Tristan Stubbs, and Jimmy Neesham were included in the long list of players from the draft but also missed out.


There is still one open spot in each of the eight squads that a domestic wildcard player will fill; it will be announced in July.


Men's Hundred wildcards

The second edition of the men's Hundred begins on August 3rd, with Southern Brave vs Welsh Fire at The Ageas Bowl.


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Pakistan pacer Mohammad Hasnain cleared to bowl in International Cricket

Pakistan's young pacer Mohammad Hasnain has been cleared to bowl in international cricket once again after he rectified his bowling action, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) confirmed on Thursday (June 09). Hasnain's bowling action has been given a green signal as the amount of his elbow extension was dropped within the limit of 15 degrees from 17-24 degrees. His bowling action was declared illegal on February 4 while playing in Australia's Big Bash League (BBL). Later, it was confirmed that the Pakistan pacer's action had breached the 'ICC's 15-degree limit for elbow extension' as his elbow extension for his good length delivery, full-length delivery, slow bouncer, and bouncer surpassed the allowable limits. "As such, he can now resume bowling in international cricket and all domestic cricket worldwide," the PCB statement read. Earlier, the PCB assigned its high-performance coach, Umar Rasheed, to work with the young pacer at Lahore's High-Performance Centre to help him amend his bowling action. The right-arm speedster had bowled over 5000 balls and practised shadow bowling to work on his faulty action. However, the pacer's new bowling action remains the same with his wrist, arm rotation and landing being tweaked, allowing him to avoid a jerk and bowl with consistent and repeatable action. Hasnain, who had to opt-out of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) in January after playing a few matches due to faulty bowling action, hasn't played competitive cricket since the suspension. The pacer has featured in 8 One Day International (ODIs) and 18 T20 International (T20Is) for Pakistan and has scalped 12 and 17 wickets, respectively. Hasnain also has a T20I hat-trick to his name. Earlier, he was slotted into the Sydney Sixers squad as a replacement for English fast bowler Saqib Mahmood and lived up to the expectations as he took three wickets while conceding only 20 runs on his BBL debut. Rasheed, who has helped the 22-year old to remodel his bowling action at Lahore's High-Performance Centre, is pretty sure about Hasnain's comeback in international cricket.

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ENG vs NZ | Have to turn starts into substantial innings, reckons opener Alex Lees

Since Sir Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss's retirement, England has struggled to find a decent opener in red-ball cricket. A new entrant to their scheme of things is Yorkshireman Alex Lees, who made his debut against West Indies in March. Lees scored 25 and 20 runs in the Lord's Test against New Zealand last week, where the second innings knock was, according to him, his most fluent knock so far. Speaking ahead of the Trent Bridge Test, Lees said: "Last week was probably the most fluent innings I've had to date. I was pleased in the manner I played but the obvious thing is that I have to take that and turn it into a substantial inning. To be praised for a 20 is probably bittersweet. If you can get a good 20, you know you can probably make 60, 70, 80. I keep getting in and out, which is frustrating." The four-Test old scored 171 runs at an average of 30, so observing past openers is a good start. The 29-year-old opened up about his batting approach as an opener. "When you open the batting you face the best bowlers, sometimes at the worst times. I've always enjoyed getting through a spell or a tough cricket day of cricket is something that I've always quite enjoyed… it's that old Yorkshire stubbornness. There's always going to be speculation about the top order in England… I just never really wanted to shy away from the challenge of it," he explained. England captain Ben Stokes praised Lees for his knock of 20 in the second innings of the Test, which the batter feels could have been much better. "It's not putting pressure on myself to make a double-hundred this game, but I'm aware I'd love to make a good score. It's trusting how I play and I played nicely in that second innings, so if I can take that forward and play in that manner over a period of time, the law of averages suggest I should get that contribution. That's what I'm striving towards," Lees stated. The left-hander is confident that his role in the Brendon McCullum-coached side is all about playing free-flowing cricket. The second Test of the series will be played at Nottingham starting on Friday.