The 42-year-old, who retired from international cricket at the start of the 2024 summer, had put himself forward in the draft after signing a one-year contract with Lancashire for the upcoming season. Anderson has not played T20 cricket in over a decade, though his new deal will see him play in the T20 Blast. Despite going into the draft without a reserve price, he missed out on one of the 26 available domestic spots across the eight teams. He could still feature in The Hundred if he is selected as a Wildcard pick.
England players also earned big, with Jamie Overton securing a £200,000 deal with Spirit following a year in which he has established himself as the designated seam-bowling allrounder across ODIs and T20Is. He will be joined at Lord’s by Jamie Smith as their England centrally contracted pick. Zak Crawley, released by Spirit, landed a £120,000 contract with Northern Superchargers.
Elsewhere, Chris Woakes’ acquisition by Fire as their designated England player created a domino effect that saw David Willey secure a lucrative £200,000 deal with Rockets, with fellow left-arm seamer David Payne picking up Willey’s vacated £120,000 contract in Cardiff.
Fire had initially planned to play their right-to-match card for Willey. However, they were unable to use that option when Rockets opted for Willey in the top bracket as they had filled both spots with Steve Smith (a direct overseas signing) and Jonny Bairstow. Bairstow had previously been the Fire’s central contract player before they moved him to a £200,000 slot to acquire Woakes. Payne, who entered this year’s draft seeking an improved deal having joined Fire for £40,000 in 2019’s inaugural draft, came up trumps.
Harry Moore, Derbyshire’s highly-touted 17-year-old quick, has been acquired by Birmingham Phoenix for £41,500 while Durham batter Ben McKinney was rewarded for a strong winter with the England Lions by Manchester Originals, who selected him as their £78,500 pick. His Lions teammate Rocky Flintoff, son of Lions and Superchargers head coach Andrew, went undrafted.