THE first 18 players confirmed to take part in The Hundred have been revealed today – with Northern Superchargers, who will play their home games at Emerald Headingley, announcing Ben Stokes and Lauren Winfield-Hill will remain with the team.

England Men’s all-rounder Stokes and England Women’s batter Winfield-Hill have been retained from the Northern Superchargers’ initial playing squads.

The duo join the 18-strong list of players, including the likes of England stars Joe Root, Amy Jones, Nat Sciver and Jos Buttler, who have today been confirmed to play in cricket’s new and exciting 100-ball competition.

This news marks the start of a three-month process where, until the end of January, each of the eight teams will be able to retain players from their original men’s squads for the 2021 season.

The teams are also able to retain and sign players to complete their women’s squads. A draft will be held in early 2021 to allocate the remaining players for the men’s squads.

Stokes said: “I can’t wait to play in The Hundred and try to bring the trophy up north.

“It’s good to be confirmed for the first season and we’ll see how many of our squad we keep over the next few months because it was filled with some seriously good cricketers.

“The standard of the whole competition is going to be amazing so bring it on.”

Winfield-Hill said: “I can’t wait to get going for the Northern Superchargers. Even though the inaugural year of the competition has been delayed it’s still going to be hugely exciting.

“It will mean a lot for me to play for a team so linked to my home city, on such a big stage, and I think every player involved in the competition is just raring to get going.”

Today’s announcement has confirmed that ten of England’s men’s Test stars, including Stokes, will compete when the competition launches next year.

England’s Test and Yorkshire captain Joe Root will stay at Trent Rockets,

Sanjay Patel, managing director for The Hundred, said: “This is a really exciting moment for The Hundred to see where the Test centrally contracted men’s players will be playing next year and to announce the first retained players for the women’s teams.

“Over the next few months we will see world-class players and massive names from around the world committing to The Hundred and we can’t wait to launch the competition in 2021.”