Hundred auction: Wong and Cortneen-Coleman get 700 per cent pay rises
Rising stars of English cricket Dani Gibson, Issy Wong and Tilly Cortneen-Coleman have cashed in after attracting some of the biggest bids in the inaugural auction for The Hundred.
Sunrisers Leeds secured the signing of all-rounder Gibson, 24, for £190,000, making her the most expensive Englishwoman in Britain’s first auction in a major sport.
Pace bowler Wong, 23, was snapped up for £130,000 by Southern Brave, who also shelled out £105,000 to see off competition for teenage prodigy Cortneen-Coleman in one of the most eye-catching sales of the auction.
Other England players to land six-figure deals at the auction at London’s Piccadilly Lights included Linsey Smith, Em Arlott and Paige Scholfield.
An influx of new investors in The Hundred and changes to salary rules mean the competition’s top earners are set for huge pay rises for the month-long competition.
Gibson’s contract is almost four times what she earned at London Spirit last year, while Wong and Cortneen-Coleman’s deal represent a 700 per cent increase on their 2025 pay at Birmingham Phoenix and Southern Brave respectively.
Mooney and Devine fetch most at Hundred auction
The biggest sums paid in the auction were the £210,000 fetched by Australia batter Beth Mooney from Trent Rockets and New Zealand all-rounder Sophie Devine from Welsh Fire.
Prior to the auction, the eight Hundred franchises were allowed to make up to four direct signings, meaning that England stars Nat Sciver-Brunt and Sophie Ecclestone, Australia all-rounder Ellyse Perry and prolific India batter Smriti Mandhana did not go under the hammer.
The men’s edition of the Hundred auction, which has replaced the draft used in the first five seasons, is set to take place on Thursday and England’s Sam Billings criticised the yawning gap between the top salaries and base pay of £15,000 for women and £31,000 for men.
“Auction will always only benefit a few and probably deserved for those few players,” Billings wrote on social media.
“However, the disparity is too much. The draft structure was clearly far better from an overall player standpoint. As players we did feed this back.”