ECB to spruce up salary funds in a bid to attract England's 'all-format' starts for The Hundred 2023 - Reports

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) are planning to encourage the national team's all-format players to partake in the 2023 edition of The Hundred by offering them incentives.

Several fringe players like Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes pulled out of the competition last year in a bid to prepare for the home series against South Africa. The lack of established players arguably affected the quality of the season, which was won by the Trent Rockets.

England's all-format centrally contracted players were offered £50,000 to play three matches and a subsequent £5,000 for every additional match played after the three-game mark.

According to a report by ESPN Cricinfo, the ECB are now offering the players £125,000 to partake in the whole 2023 season or proportionally should they be unavailable for a period of the season.

The Hundred 2023 is scheduled to take place during the month of August, in an uninterrupted window for the first time. The commencement of the tournament will be immediately after the fifth Ashes Test ends on July 31.

As a result, players featuring in the series finale might not be available for the first week of the tournament.

England also have an international assignment looming against New Zealand and Ireland, which serves as preparation for the 2023 ODI World Cup in the October-November window in India. The Jos Buttler-led side will play four ODIs and as many T20Is against the Blackcaps and three ODIs against the Irish before departing for the subcontinent.

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The Hundred franchises to avail the option of retaining an all-format England player

Should the team and the 'all-format' contracted player come to an agreement, the franchise could choose to retain the player along with 10 other players, who were part of the squad in the 2022 edition.

The current set of players who currently have a contract with a franchise in The Hundred and also an all-format central contract with the England national team are - Jofra Archer (Southern Brave), Bairstow (Welsh Fire), Jos Buttler (Manchester Originals), Sam Curran (Oval Invincibles), Joe Root (Trent Rockets), Stokes (Northern Superchargers), Chris Woakes (Birmingham Phoenix) and Mark Wood (London Spirit).

Now, among the eight sides, should two or more names not be retained, a mini-draft is expected to be conducted to determine the player's next destination. It is to be noted that the rest of England's stars such as Zak Crawley, Adil Rashid, Ollie Pope and Liam Livingstone will be part of the main draft along with other players who have not been retained by their respective franchises.

Interestingly enough, Buttler can be retained by the Manchester Originals as he is still regarded as an 'all format' player according to the contract list. The wicket-keeper batter's last Test appearance came during the fourth Test against Australia in the 2022 Ashes.

The resurgence of Jonny Bairstow, the arrival of Harry Brook and Ben Stokes' trust in Ben Foakes has rendered Buttler out of the scheme of things in England's era of aggressive cricket.

The Hundred's franchises will be allowed to decide on their retention picks until February 14 after the window opens on January 11.

Will England's top-tier stars play in The Hundred 2023? Let us know what you think.