In the first Women’s Hundred auction, Sophie Devine and Beth Mooney emerged victorious, earning £210,000 apiece, just ahead of the morning’s biggest surprise: England all-rounder Dani Gibson, who is going to Sunrisers Leeds for an incredible £190,000.

Nadine de Klerk, an all-rounder from South Africa who lit up the most recent 50-over World Cup with the bat and this year’s WPL with 16 wickets for champions RCB, was sold to London Spirit for £170,000. However, Sunrisers Leeds made the only bid for Indian all-rounder Deepti Sharma at her base price of £27,500, while Manchester Super Giants were the only team interested in wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh, who was acquired for £50,000.

Devine will play for Welsh Fire as she begins the later portion of her career at the age of 36, having lost the New Zealand T20 captaincy after lifting the World Cup in 2024 and retired from ODIs late last year.

The Trent Rockets and Manchester Super Giants engaged in a bidding war for the services of Australian Mooney, who is a consistently deadly hitter and skilled wicketkeeper.

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Their earnings are 14 times greater than the top wage in the tournament’s inaugural edition in 2021 (£15,000) and significantly higher than the previous top wage in the women’s Hundred (£65,000). Additionally, they are comparable to the wages offered at the WPL and surpass the highest salaries in the Women’s Big Bash League.

Due to the recent private investment in the women’s Hundred, which has seen outside investors acquire ownership or co-ownership of all eight clubs, the salary ceiling has increased to £880,000 each team this year.

The 19-year-old Davina Perrin, who made headlines with her 43-ball 100 in the Eliminator last year, was purchased by Birmingham Phoenix for £50,000, becoming her the first player in the competition to be sold at auction.

However, the most captivating tale of the domestic marquee division that kicked off the auction at Piccadilly Circus in central London was Gibson, who appeared out of nowhere to draw a huge price from Sunrisers Leeds.

Gibson, who played for London Spirit, was unable to bowl due to a back stress fracture earlier in the season and only scored 33 runs at an average of 4.71 in last year’s Hundred.

Gibson did compete as a hitter for Melbourne Stars in the most recent WBBL, earning 170 runs at an average of 18.88 and a strike rate of 139.34. She hasn’t played for England since their dismal T20 World Cup campaign in October 2024.

Gibson’s bidding opened at £50,000 on Wednesday. Southern Brave, Manchester Super Giants, Sunrisers Leeds, and Welsh Fire all showed a great deal of interest before Sunrisers finally signed her for £50,000 more than the highest-paid pre-auction signings (Lauren Bell and Nat Sciver-Brunt, who were retained at Southern Brave and Trent Rockets for £140,000 each).

Bell will join Southern Brave, who signed fast bowler Issy Wong for £130,000 after holding onto 18-year-old left-arm spinner Tilly Corteen-Coleman for £105,000. Wong has been on the sidelines of England selection in recent years.

Anya Shrubsole, the former England bowler currently Southern Brave Women’s assistant coach, was intrigued by the idea of working with Wong.

“She is a high quality bowler,” Shrubsole stated to Sky Sports. “When she’s playing well, she’s among England’s top bowlers. It’s fascinating to think about her and Belly opening the bowling order since she also wacks it down the order. We’re pretty happy with where we are with a couple more signings to go, especially since we have three elite spinners there.”

Early in the bidding process, Southern Brave were the most active team. They also acquired England legspinner Sarah Glenn for £75,000 and left-arm spinning all-rounder Sophie Molineux, the new captain of Australia, for £47,500.

Birmingham Phoenix purchased England’s left-arm spinner Linsey Smith for £100,000, MI London acquired West Indies all-rounder Chinelle Henry for £70,000, and London Spirit acquired big-hitting Deandra Dottin for £37,5000.

After being kept in the top salary range of £65,000 by Oval Invincibles, now MI London, last season, Paige Scholfield received a pay increase. She was acquired by MSG for £115,000, where she will be part of an outstanding batting lineup that includes Smriti Mandhana of India and Meg Lanning, the former captain of Australia who is currently heading her team.

After garnering a £110,000 bid from Welsh Fire, Em Arlott, a seam bowler who can knock big runs down the order and earned her England debut at the age of 27 last year, will play for them.

Charis Pavely, a 21-year-old all-rounder who has played for England twice in Twenty20 cricket, was involved in a brawl between Welsh Fire, Birminghamp Phoenix, London Spirit, and Trent Rockets in 2024 as the elite team got ready for the World Cup. The latter two ultimately caused her price to rise from £37,500 to £85,000. Uncapped wicketkeeper-batter Kira Chathli, 26, went to MI London for £80,000 in a similar tussle.

Tazmin Brits and Sune Luus, two South African batters, as well as Chloe Tryon, an all-rounder, and Shabnim Ismail, a fast bowler and former teammate, were not sold.