ENGLAND and Lancashire spinner Matt Parkinson was one of seven signings made by the Manchester Originals as the men’s retention window for cricket’s new action-packed competition The Hundred closed.

Bolton-born Parkinson will bring a further Red Rose flavour to the men’s squad with Derbyshire batsman Wayne Madsen also retained on deadline day.

Manchester Originals are one of eight new teams taking part in The Hundred, a new 100-ball competition which was postponed by a year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

It is now scheduled to take place this summer and feature eight city-based teams from Birmingham, Cardiff, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham, Southampton and two in London. It will be screened live by Sky and the BBC.

The retention window– the period during which teams could re-sign players who were part of their 2020 squad – has now closed for the men’s competition. The team will now fill their remaining slots at a draft later this month, with Manchester Originals having ten picks – more than any other team. The women’s squads will continue being unveiled until June.

Parkinson said: “I was very happy when I was first drafted by Manchester Originals and I am even happier now that I have been retained to play in The Hundred this summer. I love bowling at Emirates Old Trafford and I look forward to taking on the world’s best players on my home ground in The Hundred.”

In total another 57 men’s and women’s players have been confirmed as having signed up for the new competition.

The remaining picks for all eight men’s sides will be unveiled on February 23. A total of 35 spaces will be up for grabs in the Men’s Draft, including ten for Manchester Originals.

Birmingham Phoenix have moved to strengthen their men’s squad with the retentions of overseas stars Shaheen Afridi and New Zealand captain Kane Williamson alongside hard-hitting Lancashire all-rounder Liam Livingstone and exciting seamer Isabelle Wong.

Three overseas stars will stay at Northern Superchargers with Australian white ball captain Aaron Finch and compatriot Chris Lynn lining up alongside Afghanistan spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman. The women’s side continues to develop with England bowlers Beth Langston and Linsey Smith joining.

England and Kent’s Sam Billings is part of an impressive list of retentions at Oval Invincibles. The overseas duo of South Africa skipper Dane Van Niekerk and Nepalese spinner Sandeep Lamichhane will also stay at the Kia Oval.

Southern Brave welcome three big-name overseas players including New Zealand legspinning allrounder Amelia Kerr, West Indies star Andre Russell and Australian Marcus Stoinis.

Many of England's World Cup-winning stars had already been retained by their franchises earlier in the window.

Jonny Bairstow (Welsh Fire), Joe Root (Trent Rockets), Jos Buttler (Manchester Originals), Eoin Morgan (London Spirit), Ben Stokes (Northern Superchargers) and Jofra Archer (Southern Brave) will all feature in the new competition.