The Hundred Auction 2026: England's Danielle Gibson scoops £190k as two overseas players break £200k

Danielle Gibson earned a £190,000 payday to become the highest-paid English woman at the inaugural Hundred auction, while uncapped teenager Tilly Corteen-Coleman picked up a bumper £105,000 deal.

The level of spending at the United Kingdom's first player auction in a major professional sport represents a huge uplift in the women's game, where the top salary band in the previous system started at £15,000 in 2021 and was still capped at £65,000 last summer.

The tournament has received a major cash injection after selling off stakes in all eight franchises to private investors and the new owners of the rebranded Headingley franchise, Sunrisers Leeds, went big to secure Gibson's services on the bidding floor in London.

Injury problems mean the hard-hitting all-rounder has not played for her country since October 2024, but she still ended up closing a contract worth £50,000 more than England skipper Nat Sciver-Brunt and pace bowler Lauren Bell, who had already agreed deals as pre-auction 'direct signings'.

Gibson is one of 30 players to have arrived in South Africa for an England training camp and intra-squad series and now carries the heftiest price tag of anyone there, despite her relatively junior status in the national set-up.

She said: "I am still in shock. I had a cold shower to try and calm down but it didn't really help. I am absolutely buzzing and excited to start.

"I was calm and then when I turned the TV on I got really nervous. I was shaking, getting more and more anxious and then when the bidding war happened, I thought it was crazy."