Smith, who recently captained Australia to victory over England in the ongoing Champions Trophy, has signed to play for Welsh Fire, coached by former Australia batsman Mike Hussey.

The Sun Group are the third investors into the eight-team Hundred from the lucrative IPL, following the Ambani family, whose Reliance Industries are behind the Mumbai Indians, and RPSG, in charge of the Lucknow Super Giants.

Indian Premier League founder Lalit Modi has labelled the Hundred competition a "big fat Ponzi scheme", accusing English cricket chiefs of unrealistic financial projections.

Oval Invincibles won a second successive Hundred title on Sunday by beating Southern Brave by 17 runs at Lord's.

England Test captain Ben Stokes was helped off the field after suffering an injury while playing for the Northern Superchargers in The Hundred on Sunday.

Bangladesh cricket superstars Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal were among six Bangladesh players to have registered for England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB’s) inaugural draft for The Hundred.