England Test captain Ben Stokes to miss Hundred as he manages fitness pre-Ashes

The 33-year-old all-rounder tore his hamstring while playing for Andrew Flintoff’s Superchargers in the Hundred last August.

Stokes was then ruled out for at least three months after tearing the same hamstring during the third and final Test of England’s series in New Zealand in December, and underwent surgery in January. He is currently sitting out England’s Champions Trophy campaign in Pakistan.

England’s men are next in Test action with a one-off contest against Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge in May.

The team then have a five-match home Test series against India which is scheduled to conclude the day before the start of the Hundred, which runs from August 5 to 31, with the Ashes then starting in November.

New Hundred signings announced on Tuesday include Australia’s Steve Smith (Welsh Fire), Meg Lanning (Oval Invincibles), Megan Schutt (Birmingham Phoenix) and Marcus Stoinis (Trent Rockets), New Zealand’s Trent Boult (Birmingham Phoenix) and Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan (Oval Invincibles).

The retentions and signings saw 148 places confirmed across the squads, with 68 left to fill. The Draft takes place on March 12, with a final chance to make squad additions coming at May’s Wildcard Draft, where teams can add two final men’s and women’s players, rewarding stand-out performers in domestic cricket.

Superchargers’ confirmed players so far: Women - Annabel Sutherland, Phoebe Litchfield and Georgia Wareham (all overseas); Kate Cross, Linsey Smith, Bess Heath, Alice Davidson-Richards, Hollie Armitage, Grace Ballinger, Davina Perrin.

Men - David Miller, Mitchell Santner and Ben Dwarshuis (all overseas), Harry Brook, Adil Rashid, Brydon Carse, Matthew Potts, Pat Brown, Graham Clark, Tom Lawes.