Root and Stokes among England stars set to feature in opening Hundred matches

The ECB have confirmed that England's men's Test players will be available for the first two rounds of the Hundred.

The new tournament is set to get underway tomorrow, with the Oval Invincibles Women taking on the Manchester Originals Women at the Oval.

The first men's game will see the same two teams lock horns at the Oval on Thursday.

There had been concerns that England stars selected to feature in the upcoming five-Test series against India, which starts on August 4, would not be able to feature in the early rounds of the new competition.

However, the ECB have confirmed that all players selected in the squad to face India in the first Test will be able to play in their respective teams' first two Hundred games.

The likes of Test captain Joe Root, star all-rounder Ben Stokes and wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler are expected to feature.

Root will represent the Trent Rockets, Stokes will play for the Northern Superchargers and Buttler will turn out for Manchester Originals.

Teams will not be able to call up replacements for centrally-contracted players like Root, Stokes and Buttler, but they would be able to replace players who do not have Test contracts.

The likes of Mark Wood and Dan Lawrence, part of London Spirit, were both named in England's most recent Test squad to face New Zealand and would be eligible to be replaced.

The knockout stages of the competition are due to take place in between the second and third Tests of England's series against India and the ECB will confirm player availability "in due course".

England's all-time leading Test wicket-taker James Anderson has said he is looking forward to seeing some of his England team-mates facing each other in The Hundred.

Speaking to BBC Sport, Anderson said: "What I'm looking forward to seeing is the England players – the best players in the world in white-ball cricket at the moment – competing against each other.

"You are going to have some really good mates who will create rivalries.

"I have played a lot of red-ball cricket against my team-mates and it is about trying to get one over on them, so it gets brought up in the dressing room.

"The players will have been talking about it during their recent series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

"They'll have picked the dates out when they'll be playing against each other. Those match-ups are going to be interesting to watch.

"I hope to see Jofra Archer bowling against any of England's opening batters.

"When you get batters that are that explosive playing against somebody of that pace and ability, it makes for great viewing."

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