Meg Lanning, Alyssa Healy, Sophie Molineux to play in The Hundred

Meg Lanning will team up with Australia women's coach Matthew Mott as a marquee player for Welsh Fire in The Hundred.

Lanning, the Australia captain, was one of eight women's signings - one per team - announced for next year's inaugural tournament during the men's player draft on Sunday night in London. She joins England centrally contracted players Katie George and Byrony Smith at the Welsh side where Mott will be head coach.

Welsh Fire men's team head coach Gary Kirsten used his first two draft picks to snap up Australians Mitchell Starc and Steve Smith, who will play alongside centrally contracted England star Jonny Bairstow.

"I'm absolutely delighted to be joining up with Matthew Mott at Welsh Fire," Lanning said. "We obviously know each other really well from working together for Australia and hopefully that can give us an edge. It's really exciting to see the women's squads begin to take shape, and hopefully alongside the men's players who joined up in tonight's draft we can give Welsh Fire a strong chance in the first season of The Hundred."

In-form team-mate Alyssa Healy, who struck a world record T20 score of 148 not out for Australia against Sri Lanka earlier this month, won't be joining husband Starc at the Welsh side after being named as a marquee signing for Northern Superchargers, where she will play alongside England's Lauren Winfield and Linsey Smith.

Australia's 21-year-old spin-bowling allrounder Sophie Molineux joins England couple Katherine Brunt and Natalie Sciver, who recently announced their engagement, at Trent Rockets as their marquee signing, which Brunt described as "a bit left-field" and "a great pick". Molineux, who has played 17 T20 internationals since making her debut in early 2018 and played all three of her ODIs the same year, is in her fifth WBBL season with Melbourne Renegades.

"Allrounders, especially ones like her will do really well in this competition," Brunt told Sky Sports during the draft broadcast.

Tammy Beaumont will join her England captain, Heather Knight, at London Spirit and South Africa's Lizelle Lee will head to Manchester Originals while her international captain, Dane van Niekerk, will play for Oval Invincibles.

Beaumont said: "The competition is obviously getting closer and now we know the names, the kit and the players it's all starting to feel real. There's so much world-class talent across both competitions and we are keen to get started."

Hard-hitting New Zealand allrounder Sophie Devine joins Birmingham Phoenix and compatriot Suzie Bates heads Southern Brave.

Women's team head coaches have until May 31 to finalise their 15-strong squads for the five-week competition starting in July 2020.