Sales rewarded for brilliant Blast form as Steelbacks' Hundred tally rises to six

And the pace bowling all-rounder will join five other Northants players in the franchise competition that starts next month.

The call-ups for David Willey (London Spirit), Louis Kimber (Trent Rockets) and George Scrimshaw (Super Giants) had already been confirmed, and they are now joined by Sales, Ben Sanderson (Trent Rockets) and Saif Zaib (Southern Brave) after the trio were picked up in Thursday's Vitality Wildcard Draft.

The draft is designed to offer Hundred teams the chance to call on domestic players who have performed well in the Blast, and Sales certainly falls into that category.

Having not played competitive T20 cricket for three years, Sales was given his chance in the Steelbacks' Blast opener against Glamorgan last month and he has gone on to be arguably the player of the tournament so far.

Sales has twice claimed career-best bowling figures on his way to become the joint leading wicket-taker in the tournament, claiming 16 scalps along with Glamorgan's South African import Duan Jansen.

Manchester Super Giants are coached by Australian Justin Langer, and as well as being a squad mate of Steelbacks fast bowler Scrimshaw, Sales will also team up with the likes of England stars Jos Buttler, Josh Tongue, Gus Atkinson and Sonny Baker.

Sanderson and Zaib have enjoyed more modest returns than Sales over the first six matches of the Central & West Group, but are proven performers and have previously featured in the Hundred so are offered another chance.

The Hundred tournament begins the week after Vitality Blast Finals Day on July 18, with the first game seeing MI London hosting Sun Risers Leeds at the Oval on July 21.

The final is scheduled for Sunday, August 16.

Their selection for the Hundred means the six Steelbacks players are set to miss Northants' Metro Bank One Day Cup campaign.