The Hundred: Start times, players involved, where to watch

The inaugural edition of The Hundred takes place this summer, after being postponed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The tournament, which will be run by the ECB, will see some of cricket’s biggest stars gather for a month-long competition.

Eight city-based teams will compete, with the men’s and women’s Hundred tournaments running alongside each other.

Both tournaments will see each team play each other once, before an eliminator match involving the teams that finished second and third in the group stage.

The winner of that match will progress to play the team that finished first in the group in the overall final.

In terms of dates, the women’s Hundred begins on July 21, with the men’s Hundred commencing a day later. Both finals will be played on August 21.

Here’s all you need to know about The Hundred:

What does the format look like?

The Hundred will see a brand-new cricket format played this summer.

There will be 100 balls bowled across each innings, with each over lasting either five or 10 balls.

Each bowler can bowl a maximum of 20 deliveries. The opening powerplay will last for 25 deliveries.

Matches will last around two-and-a-half hours.

Which teams are taking part?

The eight teams taking part will each represent a different city across England and Wales.

London is represented by two teams – London Spirit and Oval Invincibles.

Below are the teams involved, and which stadium they will call home throughout the tournament:

  • Birmingham Phoenix (Edgbaston, Birmingham)
  • London Spirit (Lord’s, London)
  • Manchester Originals (Old Trafford, Manchester)
  • Northern Superchargers (Headingley, Yorkshire)
  • Oval Invincibles (The Oval, London)
  • Southern Brave (Rose Bowl, Hampshire)
  • Trent Rockets (Trent Bridge, Nottingham)
  • Welsh Fire (Sophia Gardens, Cardiff)

Which players are involved?

The tournament will involve England centrally contracted players.

One men’s central contracted player is assigned to each of the eight men’s teams, with two women’s central contracted players assigned to each of the women’s teams.

The women’s central contracted players will be available for the duration of the women’s Hundred. Meanwhile, the men’s players will only be present for the first 10 days at the time of writing.

Amongst the central contracted players in the men’s Hundred include Ben Stokes (Northern Superchargers), Jos Buttler (Manchester Originals), England Test captain Joe Root (Trent Rockets), Chris Woakes (Birmingham Phoenix) and Jofra Archer (Southern Brave).

The central contracted players in the women’s Hundred include Sophie Ecclestone and Kate Cross (Manchester Originals), England captain Heather Knight (London Spirit) and Natalie Sciver and Katherine Brunt (Trent Rockets).

The men’s teams were also permitted to each select two local icons. The likes of England white-ball captain Eoin Morgan, Alex Hales, Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali fall under that category.

The Hundred will also see some of the world’s top overseas players compete.

There have been some high-profile withdrawals – mainly due to travel restrictions and international tours.

Australia pair David Warner and Meg Lanning, as well as New Zealand captain Kane Williamson, are amongst those to have pulled out.

Here are some of the star overseas names set to compete:

Men’s Hundred

  • Australia: D’Arcy Short, Chris Lynn, Josh Inglis
  • New Zealand: Devon Conway, Jimmy Neesham, Colin Munro, Lockie Ferguson
  • Pakistan: Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz
  • South Africa: Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir
  • West Indies: Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Carlos Brathwaite
  • Afghanistan: Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi

Women’s Hundred

  • Australia: Ellyse Perry
  • India: Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepti Sharma, Shafali Verma
  • South Africa: Marizanne Kapp, Dane van Niekerk, Lizelle Lee, Sune Luus, Laura Wolvaardt

Where can I watch?

Sky Sports will show all 68 games of The Hundred – 34 men’s and 34 women’s – live on a dedicated Sky Sports The Hundred channel.

Sky are also streaming a “significant number” of men’s games and all wome’s games on the Sky Cricket YouTube channel.

BBC, meanwhile, will show 18 games live on BBC TV and iPlayer – 10 men’s and eight women’s games. Both finals will be shown.

They will show the opening fixture of the women’s Hundred live.

Featured Image Credit: