The Hundred (Cricket) – Format, Teams, and Rules – 2024

Cricket was introduced by England, and the game has progressed and advanced over the years.

Earlier it used to be only the longest format of the game, that is Test cricket, then gradually came the 60 overs per side one day format which later became the 50 overs ODI cricket which we see today. 

Then the year 2006 saw the arrival of the T20 format which became a huge hit and entertaining format, and the advent of IPL further bolstered the format. To increase the entertainment quotient in cricket, a T10 league, which is a 10 overs per side franchise cricket league is also played in the UAE once a year.

The latest addition to this evolving format of cricket is ‘The Hundred’ which is a 100 balls innings professional level franchise cricket tournament in England and Wales organized by the English Cricket Board (ECB).

Here is an in-depth look at the format and rules of the league.

The Hundred Rules

Rule 1 – ‘The Hundred’ has derived its name from the fact that in every match of this league, each side will get to bat a maximum of 100 legal deliveries, that is a total of 100 legal balls will constitute an innings. This is the first and most important aspect of the rule of this league – each innings will see 100 legal deliveries.

Now, it is well known that an over constitutes 6 legal deliveries, but if the total number of legal deliveries is 100, each over cannot constitute 6 balls, as mathematically speaking, 100 is not a multiple of 6. Also, in cricketing terms, we know the end of the 16th over means a total of 96 legal balls bowled and the end of 17 overs means a total of 102 legal balls bowled. No over ends with 100 legal balls being bowled. This leads to the 2nd rule of the league.

Rule 2 – In The Hundred league, a bowler can either bowl 5 legitimate balls on the trot or 10 legitimate balls on the trot, the choice is up to the bowler and the bowling team. Hence, an over may consist of either 5 balls or 10 balls, and the maximum number of balls a bowler can bowl in an innings is 20. Here, the ‘overs’ concept is changed to the ‘balls’ concept.

Hence, over wise speaking, there can be a minimum of 10 overs being bowled or a maximum of 20 overs being bowled. 

Rule 3 – A change of ends takes place after every 10 balls, hence a bowler can bowl 2 sets of 5 balls from an end. After a set of 5 balls end, the umpire shows a white card.

Rule 4 – The first 25 balls of an innings in The Hundred will consist of the batting powerplay where only 2 fielders will be allowed outside the 30-yard circle.

Rule 5 – The bowling team can opt for a 2.5 minutes strategic time-out break anytime in the innings after the powerplay, that is after the first 25 balls to discuss strategy and gameplan with the teammates and support staff.

Rule 6 – If a match is tied during the league stage, then both the teams will earn a point each, but during the qualifiers or the knockout stage, if a match is tied, then the match will go to a ‘super five’ which is the super over version of T20 cricket. If the first super five is tied, then it will be followed by a second super five. If the second super five also ends up in a tie, then the team which finished at a better position in the league stage will advance to the next round or end up winning.

Rule 7 – Here, a no-ball will fetch the batting team two runs instead of one, and the batting team will also be awarded a free hit. 

Rule 8 – For a slow over rate, one less fielder will be allowed outside the 30-yard circle in the final over.

Rule 9 – In the playing 11 of the hundred, a maximum of 3 foreigners are allowed.

The Hundred Format

1. There are 8 teams for both men and women – Birmingham Phoenix, London Spirit, Manchester Originals, Northern SuperChargers, Oval Invincibles, Southern Brave, Trent Rockets, and Welsh Fire. 

2. The format of the league is the same for both the men’s tournament and women’s tournament and both the tournaments happen simultaneously at the same time period.

3. In the league phase, each team will play a total of 8 matches, 4 home matches, and 4 away matches. 

4. The format is such that each team will play the other team once and an extra match will be played by a team against the team which is the closest region-wise. 

5. The team which finishes top of the league directly qualifies for the final whereas the teams that finish 2nd and 3rd square off against each other in the ‘Eliminator’ and the winner progresses to the Final. 

The 1st season of The Hundred was held from 21st July – 21st August 2021, and in the men’s league, Southern Brave emerged as the inaugural champions with Birmingham Phoenix being the runners-up whereas in the women’s league Oval Invincibles were the champions and Southern Brave ended the tournament as the runners up.

Recommended Read: Sight Screen In Cricket – A Complete Guide: 2022

The Hundred 2022 Live

The 2nd edition of The Hundred started on 3rd August 2022 and the Final match will be played on 3rd September 2022.

For the live score, refer to Cricbuzz The Hundred live score for ball-by-ball commentary and other stats.

 The Hundred 2022 Live Streaming details for your location with package details are below:

Location	Broadcasting Rights
India	FanCode
United Kingdom	Sky Sports Cricket, Sky Sports Mix, BBC
United States	Willow TV
Australia	Fox Sports
MENA Countries	belN Sports
Sub-Saharan Africa	SuperSport
New Zealand	Spark Sport
Caribbean	ESPN
Canada	Willow TV
North America	Willow TV, Dazn
Southeast Asia	Fox Sports Asia

The Hundred 2022 Teams and Squads

Teams: Oval Invincibles (The Oval), London Spirit (Lord’s), Welsh Fire (Cardiff), Northern Superchargers (Leeds), Manchester Originals (Old Trafford), Southern Brave (Southampton), Trent Rockets (Nottingham), Birmingham Phoenix (Birmingham).

Squads

Birmingham Phoenix 

Men: Chris Woakes, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Adam Milne, Benny Howell, Tom Abell, Will Smeed, Chris Benjamin, Miles Hammond, Henry Brookes, Matthew Wade, Olly Stone, Kane Richardson, Matthew Fisher, Graeme van Buuren.

Women: Amy Jones, Sophie Devine, Ellyse Perry, Georgia Elwiss, Kirstie Gordon, Isabelle Wong, Evelyn Jones, Emily Arlott, Gwen Davies, Abtaha Maqsood, Ria Fackrell, Phoebe Franklin, Sophie Molineux, Sterre Kalis.

London Spirit 

Men: Zak Crawley, Mark Wood, Glenn Maxwell, Eoin Morgan, Mason Crane, Dan Lawrence, Adam Rossington, Ravi Bopara, Blake Cullen, Brad Wheal, Kieron Pollard, Liam Dawson, Riley Meredith, Jordan Thompson, Daniel Bell-Drummond, Chris Wood, Nathan Ellis.

Women: Heather Knight, Freya Davies, Charlie Dean, Danielle Gibson, Amara Carr, Naomi Dattani, Grace Scrivens, Alice Monaghan, Beth Mooney, Amelia Kerr, Megan Schutt, Sophie Luff.

Welsh Fire 

Men: Jonny Bairstow, Ollie Pope, Ben Duckett, Jake Ball, David Payne, Leus du Plooy, Ryan Higgins, Josh Cobb, Joe Clarke, Tom Banton, Adam Zampa, David Miller, Naseem Shah, Sam Hain, Jacob Bethell, Matt Critchley.

Women: Katie George, Hayley Matthews, Claire Nicholas, Georgia Hennessy, Alex Griffiths, Hannah Baker, Lauren Filer, Nicole Harvey, Tammy Beaumont, Rachael Haynes, Annabel Sutherland, Fran Wilson, Alex Hartley, Fi Morris, Sarah Bryce

Manchester Originals 

Men: Jos Buttler, Ollie Robinson, Phil Salt, Matt Parkinson, Jamie Overton, Tom Hartley, Tom Lammonby, Colin Ackermann, Wayne Madsen, Fred Klaasen, Calvin Harrison, Andre Russell, Laurie Evans, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dan Worrall, Sean Abbott.

Women: Sophie Ecclestone, Lizelle Lee, Kate Cross, Emma Lamb, Ellie Threlkeld, Cordelia Griffith, Hannah Jones, Georgie Boyce, Laura Jackson, Deandra Dottin, Amy Satterthwaite, Ami Campbell, Phoebe Graham, Grace Potts

Northern Superchargers

Men: Ben Stokes, Adil Rashid, David Willey, Faf du Plessis, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Matthew Potts, John Simpson, Adam Lyth, Callum Parkinson, Dwayne Bravo, Wahab Riaz, Adam Hose, Roelof van der Merwe, Luke Wright.

Women: Jemimah Rodrigues, Alyssa Healy, Laura Wolvaard, Linsey Smith, Alice Davidson-Richards, Hollie Armitage, Beth Langston, Katie Levick, Bess Heath, Kalea Moore, Liz Russell, Jenny Gunn, Lucy Higham

Oval Invincibles

Men: Sam Billings, Rory Burns, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Will Jacks, Sunil Narine, Jason Roy, Nathan Sowter, Reece Topley, Jordan Cox, Saqib Mahmood, Rilee Rossouw, Danny Briggs, Hilton Cartwright, Matt Milnes, Jack Leaning.

Women: Dane van Niekerk, Marizanne Kapp, Tash Farrant, Shabnim Ismail, Mady Villiers, Alice Capsey, Danielle Gregory, Grace Gibbs, Emma Jones, Lauren Winfield-Hill, Aylish Cranstone, Emily Windsor, Eva Gray, Kira Chathli

Southern Brave

Men: Jofra Archer, Alex Davies, George Garton, Chris Jordan, Tymal Mills, Craig Overton, James Vince, Ross Whiteley, Quinton de Kock, Marcus Stoinis, Jake Lintott, Tim David, Joe Weatherley, Daniel Moriarty, Rehan Ahmed.

Women: Danni Wyatt, Smriti Mandhana, Sophia Dunkley, Anya Shrubsole, Amanda-Jade Wellington, Maia Bouchier, Lauren Bell, Carla Rudd, Tara Norris, Paige Scholfield, Tahlia McGrath, Georgia Adams, Jo Gardner, Freya Kemp, Ella McCaugha

Trent Rockets

Men: Matthew Carter, Marchant de Lange, Lewis Gregory, Rashid Khan, Alex Hales, Dawid Malan, Tom Moores, Steven Mullaney, Joe Root, Colin Munro, Luke Wood, Luke Fletcher, Samit Patel, Sam Cook, Ian Cockbain, Tom Kohler-Cadmore.

Women: Natalie Sciver, Katherine Brunt, Sarah Glenn, Kathryn Bryce, Abbey Freeborn, Meg Lanning, Mignon du Preez, Bryony Smith, Alana King, Marie Kelly, Sophie Munro, Georgia Davis, Alexa Stoneho.

FAQs on The Hundred League

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