The newest format of cricket is set to kick off on Wednesday, July 21 as the much-awaited England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB)'s The Hundred competition will finally begin with the women's competition, after a delay of one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Hundred is a 100-ball competition instead of 20 overs per side and is the most unique innovation with the format after the emergence of T20 cricket in the last decade. While T10 League has been there too, for the past five years, however, it was still played in the conventional format of the game. But, The Hundred changes everything upside down.
It's the moment we've all been waiting for...
Our first-ever game day! pic.twitter.com/2gYHjZa8M8
— The Hundred (@thehundred) July 21, 2021
The tournament will be played in Men's and Women's competitions, with eight teams participating in each of them. The eight sides are, Oval Invincibles, Manchester Originals, Southern Brave, London Spirit, Northern Superchargers, Birmingham Phoenix, Trent Rockets and Welsh Fire.
While England's Test cricketers will be playing only two games for their respective sides before they join the national team bubble for the five-match Test series against India, many superstars of white-ball cricket will be taking part in the much-anticipated tournament. Five Indian women cricketers - Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma are all part of the competition.
All the squads have 15 players each, which included a maximum of three overseas players, which is also the limit for a playing XI.
The tournament follows a round-robin format, similar to that of all the leagues. The table-topper will directly qualify fr the final, with the second finalist to be determined with an Eliminator between the second-place team and the third-placed side. The matches will take place across eight ground in seven cities, with the final slated to be held at the Lord's.
Here are the playing conditions of the tournament:
Men’s: Sam Curran, Rory Burns, Tom Curran, Reece Topley, Alex Blake, Sunil Narine, Jason Roy, Nathan Sowter, Sam Billings, Laurie Evans, Will Jacks, Sandeep Lamichhane, Saqib Mahmood, Colin Ingram, Brandon Glover, Jordan Clark, Jordan Cox
Women’s: Fran Wilson, Georgia Adams, Tash Farrant, Megan Belt, Eva Gray, Marizanne Kapp, Rhianna Southby, Sarah Bryce, Alice Capsey, Jo Gardner, Dane van Niekerk, Mady Villiers, Shabnim Ismail, Danielle Gregory
Men’s: Jos Buttler, Joe Clarke, Phil Salt, Matt Parkinson, Lockie Ferguson, Jamie Overton, Tom Lammonby, Steven Finn, Colin Ackermann, Richard Gleeson, Tom Hartley, Carlos Brathwaite, Colin Munro, Ollie Robinson, Sam Hain, Fred Klaassen
Women’s: Kate Cross, Danielle Collins, Mignon du Preez, Harmanpreet Kaur, Alice Dyson, Cordelia Griffith, Hannah Jones, Lizelle Lee, Georgie Boyce, Natalie Brown, Ellie Threlkeld, Alex Hartley, Emma Lamb, Sophie Ecclestone, Laura Jackson
Men’s: Jofra Archer, Liam Dawson, George Garton, Chris Jordan, Tymal Mills, Delray Rawlins, James Vince, Alex Davies, Max Waller, Craig Overton, Ross Whiteley, Danny Briggs, Devon Conway, Quinton de Kock, Jake Lintott, Colin de Grandhomme
Women’s: Maia Bouchier, Freya Kemp, Smriti Mandhana, Tara Norris, Carla Rudd, Paige Scholfield, Anya Shrubsole, Stafanie Taylor, Danni Wyatt, Lauren Bell, Sonia Odedra, Fi Morris, Sophia Dunkley, Amanda-Jade Wellington, Ella McCaughan, Charlotte Taylor
Men’s: Chris Woakes, Dom Sibley, Moeen Ali (captain), Pat Brown, Adam Hose, Tom Helm, Benny Howell, Chris Cooke, Liam Livingstone, Tom Abell, Daniel Bell-Drummond, Miles Hammond, Adam Milne, Imran Tahir, Finn Allen, Will Smeed, Dillon Pennington
Women’s: Amy Jones (captain), Shafali Verma, Ria Fackrell, Marie Kelly, Evelyn Jones, Emily Arlott, Kirstie Gordon, Phoebe Franklin, Abtaha Maqsood, Thea Brookes, Gwen Davies, Isabelle Wong, Georgia Elwiss, Erin Burns, Katie Mack
Men’s: Zak Crawley, Dan Lawrence, Eoin Morgan (captain), Mohammad Amir, Jade Dernbach, Mohammad Nabi, Luis Reece, Adam Rossington, Mason Crane, Joe Denly, Josh Inglis, Roelof Van Der Merwe, Mark Wood, Ravi Bopara, Chris Wood, Blake Cullen
Women’s: Deandra Dottin, Naomi Dattani, Deepti Sharma, Heather Knight (captain), Amara Carr, Aylish Cranstone, Danielle Gibson, Susie Rowe, Chloe Tryon, Charlie Dean, Freya Davies, Sophie Munro, Tammy Beaumont, Grace Scrivens, Alice Monaghan
Men’s: Ben Stokes, Adil Rashid, David Willey, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Adam Lyth, Brydon Carse, Chris Lynn, John Simpson, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Matthew Potts, Matthew Fisher, Harry Brook, Callum Parkinson, Faf du Plessis, Jordan Thompson, Ben Raine
Women’s: Hollie Armitage, Katie Levick, Jemimah Rodrigues, Lauren Winfield-Hill (captain), Helen Fenby, Bess Heath, Beth Langston, Linsey Smith, Alice Davidson-Richards, Laura Kimmince, Laura Wolvaardt, Sterre Kalis, Kalea Moore
Men’s: Joe Root, Rashid Khan, Alex Hales, Matt Carter, Dawid Malan, Tom Moores, Steven Mullaney, Ben Cox, Lewis Gregory, D’Arcy Short, Luke Wood, Luke Wright, Samit Patel, Timm van der Gugten, Sam Cook, Wahab Riaz (Marchant de Lange in early season)
Women’s: Katherine Brunt, Nat Sciver, Kathryn Bryce, Abbey Freeborn, Nancy Harman, Lucy Higham, Michaela Kirk, Ellie Mitchell, Heather Graham, Sammy-Jo Johnson, Rachel Priest, Ella Claridge, Emily Windsor, Sarah Glenn, Teresa Graves
Men’s: Ollie Pope, Jonny Bairstow, Tom Banton, Ben Duckett, Qais Ahmad, Ryan Higgins, David Payne, Liam Plunkett, Jake Ball, Iain Cockbain, Josh Cobb, Matt Critchley, David Lloyd, Jimmy Neesham (first three games), Glenn Phillips, Leus du Plooy
Women’s: Katie George, Alex Griffiths, Georgia Hennessy, Lauren Filer, Sophie Luff, Natasha Wraith, Amy Gordon, Bryony Smith, Sarah Taylor, Piepa Cleary, Georgia Redmayne, Bethan Ellis, Lissy Macleod, Nicole Harvey, Hayley Matthews
July 21, Oval Invincibles v Manchester Originals (women’s), Kia Oval
July 22, Oval Invincibles v Manchester Originals (men’s), Kia Oval
This time next week! pic.twitter.com/PX3AjTMLcN
— The Hundred (@thehundred) July 15, 2021
July 23, Birmingham Phoenix v London Spirit, Edgbaston
July 24, Trent Rockets v Southern Brave, Trent Bridge
July 24, Northern Superchargers v Welsh Fire, Headingley
July 25, London Spirit v Oval Invincibles, Lord’s
July 25, Manchester Originals v Birmingham Phoenix, Emirates Old Trafford
July 26, Trent Rockets v Northern Superchargers, Trent Bridge
July 27, Welsh Fire v Southern Brave, Sophia Gardens
July 28, Manchester Originals v Northern Superchargers, Emirates Old Trafford
July 29, London Spirit v Trent Rockets, Lord’s
July 30, Southern Brave v Birmingham Phoenix, Ageas Bowl
July 31, Welsh Fire v Manchester Originals, Sophia Gardens
July 31, Northern Superchargers v Oval Invincibles, Headingley
August 1, Birmingham Phoenix v Trent Rockets, Edgbaston
August 1, London Spirit v Southern Brave, Lord’s
August 2, Oval Invincibles v Welsh Fire, Kia Oval
August 3, London Spirit v Northern Superchargers, Lord’s
August 4, Birmingham Phoenix v Oval Invincibles, Edgbaston
August 5, Manchester Originals v Southern Brave, Emirates Old Trafford
August 6, Welsh Fire v Trent Rockets, Sophia Gardens
August 7, Southern Brave v Northern Superchargers, Ageas Bowl
August 8, Oval Invincibles v Trent Rockets, Kia Oval
August 9, Birmingham Phoenix v Welsh Fire, Edgbaston
August 10, Manchester Originals v London Spirit, Emirates Old Trafford
August 11, Southern Brave v Welsh Fire, Ageas Bowl
August 12, Northern Superchargers v Manchester Originals, Headingley
August 13, Trent Rockets v Birmingham Phoenix, Trent Bridge
August 14, Oval Invincibles v London Spirit, Kia Oval
August 15, Trent Rockets v Manchester Originals, Trent Bridge
August 16, Southern Brave v Oval Invincibles, Ageas Bowl
August 17, Northern Superchargers v Birmingham Phoenix, Headingley
August 18, Welsh Fire v London Spirit, Sophia Gardens
August 20, The Hundred Eliminators, Kia Oval
August 21, The Hundred 2021 Finals (both men’s and women’s), Lord’s
Apart from the first game, where men's women's games are taking place on different days and will begin at 11 PM IST, the timings of both the competitions remain constant.
Single Match: Men’s – 11:00 PM, Women’s – 7:30 PM
Double Header: Men’s – 7:00 PM & 10:30 PM, Women’s – 3:30 PM & 7 PM
The Hundred competition doesn't have a broadcasting deal with any of the Indian TV channels. However, the fans can stream the whole tournament on the Fancode app. The fans can buy the tour pass, which includes all the games of both men's and women's competitions to watch the league without any interruption.