Find out dates, schedule, TV and streaming information, odds, rules, squads, fixtures and much more ahead of the return of the men's Hundred in 2023
The third installment of The Hundred awaits us this August. The Hundred is a franchise cricket tournament played in England. Althoug a T20 competition exists in England, the T20 Blast, the ECB decided that they wanted to make cricket more accessible and so introduced a new 100-ball competition that began in 2021 (a year behind schedule due to Covid-19).
The Hundred was intended to be the English version of other domestic franchise competitions such as the IPL and BBL. However, the ECB wanted to make it attractive to all, not only those already interested in cricket, and so tried to simplify the game - making each innings 100 balls amongst other innovative rule changes.
The competition was also chosen to be scheduled in August, the prime spot in the English cricket summer, to invite larger crowds with children on school summer holidays.
The 2023 men's Hundred begins at 6.30pm BST on Tuesday, August 1 with the 2022 winners Trent Rockets taking on Southern Brave (2021 winners). The final is scheduled for Sunday, August 27 at 6pm.
Like the name suggests, The Hundred consists of two innings, each 100 balls long.
Instead of the traditional six-ball overs found in other forms of cricket, after which there is a change of ends, The Hundred consists of five-ball sets, with a change of ends occurring every 10 balls. Bowlers are permitted to bowl up to two consecutive sets, meaning they can bowl either five or 10 balls before someone else bowls. A bowler can only bowl four sets per innings.
No-balls are penalised with two runs, an extra ball and a free hit.
There is a 25-ball powerplay at the start of each innings, during which only two fielders are allowed outside the 30-yard circle. After the powerplay, five fielders are allowed outside the circle. In the event of a fielding team not bowling quickly enough they will be penalised by having to bring an extra fielder inside the circle for the final set.
In the event of rain, The Hundred can become even shorter. However, each team must face at least 25 balls for the game to count.
In the event of a tie in the league stage each team takes one point (usually two for a win). If there is a tie in the knockout stage there will be a super five in which each team will have five balls to outscore each other.
The Hundred returns on August 1 [Getty Images]
There are eight teams who each play eigh games in the league stage, four at home and four away. Each team plays the other seven once, with an extra game against their local rivals (Birmingham Phoenix v Trent Rockets, London Spirit v Oval Invincibles, Manchester Originals v Northern Superchargers, Southern Brave v Welsh Fire).
The teams that finish second and third in the league stage progress to the Eliminator (a de facto semi-final), with the winner facing the team who finished top of the league stage in the final.
There are eight franchise teams in the competition, each linked to a major venue. They are as follows (listed with rivals as adjacent teams):
Birmingham Phoenix - Edgbaston
London Spirit - Lord's
Manchester Originals - Old Trafford
Northern Superchargers - Headingley
Oval Invincibles - The Oval
Southern Brave - Ageas Bowl
Trent Rockets - Trent Bridge
Welsh Fire - Sophia Gardens
Birmingham Phoenix
England centrally-contracted player: Chris Woakes
Overseas: Shadab Khan (Pakistan), Adam Milne (New Zealand), Kane Richardson (Australia)
Others in squad: Moeen Ali, Ben Duckett, Liam Livingstone, Benny Howell, Will Smeed, Jamie Smith, Tom Helm, Miles Hammond, Chris Benjamin, Dan Mousley, Jacob Bethell, Henry Brookes
London Spirit
England centrally-contracted player: Mark Wood
Overseas: Matthew Wade (Australia), Nathan Ellis (Australia), Daryl Mitchell (New Zealand)
Others in squad: Liam Dawson, Dan Lawrence, Zak Crawley, Jordan Thompson, Mason Crane, Adam Rossington, Chris Wood, Ravi Bopara, Michael Pepper, Daniel Bell-Drummond, Matt Critchley
Manchester Originals
England centrally-contracted player: Jos Buttler
Overseas: Ashton Turner (Australia), Josh Little (Ireland), Usama Mir (Pakistan)
Others in squad: Phil Salt, Laurie Evans, Jamie Overton, Tom Hartley, Richard Gleeson, Paul Walter, Josh Tongue, Wayne Madsen, Tom Lammonby, Mitchell Stanley, Max Holden, Fred Klaassen
Northern Superchargers
England centrally-contracted player: Ben Stokes
Overseas: Matthew Short (Australia), Wayne Parnell (South Africa), David Weise (Namibia)
Others in squad: Adil Rashid, Harry Brook, Reece Topley, Tom Banton, Adam Lyth, Adam Hose, Brydon Carse, Matthew Potts, Bas de Leede, Callum Parkinson, Ollie Robinson, Saif Zaib
Oval Invincibles
England centrally-contracted player: Sam Curran
Overseas: Sunil Narine (West Indies) - Replaced by Adam Zampa (Australia) when he leaves for CPL, Heinrich Klaasen (South Africa), Inhanullah Khan (Pakistan)
Others in squad: Will Jacks, Jason Roy, Tom Curran, Sam Billings, Ross Whiteley, Jordan Cox, Gus Atkinson, Danny Briggs, Nathan Sowter, Tawanda Muyeye, Zak Chappell, Tom Lawes
Southern Brave
Overseas: Tim David (Australia), Devon Conway (New Zealand), Finn Allen (New Zealand)
Others in squad: Leus du Plooy, James Vince, Chris Jordan, Tymal Mills, Rehan Ahmed, Craig Overton, George Garton, James Fuller, Alex Davies, Joe Weatherley, Jafer Chohan, Matt Fisher
Trent Rockets
England centrally-contracted player: Joe Root
Overseas: Imad Wasim (Pakistan; first three games), Ish Sodhi (New Zealand; replacing Wasim, from August 10), Colin Munro (New Zealand), Daniel Sams (Australia)
Others in squad: Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Dawid Malan, Alex Hales, Lewis Gregory, Luke Wood, Sam Cook, Samit Patel, Sam Hain, Brad Wheal, Matt Carter, John Turner, Tom Moores
Welsh Fire
England centrally-contracted player: Jonny Bairstow
Overseas: Shaheen Afridi (Pakistan), Glenn Phillips (New Zealand), Haris Rauf (Pakistan)
Others in squad: Tom Abell, David Willey, Joe Clarke, Ollie Pope, David Payne, Roelof van der Merwe, Jake Ball, Stephen Eskinazi, Dan Douthwaite, George Scrimshaw, Luke Wells, Chris Cooke
Birmingham Phoenix in action in 2022 [Getty Images]
Trent Rockets has a season to remember, improving on their third-place finish in the league stage in 2021 by winning both the league stage and the final in 2022. In a low-scoring affair, they inched past Manchester Originals in the final thanks to Lewis Gregory smashing 11 off the first three balls of the final five to take them past the Originals' total of 120 for 9.
At the other end of the spectrum, Southern Brave will have been disappointed with their title defence, coming seventh in the 2022 league phase and only winning thee games. Welsh Fire will also want to forget the 2022 season, having lost every single game.
Birmingham Phoenix can count themselves slightly unlucky to have missed out on the Eliminator in 2022 on net run rate and will be hoping to rectify that this season, having topped the league phase in 2021. Oval Invincibles and Northern Superchargers will be hoping to improve on their symmetrical won four, lost four 2022 seasons.
Defending champions Trent Rockets are most bookmakers' favourites to win the competition again this year at 9/2, closely followed by Manchester Originals, Birmingham Phoenix and Southern Brave (all 11/2 with some bookies).
Unsurprisingly 2022 flounderers Welsh Fire have the longest odds, with up to 17/2 available in places.
All matches in the men's Hundred will be televised live on Sky Sports Cricket or Sky Sports Mix, with some being shown on Sky Sports Main Event. The BBC will also show 10 men's games and eight women's games free-to-air. BBC Radio 5 Live will provide live coverage of the games.
The Cricketer will provide match previews and post-match analysis of each match.
Welcome to www.thecricketer.com - the online home of the world’s oldest cricket magazine. Breaking news, interviews, opinion and cricket goodness from every corner of our beautiful sport, from village green to national arena.