The Hundred Cricket: The Definition, Format, Teams, Commencement Date
The Hundred is a professional franchise 100-ball format cricket tournament. It involves eight men’s and eight women’s teams located in major cities across England and Wales. The tournament is run and monitored by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It first took place in July and August 2021.
The format was invented with an aim to attract younger and more diverse crowds to watch cricket. It was created with the expectation that the shorter format will mean each match lasts around two-and-a-half hours.
The BBC telecasted free-to-air broadcasts of the competition. All the women’s matches and some of the men’s matches were available to stream for free on Sky Sports’ YouTube channel.
The tournament gives equal weight to both men’s and women’s cricket teams. Almost all the matches take place as back-to-back double-headers at the same venue on the same day. One ticket can give access to both the men’s and women’s games. The men’s team and the women’s team share the same prize money.
Countries to organize – England and Wales
Administrator – England and Wales Cricket Board
Format – 100-ball cricket
The first edition – 2021
The latest edition – 2022
Tournament format – Round-robin league and Playoffs
Number of teams – 8 (women’s) and 8 (men’s)
Champion (2021)– Oval Invincibles (women’s) (1st title)
Format
There are a total of 100 balls per innings
After 10 balls there is a change of ends
Each bowler can deliver 5 or 10 consecutive balls
Each bowler can deliver a maximum of 20 deliveries in each game.
Each bowling team gets a strategic time-out of up to two and a half minutes.
A 25-ball powerplay starts for each team.
Two fielders of the bowling team are allowed outside the initial 30-yard circle during the powerplay.
Teams can call time-outs, as has been the case in the IPL since 2009.
The non-striker should return to his/her original end after a caught dismissal.
No-balls are worth two runs and allow a free hit.
Slow over-rates are penalized by a fielder being permitted outside the ring for the final over.
Eight city-based teams compete among each other during the school summer holidays. As mentioned, all men’s and women’s matches are held on the same day at the same grounds. There were 32 matches played in the league. Each team plays four matches at home and four matches away. This includes one match against every other side. A second bonus match is played against their nearest regional rivals.
The team that finishes top of the men’s and women’s league goes straight into the final. The teams that finish second and third will compete in the Eliminator (or semi-final). The winner progressed into the final.
When does the 100 Cricket start?
The first year of The Hundred took place in 2021. In 2022, the Men’s 100-Cricket Competition begins on Wednesday 3 August. The Women’s 100-Cricket Competition gets under way on Thursday 11 August.
Teams playing in the 2022 Hundred-Cricket
Eight new teams were created for The Hundred in 2021.
Birmingham Phoenix (Edgbaston)
London Spirit (Lord’s)
Manchester Originals (Emirates Old Trafford)
Northern Superchargers (Headingley)
Oval Invincibles (Kia Oval)
Southern Brave (Ageas Bowl)
Trent Rockets (Trent Bridge)
Welsh Fire (Sophia Gardens)
Each squad is made up of 15 players with a maximum of four overseas stars. No more than two centrally contracted England players are permitted in the Men’s Competition.
Result of the 2021 Hundred-Cricket
Oval Invincibles won the Women’s Hundred-Cricket Competition. Southern Brave won the Men’s Hundred-Cricket Competition.
Selection of the players
A Draft system is prepared and used to allocate players to each men’s team.
2021
The men’s team in the competition had a squad of 15 players. One player was England’s red-ball contracted player and 14 players were Drafted players. Teams were permitted a maximum of three overseas players to be involved in the game.
2022
Two-step process:
Stage 1: England player allocation
Player Retention Window
Stage 2: The Hundred Draft 2022
The women’s teams have their own unique player selection process.
Stage 1 – England
All teams had a two-week window to summon two centrally contracted England players from their 2021 squad list.
Stage 2 – Retention
The second stage involves keeping the rest of the squad. Teams can retain any of their overseas and domestic players from 2021.
Alongside this is an open market system for non-retained England contracted players. The completed squads have permission to acquire a maximum of three England players. Each squad is permitted to retain a maximum of three overseas players.
The 2022 Hundred Draft took place in April 2022.
Read More: Trent Rockets Squad and Schedule For The Hundred Men’s Competition 2022