The Hundred is a tournament organized by the England and Wales Cricket Board. It is a variant of the T20 format, wherein each over is worth five balls. Thus, each innings features 100 balls and the entire match completes in nearly 150 minutes. The tournament is played for both the men and women.
A total of eight teams participate in the tournament. These teams represent a city which houses an established county cricket sides. Thus, the eight city-based teams were Birmingham Phoenix, London Spirit, Manchester Originals, Northern Superchargers, Oval Invincibles, Southern Brave, Trent Rockets and Welsh Fire.
Each team consists of 15 players, out of which 4 are international players. Each of the eight teams will have one international cricketer representing England. All men’s and women’s matches are held on the same day.
32 league matches are played and each team plays four home and four away matches. Teams are awarded two points for a win and one point in case a winner cannot be declared. The league stage toppers directly progress to the finals. The second and third positioned teams face each other in an Eliminator. The winner of the eliminator progresses to the final.
Each match has various changes given the change in format. There is a 15-minute interval between two innings. A 90-second strategic timeout can be taken by the bowling side after first 25 balls of the innings. A bowler cannot ball more than 4 overs (20 balls) in an innings. A no ball is worth two balls and the subsequent delivery is a free hit.
No more than five fielders are allowed on the leg side. Powerplay restrictions apply for the first five overs (20 balls). During this period, no more than 2 fielders are allowed outside the 30-yard circle. A batter can be timed out if they are not ready within 80 seconds of the previous batter’s dismissal. The first two editions of the men’s event were won won by Oval Invincibles. The women’s event saw Southern Brave and Trent Rockets winning one title each.
