England, despite winning the World Cup 2019 and having one of the most successful domestic leagues around the world, has decided to change things up by introducing The Hundred – a new competition.
The players included in the competition will be earning £125,000 for five weeks’ work, perhaps one of the biggest attractions of the tournament alongside its unique format.
The tournament is scheduled for 2020 and will run from mid-July to early-September and will compete against each other for the title over a 38-day period during the holidays.
Tournament Format
The tournament breaks away from the tradition of how the county has been played in England for decades. The tournament comprises of 8 city-based franchises.
Each team will bat for 100-balls, facing an over of 10-balls instead of normal 6 deliveries. The captains will have the choice to either allow a bowler to bowl only 5-balls or let him complete the entire over.
Additional format details regarding the tournament are as following:
- 100 balls per innings
- A change of ends after 10 balls
- Bowlers deliver either five or 10 consecutive balls
- Each bowler can deliver a maximum of 20 balls per game
- Each bowling side gets a strategic timeout of up to two and a half minutes
- A 25-ball powerplay start for each team
- Two fielders are allowed outside of the initial 30-yard circle during the powerplay
- Teams will be able to call timeouts
- A simplified scoreboard is also proposed
Preceding the play-offs, a total of 32 matches will be played. Each team will play 8 matches; half of them will be played at home whereas the other half matches will be played away.
At the conclusion of the league stage, 4 teams will qualify for the play-offs. The first-placed team will face the fourth-placed team whereas the third-placed and fourth-placed will go head-to-head to qualify for the final.
Squad & Team Information
A total of 8 teams will feature in this unique format tournament as aforementioned. Here are the complete details regarding the teams:
| Franchise Name | Venue | Coach | England Centrally Contracted Player |
|---|---|---|---|
| Birmingham Phoenix | Old Trafford | Simon Katich | Chris Woakes |
| London Spirit | Headingley | Darren Lehmann | Rory Burns |
| Manchester Origins | Edgbaston | Andrew McDonald | Jos Buttler |
| Northern Superchargers | Trent Bridge | Stephen Fleming | Ben Stokes |
| Oval Invincibles | Sophia Gardens | Gary Kirsten | Sam Curran |
| Southern Brave | Lord’s | Shane Warne | Jofra Archer |
| Trent Rockets | The Oval | Tom Moody | Joe Root |
| Welsh Fire | Rose Bowl | Mahela Jayawardene | Jonny Bairstow |
The pre-draft picks have already been made by the franchises and they include:
Each franchise will be able to sign 15 players, however, each squad cannot contain more than 3 overseas players. Like many other leagues, players will be signed using a draft system.
Here is the breakdown of the players that will be included in the 15:
- 3 overseas players
- 2 top-performers of T20 Blast
- 1 England centrally contracted player
- 9 others
The draft for The Hundred is set to take place on the 20th of October, 2019 and the tournament will air on Sky Sports and BBC.
It is also worth mentioning that The Hundred will also feature women’s cricket as well.
Two years into English cricket’s biggest gamble in a generation, we’re no wiser as to how the cards will fall.