The Hundred (cricket)

The Hundred is a professional cricket league in the United Kingdom and is the only cricket league in the world that played in 100-ball cricket format. It is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and played during July and August each year. The competition is one of the four cricket tournaments organised by the ECB, alongside the County Championship, the One-Day Cup and the T20 Blast. The Hundred comprises eight teams, with seven based in England and one in Wales.
The format was invented with the expectation that each match would last around two-and-a-half hours. The BBC showed free-to-air broadcasts of the competition, while all of the women's matches and some of the men's matches were available to stream for free on Sky Sports' YouTube channel.
Almost all matches take place as back-to-back double-headers at the same venue on the same day. One ticket gives access to both the men's and women's games. The men's salaries are four times higher than the women's, but the tournament prize money is equal.
A new city-based cricket Twenty20 competition similar to the Indian Premier League was first proposed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in September 2016. Following early discussions between the 18 first-class counties, the Professional Cricketers' Association (PCA) and the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) they voted 16–3 in favour of developing the competition. On 26 April 2017, members of the ECB voted by 38–3 to push ahead with the new competition.
The idea of switching the competition from the established Twenty20 format to an entirely new type of cricket was first proposed by Sanjay Patel, the ECB's chief commercial officer, in a private October 2017 meeting with senior cricket officials. He argued that the hundred ball format would be simpler to understand for new audiences that the competition wants to attract.
Former England player and Northern Superchargers head coach Dani Hazell stated that the tournament would help with investment into the women's regional structure and the tournament would be an important learning experience for domestic players.
The tournament was delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The profitability of The Hundred has been a subject of debate. In 2016, a report produced by Deloitte had predicted the tournament would make about £27m profit per year. The ECB reported in 2022 that The Hundred had made an £11.8m profit. A report produced in 2023 by Fanos Hira, a chartered accountant, and assisted by ECB chairman Richard Thompson, showed a loss of £9m in its first two years. These figures do not include the £24.7m promised to the counties and MCC. The ECB's chief executive Richard Gould said he expected the tournament was "here to stay" beyond the current deal with Sky Sports, which runs until 2028.
For the third season of The Hundred, it was announced that the 100-ball cricket competition would be collaborating with Marvel Comics. A selection of Marvel's characters, such as Hulk, Iron Man and Black Panther featured in digital content with players from across all eight teams to introduce the competition to new audiences.
In 2024, the ECB secured support from county cricket clubs to transfer ownership of the eight franchises away from the ECB, with the host counties (or MCC for London Spirit) given 51% of their franchise, and the ECB retaining 49%, which they would make available to private investors.
The proceeds from the sale of the ECB's 49% stake would see 90% split equally between the 18 counties and the MCC, with 10% going to the recreational game. Any host selling part or all of their 51% stake would see proceeds split in the following way: 80% for the host county, 10% split between the 18 counties and MCC, and 10% for the recreational game.
In September 2024, it was reported the ECB had turned down a £400m offer for 75% of the competition, from Bridgepoint Group, a London-listed buyout firm. In October, MCC held a vote in which its members voted in favour of accepting the ECB's offer.
The process of courting potential investors culminated in the final stage taking place in January 2025. A 49% share in Birmingham Phoenix was sold for approximately £40m to Knighthead Capital, a US investment group that including NFL quarterback Tom Brady. On the same day, Oval Invincibles announced that the Ambani family, owners of the Mumbai Indians, had acquired a 49% stake for around £60m.
Sanjay Govil's Washington Freedom bought a 49% stake in Welsh Fire and a consortium of tech billionaires led by Nikesh Arora acquired 49% of London Spirit for £145m.
Lancashire became the first host county to sell part of their stake in their franchise, with 70% of the Manchester Originals going to the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, owners of the Lucknow Super Giants, for approximately £81m. Yorkshire then sold their entire stake in the Northern Superchargers to Sunrisers Hyderabad for around £100m. On 11 February 2025, Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly agreed to buy a 49% share in Trent Rockets for close to £40m.
One-hundred-ball cricket is a form of limited overs cricket, played by two teams each playing a single innings made up of 100 balls. Games last approximately two and a half hours.
The Laws of Cricket apply in The Hundred, with some major exceptions:
Eight city-based teams compete during the school summer holidays. All men's and women's matches are held on the same day at the same grounds. In total there are 32 matches in the league stage of the tournament. Each team plays four matches at home and four matches away, This includes one match against every other side and then a second bonus match against their nearest regional rivals.
The team that finishes top of the league progresses straight into the final. The teams finishing second and third compete in the Eliminator (or semi-final), with the winner progressing into the final.
The Hundred trophies for both the men’s and women’s tournaments were designed and made by London-based goldsmiths and silversmiths Thomas Lyte. Originally commissioned in 2019, the two identical trophies were produced simultaneously, and combined digital 3D design with traditional silversmith processes.
The twin pieces of silverware, which stand at a height of 56cms and weigh 13kg, were crafted over 190 hours. The identical nature of the trophies is symbolic of the ECB’s drive for equality in the sport of cricket, with the prize fund for the competition split equally between the men’s and women’s tournament.
The decision to create an entirely new format of cricket, with teams based in just seven major cities, has split opinion amongst cricket fans.
Some current England players have been positive about The Hundred. England's Test captain at the time, Joe Root, welcomed the ECB's plans, believing it would attract a completely new audience to the game. ODI and T20 captain Eoin Morgan expressed a similar opinion. Former T20 captain Stuart Broad said he was hugely optimistic about the new format. Michael Vaughan echoed Broad's comments, believing that it would be an appealing concept to broadcasters, and Michael Atherton stated that while a T20 match is rarely completed in a three-hour window, this can be achieved with The Hundred.
However, former MCC chief Keith Bradshaw said he hoped the 100-ball tournament would not be "innovation for innovation's sake", and voiced his concern that the new format would mean that the ECB could not exploit the T20 boom. The England and Wales Professional Cricketers' Association announced that, overall, players were "open-minded" about the tournament. Former Indian captain Virat Kohli cited concerns about the commercialisation of cricket and was not entirely in favour of the new version of the game.
After the teams and branding was announced, anti-obesity groups criticised the sponsorship from snack food company KP Snacks.
Social media reaction has also been split. During the player draft on the 20 October 2019, the Twitter hashtag "#OpposeThe100" began trending, with a vocal section of cricket fans dismayed at the format of the competition, particularly fans of counties whose home grounds are not among the eight used by city franchises. Wisden noted that the response on Twitter and Facebook "has usually been cutting" but there has been less negativity on Instagram which is "mainly used by a younger age group".
Women's cricketers have been particularly enthusiastic about the new format and the decision to run both competitions in parallel, with the same prize money, allowing many to turn professional for the first time.
At the conclusion of the inaugural season, it was revealed that 55% of tickets were bought by people who had never bought one before, and that several records were set with regards to television viewing and match attendance figures, particularly for the women's matches. Former England women's captain Charlotte Edwards said that the tournament had "single-handedly changed women's cricket in this country".
At the conclusion of the second season, it was announced that ticket sales had remained relatively stable at 500,000 but that viewing figures from broadcast had dropped by around 2 million compared to the inaugural season, from just over 16 million to 14 million.
The format of the tournament may be changed to T20 format as English cricket continues to debate the tournament's future following top-level discussions over the prospect of opening it up to private investment.
Before the eight teams were confirmed, it was reported that they would carry a different identity from the long-established county teams and would not be named after cities, counties or venues. In May 2019, the team names were revealed to be:
Each team is made up of 15 players, a maximum of four of whom can be overseas players. Players are signed using a draft system common in other franchise leagues. At least one England international player is allocated to each franchise in both the women's and men's competitions. The salary cap for each team for the 2022 season was £1,000,000, rising from £800,000 in 2021.
All games are televised by Sky Sports, with the BBC also showing 10 men's and 8 women's games free-to-air.
In Germany, Sky Sport streamed the initial tournament on their website. They used the signal from Sky Sports UK.
These totals only include completed innings. They also exclude innings where the number of balls to be bowled is reduced, usually because of rain. Successful low scoring run-chases are also excluded.