The Hundred is a professional cricket league in England and Wales. It is the only cricket league in the world that uses the 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 will last around two-and-a-half hours. The BBC shows free-to-air broadcasts of some 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. For statistical purposes The Hundred is designated as a Twenty20 competition.
History A new city-based cricket Twenty20 competition 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), those bodies 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.
Investment and possible future match format change 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 including retired NFL quarterback Tom Brady who also own Birmingham City F.C.. 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 50% 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 Mohun Bagan Super Giant and Lucknow Super Giants, for approximately £81m. This transaction established RPSG as the principal stakeholder in the Manchester-based team, with Lancashire County Cricket Club retaining the remaining 30% ownership.
Yorkshire then sold their entire stake in the Northern Superchargers to Sun Group, the owners of Sunrisers Hyderabad, for around £100m. On 11 February 2025, Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly's Cain agreed to buy a 49% share in Trent Rockets for close to £40m. On February 12, GMR Group, owner of Hampshire Cricket Club, agreed a £48m deal for the ECB's 49% stake in Southern Brave. The sales were finalised in the second half of 2025 leading to Northern Superchargers and Oval Invincibles being rebranded as Sunrisers Leeds and MI London respectively. In August 2025, The Guardian reported that the new IPL-affiliated investors were keen to change the format of The Hundred from 100 ball cricket into a franchise T20 tournament to align with other franchise leagues. Months earlier, in April of the same year, the England and Wales Cricket Board had admitted it was "open to discussions" about changing the format of The Hundred into a franchise T20 cricket tournament. It has been noted by sources such as ESPN that any attempted change of format to The Hundred before 2028 could face objections from BBC Sport and Sky Sports, which are the contracted broadcasters for the tournament. + Ownership structure and team valuations TeamEstablished as Host (equity stake) Investor (equity stake) Valuation (£ million) Birmingham Phoenix Warwickshire Cricket Club (51%) Knighthead Capital (49%) 81.63 London Spirit Marylebone Cricket Club (51%) Tech Titans (49%) 295.92 Manchester Super GiantsManchester Originals Lancashire Cricket Club (30%) RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group (70%) 115.71 Sunrisers LeedsNorthern Superchargers Yorkshire Cricket Club (—) Sun Group (100%) 100.00 MI LondonOval Invincibles Surrey Cricket Club (51%) Reliance Industries (49%) 122.45 Southern Brave Hampshire Cricket Club (51%) GMR Group (49%) 97.96 Trent Rockets Nottinghamshire Cricket Club (51%) Cain & Ares (49%) 81.63 Welsh Fire Glamorgan Cricket Club (50%) Washington Freedom (50%) 67.50
Format 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:
Law 11 (Intervals): there are two innings, each normally lasting 65 minutes separated by a 15-minute interval if the first innings is completed before the scheduled time of the interval, the interval takes place immediately if the first innings is delayed or interrupted, the interval is shortened to 10 minutes Law 12 (Start of play; cessation of play): each team shall bat for 20 overs unless all out earlier the fielding team is entitled to take one 90 second strategic time-out (but not during the first 25 balls of the innings) Law 13 (Innings): a match consists of one innings per side, each limited to a maximum of 20 overs with 5 ball overs, but the captain can decide to let them bowl another 5 balls. This, however, counts as 2 overs no bowler may bowl more than four overs in an innings Law 17 (The over): an over consists of five balls two overs shall be bowled from each end alternately. Batters shall not change ends between overs a bowler shall be allowed to change ends as often as desired a bowler shall not be allowed to bowl more than 2 consecutive overs Law 21 (No ball): the penalty for a no ball is two runs the delivery following a no ball shall be a free hit Law 28 (The fielder): there shall not be more than 5 fielders on the leg side for the first five (powerplay) overs, no more than two fielders are permitted to be outside the 30-yard circle Law 40 (Timed out): an incoming batter must be ready to receive the next ball within 60 seconds after the dismissal or retirement of the preceding batter in the event of the above requirement not being met, the umpire shall issue one warning if the above requirement is not met for a subsequent time in the same innings, five penalty runs shall be awarded to the fielding team if the batter is not ready within 80 seconds, they will be timed out
Tournament structure 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 team 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.
Trophies 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. They stand at a height of 56cm and weigh 13kg. 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 tournaments.
Teams
The naming process of the teams went through several reported changes; the tournament was described by the ECB as the City T20 into 2017, but by 2018 there were rumours the teams would not be named after cities, counties or venues.
In May 2019, six team names were announced, revealing a mix of city and non-city names: Birmingham Phoenix, Leeds Superchargers, London Spirit, Southern Brave, Trent Rockets and Welsh Fire. During the summer, it was announced that the team based at Old Trafford would be the Manchester Originals, the second London team would be known as the Oval Invincibles and Leeds Superchargers had changed their name to Northern Superchargers.
In 2025, the investment from the IPL brought name changes. In August, it was reported that the Originals would become the Manchester Super Giants. In November, it was formally announced that the Superchargers had changed their name to Sunrisers Leeds. In December, the Invincibles became MI London.