The Hundred Competition Rules: The Hundred is a 100-ball cricket tournament hosted by the England and Wales Cricket Board involving teams in major cities across England and Wales. The first edition of the tournament was played in 2021.
ECB organise the tournament for both men’s and women’s divisions, moreover, teams’ names remain common for both categories. The tournament will follow a Round-robin league and Playoff format. Though the format looks familiar, the ECB introduced a different set of rules for the Hundred Cricket Competition.
Following are the details of The Hundred Competition Rules:
- It’s 100 balls per inning. Whoever scores the most runs wins.
- The fielding side change ends after 10 balls.
- Bowlers deliver either five or 10 consecutive balls. The captain decides.
- 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 for each team.
- Two fielders are allowed outside of the initial 30-yard circle during the powerplay.
- No-balls are worth two runs and a free hit.
- Slow over-rates are penalised by one fewer fielder being permitted outside the ring for the final over.
- To constitute a match, a minimum of 25 balls has to be bowled to the side batting second, unless a result has been achieved earlier.
- Two points are awarded for a win and one point in the event of a tie or no result.
- In the knockout stages, if a match is tied, then a “Super 5” will be played, with the winner being the team which scores the most runs from a further five balls.
- The coach can walk out to the middle of the ground and discuss tactics with their players mid-game.
- 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 side
- If the batter is not ready within 80 seconds, they will be timed out
- The top three teams in the points table will advance to the knockout stage.
- The first-placed team will advance to the final while the second and third-placed teams will play the Eliminator.
- The winner of the Eliminator will advance to the final.
- A match of The Hundred will last two and a half hours.
- All teams are to have 15-member squads.
- A maximum of three foreign players is allowed per squad
- At least one England Test player will have to be signed by each of the eight men’s teams.
The Hundred Competition Winners
Following are the details of the Hundred Competition Winners for both men’s and women’s categories:
| Season | Winner | |
| Men | Women | |
| 2021 | Southern Brave | Oval Invincibles |
| 2022 | Trent Rockets | Oval Invincibles |
| 2023 | Oval Invincibles | Southern Brave |
| 2024 | TBA | TBA |
The Hundred Competition Teams
Following are the details of the teams and their linked county/counties of The Hundred Competition:
| Team name | Linked county/counties | Home ground, city/town & region |
| Birmingham Phoenix |
Warwickshire, Worcestershire |
Edgbaston (Birmingham, West Midlands) |
| London Spirit |
Essex, Middlesex, Northamptonshire |
Lord’s (St John’s Wood, Greater London) |
| Manchester Originals |
Lancashire | Old Trafford (Stretford, Greater Manchester) |
| Northern Superchargers |
Durham, Yorkshire |
Headingley (Leeds, West Yorkshire) |
| Oval Invincibles |
Kent, Surrey |
The Oval (Kennington, Greater London) |
| Southern Brave |
Hampshire, Sussex |
Rose Bowl (Southampton, Hampshire) |
| Trent Rockets |
Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire |
Trent Bridge (West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire) |
| Welsh Fire / Tân Cymreig |
Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Somerset |
Sophia Gardens (Cardiff, South Glamorgan) |
