The Hundred: Format, Rules, Teams and Winners
The Hundred is the England and Wales Cricket Board's 100-ball competition, played each summer since 2021 by eight city-based teams with a men's and a women's side each. Each innings is 100 balls, bowled in sets of five or ten from alternating ends, with a 25-ball powerplay and a ninety-second timeout. In 2025 the ECB sold stakes in all eight teams for more than £975 million, and in 2026 three of them played under new names. This guide sets out the rules as the competition publishes them, why the format was created, how it differs from T20, the winners, and what changed with the sale.
The Rules
- 100 balls per innings, so a match takes about two and a half hours.
- Bowlers deliver five or ten balls consecutively; the captain decides at the end of each set of five whether the same bowler continues. The fielding side changes ends after every ten balls.
- Maximum 20 balls per bowler per match.
- A 25-ball powerplay at the start of each innings, with only two fielders allowed outside the 30-yard circle.
- One strategic timeout of up to 90 seconds per bowling side.
- Points: four for a win, two each for a tie or no result in the league stage.
The counting is in balls rather than overs, so a chase is described as "needing 12 from 10" rather than from 1.4 overs.
Why England Created It
The ECB launched the competition in 2021 to reach an audience that did not already watch county cricket: a shorter, simpler format in a school-holiday window, on free-to-air television through the BBC alongside Sky, with the men's and women's competitions given equal billing in the same venues on the same days. England had invented T20 with the Blast in 2003, and the argument for a separate 100-ball league was that the Blast's 18-county structure and evening scheduling could not deliver a national, family, prime-time product. Whether the format itself mattered, or just the scheduling and broadcasting, has been argued about ever since.
How It Differs From T20
Twenty fewer balls, no overs, a single powerplay of 25 balls rather than six overs, sets of five or ten rather than six-ball overs, and a 20-ball bowler limit instead of four overs. In practice a Hundred innings is about ten per cent shorter than a T20 and the pace of decisions is faster because a captain reassesses every five balls. Our comparison of The Hundred and T20 cricket goes through the differences in detail.
The Teams and the 2025 Sale
On 30 July 2025 the ECB announced the completion of six of its eight franchise deals: Tech Titans, a Silicon Valley consortium, took 49 per cent of London Spirit; Knighthead Capital 49 per cent of Birmingham Phoenix; RPSG Group, owners of Lucknow Super Giants, 70 per cent of Manchester Originals; Sun TV Network, owners of Sunrisers Hyderabad, 100 per cent of Northern Superchargers; GMR Group, co-owners of Delhi Capitals, 49 per cent of Southern Brave; and the Washington Freedom ownership 50 per cent of Welsh Fire. Trent Rockets, to Cain International and Ares, completed in October 2025, and Oval Invincibles, to Reliance, in December. The ECB valued the eight teams at more than £975 million and said more than £500 million would go to the counties and grassroots.
For 2026 three teams were renamed by their new owners: Oval Invincibles became MI London, Northern Superchargers became SunRisers Leeds, and Manchester Originals became Manchester Super Giants.
Winners
| Year | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Oval Invincibles, beat Trent Rockets by 26 runs at Lord's, their third straight title | Northern Superchargers, beat Southern Brave by 7 wickets |
| 2026 | Manchester Super Giants, beat Trent Rockets by 5 wickets at Lord's on 16 August, their first title | Trent Rockets, beat SunRisers Leeds by 8 wickets, their first |
The 2026 competition ran from 21 July to 16 August. Dates for 2027 have not been published; the competition's site is taking ticket interest. The full roll of winners since 2021 is on the competition's past winners page.
Where It Stands
Five seasons in, the format has settled, the ownership has changed and the arguments have not. Supporters point to the women's competition, the crowds and the sale price; critics to the squeeze on the county season and the fact that most of the new owners run IPL franchises. For a viewer the practical facts are these: it is on Sky and the BBC, it runs for four weeks from late July, and a team's name may be different from the one on last year's shirt. Our guide to which teams play in The Hundred has the home grounds and owners.
FAQs: The Hundred
How does The Hundred work? Each side faces 100 balls, bowled in sets of five or ten from alternating ends, with a 25-ball powerplay and a maximum of 20 balls per bowler. The higher score wins.
How long is a Hundred match? About two and a half hours.
Who won The Hundred in 2026? Manchester Super Giants in the men's competition and Trent Rockets in the women's, both for the first time.
Who owns The Hundred teams? Since 2025, private investors alongside the host counties: among them Reliance (MI London), RPSG (Manchester Super Giants), Sun TV (SunRisers Leeds), GMR (Southern Brave), Knighthead (Birmingham Phoenix) and Tech Titans (London Spirit).
When is The Hundred 2027? Not yet announced. The 2026 edition ran from 21 July to 16 August.
Sources
The rules are from the competition's own competition rules page. The 2025 sale is set out in the ECB's announcement of 30 July 2025. The 2026 renames and results are recorded on the 2026 season page.
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