The Hundred: England's Controversial Cricket Competition Explained
Everything you need to know about The Hundred — England and Wales Cricket Board's city-based cricket competition using 100-ball innings, why it was controversial among traditionalists, and how it has performed commercially since its 2021 launch.
The Hundred is a cricket competition played with 100 balls per innings rather than 20 overs, launched by the England and Wales Cricket Board in 2021. It was designed to attract a new audience to cricket — specifically younger viewers and families unfamiliar with the traditional formats — using simplified rules, city-based franchises that didn't map to the existing 18 county cricket teams, and a summer broadcast slot on free-to-air BBC One television. From its announcement it was one of the most controversial initiatives in English cricket's history.
Rules Differences: 100 Balls vs 20 Overs
The Hundred uses 100-ball innings. Each bowler can bowl either five-ball or ten-ball blocks in sequence, rather than the conventional six-ball overs; the decision rests with the fielding captain within certain constraints. The batting powerplay lasts for the first 25 balls, during which only two fielders can be outside the 30-yard circle (similar to T20 first six overs). There is a 10-ball powerplay in the second half of the innings. Matches last approximately two and a half hours. The primary effect of these differences for viewers is minimal: the game looks very similar to T20 to an uninitiated viewer, with slightly different over construction and a cleaner 100-ball countdown.
Controversy and The ECB's Gamble
The Hundred's controversy centred on several issues. First, it was built at the expense of the existing T20 Blast competition run by counties — most England internationals were prohibited from playing Blast while The Hundred was running, stripping counties of marquee players. Second, the eight franchises — Trent Rockets, Manchester Originals, Birmingham Phoenix, Southern Brave, Northern Superchargers, Welsh Fire, Oval Invincibles, and London Spirit — did not align with county geography, weakening county cricket's supporter base. Third, cricket traditionalists argued that the 100-ball format offered no genuine innovation over T20 and existed purely as a rebranding exercise to sell broadcast rights at higher prices.
Commercial Outcome and Women's Cricket Benefit
By 2023-24 the ECB's assessment was that The Hundred had succeeded in its primary goals: attracting new younger audiences, growing female cricket viewership, and generating broadcast revenue above the T20 Blast baseline. The decision to run the women's and men's competitions simultaneously, with women's matches preceding or following men's matches in double-headers at the same grounds, was the most universally praised element: women's cricket attendance and viewership grew substantially, and players like Nat Sciver-Brunt and Alice Capsey became recognized beyond cricket's traditional audience. In 2024 the ECB sold equity stakes in the eight franchises to private investors, valuing the competition commercially at several billion pounds.
Frequently asked questions
Is The Hundred genuinely better for growing cricket than the T20 Blast, or is the difference primarily in how it has been marketed and broadcast rather than in the cricket itself?
This question cuts to the heart of the debate about cricket format development, and the honest answer is: the format difference is largely irrelevant — the broadcast and marketing decision is everything. The cricket in The Hundred and the T20 Blast is functionally almost identical to anyone watching. The 100-ball format versus the 120-ball T20 format does not create meaningfully different cricket: the powerplay is slightly shorter, the final overs' dynamics are slightly compressed, but you could watch a match of each format without knowing which was which if you weren't told. The argument that the format itself is more accessible to new audiences is extremely weak — new audiences struggle with T20 Blast primarily because they don't know the rules of cricket, not because overs are harder to count than balls. What has genuinely driven The Hundred's success is the BBC broadcast deal. Free-to-air cricket on the BBC, shown in prime time in the summer, reaches audiences that Sky Sports never could. A family watching the BBC on a summer evening will watch The Hundred not because of the format but because it's on the main channel, it's free, and cricket is cricket. The T20 Blast on Sky Sports is invisible to that audience regardless of how good the cricket is. So: The Hundred is better for growing cricket than T20 Blast primarily because of where it's shown, not what it is. If the ECB had moved the T20 Blast to a free-to-air BBC broadcast deal in 2021 instead of creating The Hundred, the audience growth would likely have been similar. The format innovation is marketing language; the distribution strategy is the real innovation.