The Hundred 2023: Your essential guide to the 100-ball competition (2025)

As The Hundred returns for its third season, we tell you all you need to know.

You can watch each of the 68 matches live on Sky Sports between August 1-27, with all women's games and selected men's matches live on the Sky Sports Cricket YouTube channel.

What is The Hundred?

The Hundred, the ECB's 100-ball-a-side competition, features eight teams across seven cities competing in men's and women's cricket. Every day will be a double-header with a women's match preceding a men's game.

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The season starts on Tuesday at Trent Bridge as Trent Rockets women face Southern Brave women from 3pm, before the Rockets and Brave men's teams lock horns from 6.30pm.

How does the format work?

Each side plays eight group games, including two against their most local rivals.

That means London Spirit will play Oval Invincibles twice, Northern Superchargers will meet Manchester Originals on two occasions, Southern Brave will tackle Welsh Fire twice, and Trent Rockets and Birmingham Phoenix will go head-to-head two times.

The table toppers will progress straight through to the final at Lord's on Sunday August 27 with the sides that finish second and third in the group-stage meeting in the Eliminator a day earlier at The Kia Oval to determine who will face the league leaders in the final.

What are the key rules?

- Each innings lasts 100 balls and is scheduled to take 65 minutes.

- Two sets of five deliveries will be bowled before changing ends.

- A bowler can bowl two successive sets of five from the same end or successive sets of five from each end.

- Each bowler can bowl a maximum of 20 deliveries in an innings.

- The powerplay will be the first 25 deliveries of a 100-ball innings.

- If a team is not in position to bowl the last five balls of the innings within 65 minutes, one fewer f­ielder will be permitted outside the f­ielding restriction area.

- Each team will be allowed a maximum of one unsuccessful DRS review per innings.

- 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 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.

Who will play for whom?

Check out the full squad listings here.

The likes of Alice Capsey (Oval Invincibles), Nat-Sciver Brunt (Trent Rockets), Sophie Ecclestone (Manchester Originals) and Sophia Dunkley (Welsh Fire) are set to light up the women's competition, with Liam Livingstone (Birmingham Phoenix), Mark Wood (London Spirit), Rehan Ahmed (Southern Brave) and Adil Rashid (Northern Superchargers) to star in the men's.

Who are the defending champions?

Trent Rockets beat Manchester Originals in the 2022 men's final with captain Lewis Gregory's unbeaten 17 from six balls steering his side to their target of 121 with two balls to spare.

In the women's event, Oval Invincibles defeated Southern Brave in the final for the second year in a row, topping Brave's total of 101 with six balls in reserve. Teenager Capsey took two wickets with her off-spin and then hit a quick-fire 25 in Invincibles' successful chase.

How and where can I watch the action?

Each of the 68 games - 34 men and 34 women - will be live on Sky Sports, while all women's matches and a significant number of men's fixtures will be streamed live on the Sky Cricket YouTube channel.

What are the fixtures?

• August 1: Trent Rockets vs Southern Brave, Trent Bridge, women 3pm, men 6.30pm
• August 2: Welsh Fire vs Manchester Originals, Sophia Gardens, women 11.30am, men 3pm
• August 2: London Spirit vs Oval Invincibles, Lord's, women 3pm, men 6.30pm
• August 3: Northern Superchargers vs Birmingham Phoenix, Headingley, women 3pm, men 6.30pm
• August 4: Southern Brave vs Welsh Fire, Ageas Bowl, women 3pm, men 6.30pm
• August 5: Manchester Originals vs London Spirit, Emirates Old Trafford, women 11am, men 2.30pm
• August 5: Birmingham Phoenix vs Trent Rockets, Edgbaston, women 2.30pm, men 6pm
• August 6: Southern Brave vs Northern Superchargers, Ageas Bowl, women 11am, men 2.30pm
• August 6: Oval Invincibles vs Welsh Fire, Kia Oval, women 2.30pm, men 6pm
• August 7: Manchester Originals vs Birmingham Phoenix, Emirates Old Trafford, women 3pm, men 6.30pm
• August 8: London Spirit vs Southern Brave, Lord's, women 3pm, men 6.30pm
• August 9: Trent Rockets vs Northern Superchargers, Trent Bridge, women 11am, men 3pm
• August 9: Oval Invincibles vs Manchester Originals, Kia Oval, women 3pm, men 6.30pm
• August 10: Birmingham Phoenix vs Welsh Fire, Edgbaston, women 3pm, men 6.30pm
• August 11: Northern Superchargers vs Oval Invincibles, Headingley women 3pm, men 6.30pm
• August 12: London Spirit vs Trent Rockets, Lord's, women 11am, men 3pm
• August 12: Welsh Fire vs Southern Brave, Sophia Gardens, women 2.30pm, men 6pm
• August 13: Northern Superchargers vs Manchester Originals, Headingley, women 11am, men 2.30pm
• August 13: Birmingham Phoenix vs Oval Invincibles, Edgbaston, women 2.30pm, men 6pm
• August 14: Welsh Fire vs Trent Rockets, Sophia Gardens, women 3pm, men 6.30pm
• August 15: Oval Invincibles vs London Spirit, Kia Oval, women 3pm, men 6.30pm
• August 16: Southern Brave vs Birmingham Phoenix, Ageas Bowl, women 3pm, men 6.30pm
• August 17: Trent Rockets vs Manchester Originals, Trent Bridge, women 3pm, men 6.30pm
• August 18: London Spirit vs Northern Superchargers, Lord's, women 3pm, men 6.30pm
• August 19: Trent Rockets vs Birmingham Phoenix, Trent Bridge, women 11am, men 2.30pm
• August 19: Southern Brave vs Oval Invincibles, Ageas Bowl, women 2.30pm, men 6pm
• August 20: Manchester Originals vs Northern Superchargers, women 11am, men 2.30pm
• August 20: Welsh Fire vs London Spirit, Sophia Gardens, women 2.30pm, men 6pm
• August 21: Oval Invincibles vs Trent Rockets, Kia Oval, women 3pm, men 6.30pm
• August 22: Northern Superchargers vs Welsh Fire, Headingley, women 3pm, men 6.30pm
• August 23: Manchester Originals vs Southern Brave, Emirates Old Trafford, women 3pm, men 6.30pm
• August 24: Birmingham Phoenix vs London Spirit, Edgbaston, women 3pm, men 6.30pm
• August 26: The Hundred Eliminator, Kia Oval, women 2.30pm, men 6pm
• August 27: The Hundred Final, Lord's, women 2.15pm, men 6pm

Sky Sports will show all 68 games in The Hundred live this summer. Stream The Hundred and more with NOW