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Oval Invincibles (147/9) secure a 17-run victory over Southern Brave (130/7) to successfully defend their Men’s Hundred title

Today's Fixture

Birmingham Phoenix vs Trent Rockets, 28th Match (10:30 PM PST)

Imad Wasim will be in action for Trent Rockets
 
Trent Rockets player update

Chris Green has been re-added to Trent Rockets Men’s squad in place of Rashid Khan who picked up a hamstring injury against Southern Brave.
 
Birmingham Phoenix have won the toss and have opted to field


Trent Rockets (Playing XI): Tom Banton(w), Alex Hales, Joe Root, Tom Alsop, Rovman Powell, Imad Wasim, Lewis Gregory(c), Chris Green, John Turner, Luke Wood, Sam Cook

Birmingham Phoenix (Playing XI): Ben Duckett, Moeen Ali(c), Jamie Smith(w), Liam Livingstone, Dan Mousley, Jacob Bethell, Benny Howell, Sean Abbott, Adam Milne, Tim Southee, Chris Wood
 
Trent Rockets (Men) 118

Birmingham Phoenix (Men) (93/100 balls, T:119) 120/4

Phoenix won by 6 wickets (with 7 balls remaining)
 
Birmingham Phoenix put themselves back into the top three of The Hundred with an important win at Edgbaston, knocking Trent Rockets out of this year’s competition in the process.

Tim Southee claimed a five-wicket haul, to restrict the Rockets to 118, before Liam Livingstone and Jacob Bethell helped push Phoenix into the play-off places with a measured chase.

Birmingham Phoenix won the toss and chose to bowl, in what turned out to be a great decision from Moeen Ali, as his pace attack put on an exhibition of swing bowling at the start of the first innings.

The dangerous quartet of Tom Banton, Alex Hales, Joe Root and Rovman Powell were dismissed in the first 30 deliveries, as the Rockets fell to 22-4.

Tom Alsop – making his debut in The Hundred – and Pakistan international Imad Wasim rebuilt for the visitors with a fifty partnership, before Wasim was retired out on a run-a-ball 29, to be replaced by Chris Green. The Australian all-rounder returned for Rockets, replacing the injured Rashid Khan, but he was to last just five balls before being removed by Adam Milne, who took a well-deserved wicket.

Alsop reached his half-century, and was then dismissed by the excellent Southee, who finished with 5-12 and momentarily thought he’d taken a hat-trick before being denied by an overturned LBW decision.

Trent Rockets set Phoenix 119 to win, and Ben Duckett got the chase off to a flying start with 30 from 16 before Rockets came firing back at them. Luke Wood dismissed Duckett and Jamie Smith in consecutive balls to put the breaks on Birmingham’s fast start.

Moeen Ali and Livingstone steadied the ship for a while before the pacy John Turner (2-17) removed captain Moeen and Dan Mousley.

The away team sensed it was their chance to build the pressure with the ball in the chase and they began to restrict Phoenix’s scoring opportunities, before Luke Wood released the pressure with a no-ball free hit that Bethell deposited into the stands to give the home side some breathing room.

Bethell (38 off 29) and Livingstone (30 off 32) then took Phoenix home with a half-century partnership, as they chased it with seven balls to spare.

With one game left each, the result leaves three teams with a chance of joining Oval Invincibles in the knockout rounds – Phoenix, Southern Brave and Northern Superchargers. Defeat for Trent Rockets means that like London Spirit, Manchester Originals and Welsh Fire, their tournament is over.

Meerkat Match Hero Southee said: “It was a pretty good performance. I think the bowlers assessed the conditions well and then the way the batters went about it towards the end, Bethell and Livingstone knocked it around and chose great options. So, I think it was a pretty good all-round performance.

“I think we have had really good consistency over the last few games and have got to know each other a bit better. Obviously, Adam Milne and I have played a lot of cricket together, but for everyone else it’s great to have that experience of playing a few games together.

“We adapted to conditions as quickly as possible, which helped us tonight and the surface offered us a little bit which we tried to get as much out of as we could.”
 
Today's game in THE HUNDRED 2024:

Northern Superchargers vs London Spirit, 29th Match
05:30 PM GMT
 
Chris Woakes has withdrawn from THE HUNDRED 2024 due to injury.

The England bowling all-rounder will no longer be a part of this year’s competition.
 
Ollie Pope has been withdrawn from London Spirit’s final game by England due to workload management ahead of the Sri Lanka Test series. Tom Prest has replaced him and is available for selection today.
 

N S-Chargers vs Spirit, 29th Match at Leeds, Men's Hundred, Aug 13 2024​


The toss has been delayed. A no-result would stuff the Superchargers, who would go level on points with the Brave and the Phoenix but with a much worse Net Run Rate.
 
We have two replacements in the Northern Superchargers squad:

Ben Stokes replaced by Ben Dwarshuis

Jason Roy replaced by Colin Ackermann
 
Superchargers win the toss and will bowl first

Superchargers: 1 Matt Short, 2 Graham Clark, 3 Ollie Robinson, 4 Harry Brook (capt), 5 Nicholas Pooran, 6 Adam Hose, 7 Mitchell Santner, 8 Matt Potts, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 Pat Brown, 11 Reece Topley.

Spirit: 1 Keaton Jennings, 2 Michael Pepper (wk), 3 Dan Lawrence (capt), 4 Matt Critchley, 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Andre Russell, 7 Ravi Bopara, 8 Liam Dawson, 9 Olly Stone, 10 Richard Gleeson, 11 Daniel Worrall.
 
Northern Superchargers kept their season alive with a rain-affected victory over London Spirit in The Hundred at Headingley.

Adil Rashid was the stand-out performer for Harry Brook’s side, taking 3-16 as part of a bowling performance that restricted Spirit to just 111 from their 100 balls.

The England leg-spinner has troubled batters throughout the competition, and today he removed Matt Critchley, Shimron Hetmyer and Andre Russell across 15 balls in the middle of the innings to knock the stuffing out of a Spirit batting effort that was already flattering to deceive.

Michael Pepper had already headed back to the pavilion – caught terrifically by Mitchell Santner – as had Keaton Jennings, who burned brightly for his 12-ball 30 and exited having words with Reece Topley, the bowler who dismissed him.

Liam Dawson has been Spirit’s leading wicket-taker and leading run-scorer and once again he shouldered the burden of trying to keep Spirit in the game, his 27 from 19 alongside the veteran Ravi Bopara’s 31 took the visitors into triple figures but at the interval the smart money was on Superchargers.

As it was, their chase was to be limited by the rain, but Superchargers openers Graham Clark and Matt Short had done enough to ensure they were ahead of Duckworth-Lewis Stern when the game was called off.

For Spirit, it was a seventh loss from eight games in a campaign they’ll be glad is over.

Superchargers will now hope either Welsh Fire or Manchester Originals can do them a favour across the last two days of the competition’s group stages as they seek to make the knock-out stages of The Hundred – notable progression from their last-placed finish in 2023.

Meerkat Match Hero Adil Rashid said: “We're fortunate we got the runs in time as well, because the rain came 10 balls after that.

"I think we've got a very good squad, good batters - match-winners all the way through. We've got a bit of a waiting game tomorrow and Thursday, but hopefully one of those two teams do lose and we're good. Today, I put in a nice performance, taking three wickets."
 
Today's fixtures in THE HUNDRED 2024:

Southern Brave vs Welsh Fire, 30th Match
02:00 PM GMT

Trent Rockets vs Oval Invincibles, 31st Match
05:30 PM GMT

Haris Rauf and Imad Wasim could be in action for Wlesh Fire and Trent Rockets in respective games.
 
Southern Brave vs Welsh Fire, 30th Match

Welsh Fire have won the toss and have opted to bat

Southern Brave (Playing XI): Alex Davies(w), James Vince(c), Leus du Plooy, James Coles, Laurie Evans, Kieron Pollard, Chris Jordan, Danny Briggs, Akeal Hosein, Jofra Archer, Tymal Mills

Welsh Fire (Playing XI): Jonny Bairstow(w), Stephen Eskinazi, Luke Wells, Tom Abell(c), Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Glenn Phillips, Ross Whiteley, David Willey, Matt Henry, David Payne, Haris Rauf
 
FearlessRoar said:
Southern Brave vs Welsh Fire, 30th Match

Welsh Fire have won the toss and have opted to bat

Southern Brave (Playing XI): Alex Davies(w), James Vince(c), Leus du Plooy, James Coles, Laurie Evans, Kieron Pollard, Chris Jordan, Danny Briggs, Akeal Hosein, Jofra Archer, Tymal Mills

Welsh Fire (Playing XI): Jonny Bairstow(w), Stephen Eskinazi, Luke Wells, Tom Abell(c), Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Glenn Phillips, Ross Whiteley, David Willey, Matt Henry, David Payne, Haris Rauf
Click to expand...
No result - due to rain
 
Invincibles won the toss and choose to bat

Rockets: 1 Tom Banton (wk), 2 Tom Alsop, 3 Alex Hales, 4 Joe Root, 5 Rovman Powell, 6 Imad Wasim, 7 Lewis Gregory (capt), 8 Chris Green, 9 Calvin Harrison, 10 John Turner, 11 Sam Cook.

Invincibles: 1 Will Jacks, 2 Dawid Malan, 3 Jordan Cox, 4 Sam Billings (capt/wk), 5 Sam Curran, 6 Donovan Ferreira, 7 Tom Lammonby, 8 Gus Atkinson, 9 Nathan Sowter, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Saqib Mahmood.
 
Southern Brave qualified for the Eliminator in The Hundred despite their match against Welsh Fire being abandoned because of rain.

The one point they were awarded lifted Brave above Northern Superchargers on net run-rate into second and guaranteed them a top-three spot, even if fourth-placed Birmingham Phoenix beat Manchester Originals in their final match on Thursday.

Welsh Fire posted 181-5 in their 100 balls, mainly thanks to a blistering fourth-wicket partnership between Luke Wells and Glenn Phillips worth 76 from just 30 balls.

Wells top-scored with 53 from 30 balls, while Phillips' 48 from just 19 deliveries included five sixes - one of which went 103 metres.

Brave lost Alex Davies and James Vince to slump to 21-2 after 16 balls of their reply before rain ended play.
 
Oval Invincibles (Men) 150/3

Trent Rockets (Men) (94/100 balls, T:151) 151/4

Rockets won by 6 wickets (with 6 balls remaining)
 
Trent Rockets claimed a stirring consolation win over Oval Invincibles under the lights at a packed Trent Bridge thanks to a spectacular display of hitting from Rovman Powell.

Coming to the crease with 95 needed from 52 balls and the Rockets three wickets down, Powell joined Tom Alsop to post an 80-run stand from just 32 balls to take the Rockets careening towards the Invincibles total of 150.

Powell’s pyrotechnics delivered four sixes, with one hit off Sam Curran going 101 metres, before Curran induced Powell to miscue a lofted drive to long-on.

The Jamaican’s dismissal left the Rockets needing 15 from 10 balls, but Alsop and Chris Green took the home side to victory with six balls to spare.

The last two winners of The Hundred men’s competition have experienced contrasting fortunes this term with the Rockets, 2022 champions, suffering four defeats, while the Invincibles have been relentless, winning six in eight.

But tonight there was little between the teams. Choosing to bat first on a pitch taking turn, Invincibles opener Dawid Malan made a composed half-century, batting through the innings for an unbeaten 53 (43) to allow the hitters to open up around him.

Will Jacks’ quickfire 30 came from 17 balls ensured that the Invincibles dominated the powerplay, before Jordan Cox smashed a 30-ball 39 in a 71-run partnership with Malan.

Cox succumbed to Sam Cook, whose figures of 2-23 were the most economical of the Rockets’ bowlers, giving Donovan Ferreira free rein to boss the latter stages. Ferreira’s unbeaten 27 occupied just 10 balls and featured three successive sixes to haul the Invincibles up to 150-3.

Saqib Mahmood, bowling 15 of the first 20 balls of the Rockets innings, was fast and hostile, regularly touching 88mph and accounting for the wicket of Tom Banton in his opening spell.

A recovery took place between Alex Hales and Joe Root but when Hales, on 35, misjudged a pull to give Jacks his first wicket, followed by Root lofting a Nathan Sowter leg-break to Sam Curran at long-on, the Invincibles were strong favourites.

Step forward Powell and Alsop, who gave Rockets fans a reminder of their quality ahead of next year.

Invincibles will now await the result of the final group game, which takes place tomorrow between Northern Superchargers or Birmingham Phoenix, to discover whether they will contest The Hundred Eliminator at The Kia Oval or The Hundred Final at Lord’s on Sunday.

Despite the defeat, Sam Billings, Invincibles captain, remained optimistic ahead of the weekend’s action: “They’re a very good side. Their season could have been very different, and we knew it would be a tough match tonight at Trent Bridge, which is a great place to play.

“As for us, a lot of positives tonight, we’ve played a lot of very, very good cricket in this tournament and one defeat doesn’t change that.

“It’s all about adapting to conditions. The Kia Oval has played very different to Lord’s, but there’s a lot of clarity amongst the group regarding their own roles.”
 
Today's game in THE HUNDRED 2024:

Birmingham Phoenix vs Manchester Originals, 32nd Match
05:30 PM GMT

Usama Mir could be in action for Manchester Originals later on.
 
Birmingham Phoenix win the toss and choose to bowl

Phoenix: 1 Ben Duckett, 2 Moeen Ali (capt), 3 Jamie Smith (wk), 4 Liam Livingstone, 5 Dan Mousley, 6 Jacob Bethell, 7 Benny Howell, 8 Sean Abbott, 9 Adam Milne, 10 Tim Southee, 11 Chris Wood.

Originals: 1 Phil Salt (capt/wk), 2 Matty Hurst, 3 Max Holden, 4 Wayne Madsen, 5 Paul Walter, 6 Sikandar Raza, 7 Jamie Overton, 8 Tom Hartley, 9 Tom Aspinwall, 10 Scott Currie, 11 Fazalhaq Farooqi.
 
Manchester Originals (Men) (30/30 balls) 41/5

Birmingham Phoenix (Men) (22/30 balls, T:42) 42/1

Phoenix won by 9 wickets (with 8 balls remaining)
 
Birmingham Phoenix will meet Southern Brave in The Hundred Eliminator at The Kia Oval on Saturday after a nine-wicket victory over Manchester Originals.

Moeen Ali’s side came out on top in a 30-ball-per-side match at Edgbaston, earning themselves the point they needed after rain delayed the start.

Phoenix chased down their target of 42 with ease, Jamie Smith depositing Fazalhaq Farooqi over the boundary twice in the first five balls to set the tone for the chase.

After a quieter second five from Farooqi, Ben Duckett smashed Tom Aspinwall’s first ball for six and then hit three of his next four to the boundary as the rain teemed down in Birmingham, the umpires remaining unmoved, determined to see the game to a result.

Smith (14) was caught on the cover boundary by Sikandar Raza off Scott Currie, but Duckett (22*) and Moeen (6*) knocked off the remaining seven runs required with eight balls to spare, the skipper securing the win with a six off Currie over fine-leg.

Winning the toss and bowling first, Birmingham Phoenix struck early, Kiwi speedster Adam Milne removing Matthew Hurst from the second legal delivery of the match when the young Lancastrian skied a chance to Liam Livingstone at mid-on.

Milne’s fellow Kiwi Tim Southee took the second set and was immediately smashed into the stands by Phil Salt. He was then sliced over short-third by Max Holden from the final ball of the powerplay as the Originals took their score up to 15-1.

At the halfway point of the innings, the Originals were 22-2, Salt (12) mistiming a cross-bat shot off Milne from the 15th ball of the innings to give Livingstone his second catch of the evening.

Sean Abbott then accounted for Paul Walter (1), caught at deep cover, to make it 24-3. Holden (15) continued to swing hard, the left-hander top-edging Southee for another boundary, but his luck soon ran out when he failed to go over mid-off as Livingstone held onto a third catch.

Chris Wood closed out the innings, conceding just three runs and taking the wicket of Raza caught by Jacob Bethell at deep midwicket. Originals closing on 41-5, hitting just one six in their innings.

Phoenix had just 42 to chase to earn a trip to South London and they did it with ease, ensuring Andrew Flintoff’s first year as Northern Superchargers Head Coach would end with a fourth-place finish.

Meerkat Match Hero Adam Milne, who took 2-8, said: “To come out of the shortened game and into The Hundred Eliminator is very good for us.

“There was a little bit of swing and seam so it was nice to use that first up, but in these shortened games anything can happen, so [you] just mix it up.

“Anytime it’s moving around off the straight it’s nice. There’s been lots said but as a bowler it’s nice to have a little bit going your way sometimes in these shorter formats, there can be flat wickets and not much movement, so it’s nice to see a bit of swing and seam occasionally.”
 
They can barely give tickets away for this farce.
Crowds have been really poor.
I got an email and a text earlier this evening saying tickets were still available for tomorrow’s Kia Oval eliminator games.

I guess the fans here are voting with their feet concerning what they think of this tournament….. meanwhile the first three days of the Sri Lanka Test at the Oval in a month are already virtually sold out (a few tickets left in the Laker balcony on Day 2 and 3)….and let’s face it Sri Lanka are hardly the biggest draw in international cricket.
 
Today's game in THE HUNDRED 2024:

Birmingham Phoenix vs Southern Brave, Eliminator
Kennington Oval, London
05:00 PM GMT
 
BouncerGuy said:
Today's game in THE HUNDRED 2024:

Birmingham Phoenix vs Southern Brave, Eliminator
Kennington Oval, London
05:00 PM GMT
Click to expand...
1723926268318.png

Southern Brave are through to The Hundred final after a remarkable Eliminator against Birmingham Phoenix was decided by the first Super Five in the tournament's history.

Liam Livingstone took Phoenix to the brink of victory in regulation play with a brutal half-century but he fell with three runs needed and Brave spinner Akeal Hosein conceded just two from his last three balls, resulting in a tie.

Jofra Archer then had Livingstone caught from the first ball of the Super Five and restricted Phoenix to just seven from the extra five deliveries.

A Chris Jordan boundary got Brave over the line with a ball to spare to set up a final against defending champions Oval Invincibles at Lord's on Sunday evening.

That prospect looked a long way off when Livingstone hit a Hosein no-ball for six to bring the equation down to three needed from four balls.

But he failed to connect with the free hit and then holed out next ball to give Brave a chance - one they ultimately took to progress to their first final since winning the inaugural tournament in 2021.
 
Final of this Year's season of THE HUNDRED 2024:

Oval Invincibles vs Southern Brave, Final
05:00 PM GMT
 
Southern Brave have won the toss and have opted to field


Oval Invincibles (Playing XI): Will Jacks, Dawid Malan, Jordan Cox, Sam Billings(w/c), Sam Curran, Donovan Ferreira, Tom Curran, Tom Lammonby, Nathan Sowter, Adam Zampa, Saqib Mahmood

Southern Brave (Playing XI): Alex Davies(w), James Vince(c), Leus du Plooy, Laurie Evans, James Coles, Kieron Pollard, Chris Jordan, Akeal Hosein, Jofra Archer, Craig Overton, Tymal Mills
 
Oval Invincibles (Men) 147/9

Southern Brave (Men) (100 balls, T:148) 130/7

Invincibles won by 17 runs
 
Oval Invincibles have won The Hundred for the second year running after a convincing 17-run victory over Southern Brave in the final at Lord’s.

Set 148, Brave made a solid start to their chase but then collapsed from 58-0 to 102-7 as Invincibles seized control.

Australia leg-spinner Adam Zampa made the initial breakthrough before fast bowler Saqib Mahmood shredded the Brave middle-order with three wickets in seven balls.

Will Jacks took the key wicket of Brave skipper James Vince, the leading run-scorer in the tournament, to back up his tone-setting 37 from 22 balls at the top of the order for Invincibles.

While no Invincibles batter was able to kick on, Sam Curran and Jordan Cox both contributed value knocks of 25 and Tom Curran added 24 from 11 balls late in the innings.

Left-arm seamer Tymal Mills was the pick of the Brave attack, taking 3-33.

It looked like the Brave innings may follow a similar pattern when opener Alex Davies fell to Zampa for 35 from 23 balls.

Vince made 24 but Mahmood bowled Leus du Plooy for 20 then quickly added the wickets of Kieron Pollard and Laurie Evans to stop Brave in their tracks.

Invincibles were able to see out the match without issue and become the first men's team to successfully defend The Hundred trophy.
 

What next for The Hundred?​


Tradition is not a word usually associated with The Hundred.

But the sight of the men’s and women’s champions standing side by side on the Lord’s outfield, enormous trophies held aloft as fireworks go off around them has become a fixture of the British cricketing summer.

With the fourth edition of the tournament at an end though and stakes in all eight teams set to be sold this autumn, there is a sense of the unknown surrounding its future.

What is certain is The Hundred does have a future.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced that 540,000 tickets were sold for this year’s tournament, taking the total beyond two million over the first four years.

Of those, more than a million attended women’s games and there were record crowds for women’s matches at seven of the eight grounds used in The Hundred in 2024.

For all the competition continues to split opinion, that 41% of tickets this year were sold to families and 30% to people new to cricket suggests it has been successful in its aim of bringing people to the sport.

Despite that, TV viewing figures were down on previous years. Although being up against the Olympics for two weeks in the middle of the tournament, perhaps that is to be expected.

It is also unlikely to put off those interested in investing in the teams.

Owners of all 10 Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises are expected to bid, while there is believed to be interest from North America – including Hollywood actor and Wrexham owner Ryan Reynolds, according to reports, external.

The eight hosts of the teams will be given a 51% stake, which they can sell or keep, but the remaining 49% in each team is definitely up for grabs and will sold by the ECB.

Investment is coming then but what follows is far less clear.

When IPL owners have bought teams in other franchise leagues, it has often resulted in name changes and the expectation is The Hundred will be no different.

So we might not see London Spirit and Oval Invincibles defending their titles, rather it could be London Royals and Oval Capitals.

Of course, the hope would be that the money brought in is used to entice the world's top short-format players to England for a month each summer.

That need is particularly urgent in the men's competition because, while The Hundred can rightly claim to attract the leading women's players from across the globe, that is simply not the case for the men.

Previously it was the Caribbean Premier League that proved more tempting to some big names; this year there was a clash with Major League Cricket in the US - something that is likely to occur again.

And while Pakistan eventually prevented him from playing anywhere, Shaheen Afridi pulled out of his deal with Welsh Fire in favour of turning out in Canada's Global T20 tournament.

Tie-ins with IPL teams should help persuade more stars to join. More money will help too. But the competition from the US and Canada is going nowhere.

One way to ward them off would be to lose the draft system and then set salaries for each contract in favour of an IPL-style auction.

In terms of competitiveness though, the draft has worked well as the two finalists in the women's competition this year would attest.

Both Fire and Spirit struggled in the early years but, similarly to US sports, high draft picks have enabled them to reshape and develop their squads to compete.

Another sign of that competitive balance is the number of close games this year, including three ties and the tournament's first Super Five in the men's Eliminator.

Whether anything is done that might alter that is just another question as yet unanswered.

We know the ECB will retain ownership of the competition itself and there is no indication The Hundred will expand beyond its existing eight teams until at least the end of the current broadcast cycle in 2028.

In theory, that locks in the 100-ball format for another four years as well.

But given it has not been adopted elsewhere and the phenomenon that is T20 cricket, the prospect of adding those extra 20 balls per innings, losing five-ball sets in favour of six-ball overs and such like will always be lurking.

The forthcoming changes though have the potential to put it front and centre again.

www.bbc.com

The Hundred: What is next for tournament with big changes expected?

After four years of The Hundred, outside investment is coming and the tournament could look very different come 2025.
www.bbc.com
 
Rana said:
A domestic tournament in which Babar and Rizwan have tried to be a part of…but were not deemed good enough
Click to expand...
Which other Pakistani batters were part of the Hundred? You can’t digest the fact that Babar & Rizwan are the best top order batters Pakistan has to offer. Your first choice batters Asif Ali, Farhan, Haris, Farhan, Azam Khan etc are not any better.

Find me better choices then Talk Nah
 
gazza619 said:
Which other Pakistani batters were part of the Hundred? You can’t digest the fact that Babar & Rizwan are the best top order batters Pakistan has to offer. Your first choice batters Asif Ali, Farhan, Haris, Farhan, Azam Khan etc are not any better.

Find me better choices then Talk Nah
Click to expand...
Do I care? Babar and Rizwan tried to get signed in £125k category

That’s all I care about. They are shameless to even think that their brand of cricket is going to be sold in a league where English/Australian/South African/Indian batters rule.

Go and sell the con act in Canada and Bangladesh. They will happily pay them to play in their rubbish league
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Congratulations to Oval Invincibles.

I am yet to understand how The Hundred format really works. LOL. Never found it appealing enough to actually check.

If there is no concept of over, I can't call it cricket.
 
I think the hundred innovations should remain but within the T20 format.

Ignoring the poor execution/explanation of the rules.

The final was decent, especially the finishing stretch and the reverse swing bowling spell by Saqib Mahmood that was pure box office
 
Hundred financial projections 'overly optimistic'

Financial projections given to potential investors in The Hundred "seem overly optimistic", according to an independent sports finance expert.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has begun the process of selling stakes in the eight franchises.

Information sent to interested parties was published on X, formerly Twitter, by Indian Premier League (IPL) founder Lalit Modi.

One striking detail was a predicted rise of international TV rights revenue from £2.1m this year to £34.8m in 2032, which Modi said "made little sense".

And finance expert Dr Dan Plumley told BBC Sport: "There is growth potential in The Hundred (and English cricket more generally) and private equity investment could be a real positive for the sport.

"But these projections, particularly from 2029 onwards, should come with a massive note of caution at the present moment."

The ECB is not disputing the validity of the information published by Modi, but has declined to comment.

The governing body has provided disclaimers in its presentation to investors, saying: "No representation, warranty, assurance or undertaking is given as to the achievement or reasonableness of any future projections."

In the leaked slides, sponsorship is projected to rise from £5.7m this year to £32.6m in 2032, which Modi called "far-fetched" but Plumley believes is possible.

A domestic TV deal with Sky has been agreed up to 2028 and the ECB said income will rise from £37.8m this year to £54.3m next year and in each of the following three years. For the next broadcast cycle, from 2029 to 2032, the ECB is projecting an annual income of £85m, which Modi said is "plausible".

The international rights projection grows year on year to 2032, with the ECB predicting a rise of almost £14m between 2028 and 2029 alone. By 2032, the ECB is projecting it will be more than 16 times what it is now.

Plumley, based at Sheffield Hallam University, added: "I agree that domestic growth is plausible, but the international rights predictions seem like a big leap, especially given it is only the Premier League in football that has seen rights surge abroad.

"Most sports still get their main broadcast money from domestic TV deals."

Any growth in international rights would seem to hinge on India and the United States. However, India's male players do not currently play in The Hundred, lessening its appeal there. The US has launched its own Major League Cricket, which can overlap with The Hundred and has three of its six teams associated to IPL franchises.

Time differences also play a part in selling a cricket league in the UK to India or the US.

"The IPL is still the biggest franchise league in world cricket and Indian players only being able to play there is another factor that makes it tricky for The Hundred," said Plumley.

"That league has phenomenal valuations for its franchises and is still the benchmark. It has been built up over 16 years of strong growth in a strong market.

"Geography also plays a part. Even if you can generate more rights fees from India and the US, the time difference is a factor in terms of when the games are played in the UK."

However, ECB chief executive Richard Gould believes the UK's time zone can be a benefit in securing overseas deals.

Speaking to Test Match Special, he said the UK is in a "really unique position in the world to ensure that broadcast markets both west and east of us are attractive".

Writing on X when he published some of the ECB's projections on Wednesday, Modi said the figures are "disconnected from reality".

In a further post on Thursday, Modi clarified he had previously made a "billion dollar" offer to purchase the tournament and turn it into a T20 competition.

"My concern now is that they are trying to lure current IPL owners into this non-starter league and building a hype around it that has no justification or guarantees on numbers," he added.

Gould said he "doesn't recognise" Modi's comments, adding the ECB has "nearly 100 or so interested parties" in investing.

"We hope it will deliver a really positive outcome and, if it does, we are looking forward to using that money to underpin the county game for the next generation," he added.

The ECB is selling a 49% stake in each of the eight teams, with the other 51% then given to the hosts of those teams, who can opt to keep the stake, sell all or part of it.

In July, the ECB revealed it had contacted owners of some NFL teams, as well as every owner in the IPL and its women's equivalent, the Women's Premier League.

Earlier this month, Glamorgan chief executive Dan Cherry confirmed Wrexham Football Club owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny had held talks about investing in Welsh Fire.


BBC
 
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Who was the greater batsmen between Sachin Tendulkar and Don Bradman?
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