The Hundred Men's Competition 2025: History, Format and Revenue

The Hundred Men’s Competition History and Foundation

Established in the year 2021, The Hundred has eight teams from cities in England and Wales. The teams are London Spirit, Manchester Originals, Oval Invincibles, Birmingham Phoenix, Welsh Fire, Southern Brave, Trent Rockets, and Northern Superchargers. The England and Wales Cricket Board started planning The Hundred early in 2016 as it would attract more people and generate more revenues in the coming years. Major cricketing nations like India, Australia, and even Pakistan have their own T20 leagues; therefore, the ECB had to launch their own tournament, and they have done it in a unique way to popularise cricket. Initially, the tournament was scheduled to start in the year 2020, but it was postponed to 2021 due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, which brought the world to a standstill. 

In The Hundred, each team has players from England’s domestic circuit as well as players from the International circuit. From its very inception, the competition saw energies among the crowd, and here the match structure is very unique, and the broadcasting promotions are given the same importance both for the men’s and the women’s competition. This arrangement is quite innovative. Unique rules like a bowler can only bowl 5 or 10 consecutive balls, and a 25-ball powerplay make this tournament more interesting. In the inaugural season, the men’s team of Southern Brave from the city of Southampton won the title by defeating the Birmingham Phoenix at the iconic Lord’s cricket ground. 

The Hundred Competition Current Format and Variations

The 2025 season of The Hundred competition will start from 5th August, Tuesday, and the finals will be played on 31st August, Sunday. As far as the squad limitations are concerned, each team can have a maximum of 15 players, and only three overseas players are allowed. Another interesting fact of this tournament is that it is not necessary to have the coin toss on the playing ground only; the coin toss can also happen off the ground. And as far as the format of the league is concerned, in total, there are 34 matches, and out of these 34, 32 matches are in the league stage.

Each team has to play eight matches, and the table toppers will directly reach the finals of The Hundred. As per the rules, the teams that finish in second and third positions in the points table will have to face each other in the Eliminator. For the coveted title, the winner of the Eliminator will face the table toppers in the Final on 31st August. The Hundred competition follows the standard points table system of any other short-format cricket tournaments in the world. After a win, each team will get 2 points, whereas in the case of a tie, each team will get only one point, and the losing team will get no points.

The Hundred Competition Team Owners and Sponsors

London Spirit

As far as the owners and sponsors of the teams are concerned, the CEO of Palo Alto Networks, Nikesh Arora, and the Vice Chairman of Times Internet, Satyan Gajwani, collaborated with each other and owned the London Spirit franchise. Meanwhile, the sponsors of London Spirits are Tyrrells, which is the official sponsor, and the other sponsors include Vitality, Citizen, New Balance, and New Era. 

Manchester Originals

As far as the owner of the Manchester Originals is concerned, it is owned by the RPSG Group, whose chairman is Dr. Sanjiv Goenka. Other than the RPSG group, the Lancashire Cricket Club still holds a stake in the franchise. A major sponsorship for the same franchise is also provided by the RPSG group. 

Oval Invincibles

A majority of 51 percent stake of Oval Invincibles is owned by the Surrey County Cricket Club; on the other hand, Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) owns 49 percent stake of the Oval franchise. RIL is the principal sponsor of Oval Invincibles. Meanwhile, KP Snacks is also a sponsor of the same team. 

Birmingham Phoenix

49% stake of the Birmingham Phoenix is owned by Tom Wagner, who holds a US-based investment, Knighthead Capital, and the rest of the stake is owned by the Warwickshire County Club. The sponsors of Birmingham Phoenix include KP Snack, Dream 11, Vitality, and the Sage company. 

Trent Rockets

Todd Boehly, the lead owner of Chelsea Football Club, is also one of the owners of Trent Rockets. He owns a 49% stake in the franchise, whereas the remaining 51% stake in the franchise is owned by the Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. Ideagen is the official sponsor of the Trent Rockets. The other sponsors include New Balance and New Era. 

Welsh Fire

Sanjay Govil, who is also the owner of Washington Freedom, owns the Welsh Fire, where he acquired a 49% stake of the team, and the rest of the stake is owned by the Glamorgan County Cricket Club. Sponsors for Welsh Fire are KP Snacks, Dream 11, Masuri, and the Citizen Company. 

Northern Superchargers

The Sun Group owns a 100% stake in the Northern Superchargers team. The same group owns the Sunrisers Hyderabad franchise in the IPL too. The McCoys, Hula Hoops, and Masuri company are the sponsors of the franchise Northern Superchargers. 

Southern Brave

Hampshire County Cricket Club owns 51 percent of the franchise Southern Brave, whereas the GMR group owns a 49 percent stake in the franchise. KP Snacks, Dream 11, and Sage Company are the sponsors of Southern Brave. 

The Hundred Teams and Brand Value 

As far as the brand values of the teams in the Hundred competition are concerned, London Spirit, owned by Nitesh Aarora and in collaboration with Satyan Gajwani, has the highest brand value. The franchise is valued at £ 295 million. Oval Invincibles, owned by the Surrey County Cricket club and Reliance Industries, is second in this list as they have a brand value of £ 123 million. As far as the brand value of Manchester Originals is concerned, they have a brand value of £ 107 million. 

The team is by the RPSG group only. Teams like the Birmingham Phoenix and the Welsh Fire have a brand value of £ 80 million each. Northern Superchargers, which is entirely owned by the Sun group, has a brand value of £ 100 million, whereas Southern Brave has a brand value of £ 98 million. 

The Hundred Competition Rules and Variations

As far as the format of the matches in The Hundred is concerned, in the league stage, there are 32 matches, and including finals, two more matches are added; therefore, in  The Hundred competition, in total, 34 matches are played as per schedule. The 2025 season of The Hundred will have a span of 27 days starting from August 5, and the eliminator match will be played on August 30th, whereas the summit showdown is scheduled to be played on  August 31st, 2025. As previously stated in the article, the rules and regulations of playing conditions of The Hundred are a bit different compared to other short-form tournaments. In the name of the competition itself, the word ‘Hundred’ is mentioned, as there are a hundred balls per innings for each team. 

As a unique innovation introduced in this tournament, a bowler has two options. Either a bowler can bowl five balls on the trot or 10 balls at a stretch which makes up a traditional over. If the bowler wants to continue after the fifth ball, then it completely depends on the captain or the bowler. Also, the matches are scheduled in such a way that they will be completed in two and a half hours only. 

It is not mandatory to have the coin toss in the playing field only; it can be placed outside the playing field, too. Another interesting rule of the Hundred is that a bowler can bowl a utmost 20 balls in a single innings and the fielding team needs to change sides after every 10 balls. The traditional batting powerplay spans for the first 25 balls of a match. At the conclusion of the powerplay, the fielding team has an option to take the strategic timeout, and the duration of the strategic timeout is one to two minutes per innings.

Some interesting rules are introduced in the Tournament to make it competitive. Each innings has been allowed a span of 65 minutes as per the rules of The Hundred. Further making the game interesting, there has to be an extra fielder inside the 30-yard circle, in case if the fielding side fails to complete the quota of delivering the 100 balls stipulation inside 65 minutes. In addition, to ensure outcomes at the knockout stages, the eliminator and the final matches are framed in such a way that if the game ends in a no-result or a tie, then the have a super five game where the result of the match will be decided. 

The Hundred Tournament Seasons and Results

Southern Brave in the year 2021

The Southern Brave franchise was the most dominant team as they won The Hundred competition both in the Men’s tournament as well as in the women’s tournament in the inaugural season of 2021. In the 2021 team, there were some well-renowned players like the South African wicketkeeper batsman Quinton De Kock, the Irish opener Paul Stirling, the English international figure James Vince, to the Australian finisher Tim David. Coming into the finals, against the Birmingham Phoenix, they opted to bat first against the Southern Brave under the captaincy of James Vince, and posted a solid total of 166 runs with the loss of five wickets. 

Experienced opener Stirling, an experienced campaigner, batted exceptionally with an explosive knock of 61 runs amassed in just 36 balls. Coming at number seven, Ross Whiteley gave the finishing touch to the innings as he played a great cameo of 44 runs in just 19 balls, hitting four elegant boundaries and four huge sixes. 

In the second innings, the Southern Brave restricted the Phoenix to a score of 136 runs with the loss of 5 wickets in 100 balls. The likes of Tymal Mills, George Garton, and Craig Overton bowled economically and picked one wicket each, and thus won the inaugural title in 2021.

Trent Rockets in the year 2022

The Trent Rockets won the second season of The Hundred tournament, playing against the Manchester Originals. The franchise Trent Rockets opted to bowl first on winning the toss, restricting the Manchester Originals to a poor and below-par total of 120 with the loss of nine wickets with a penetrating bowling performance. Sam Cook picked up four wickets while conceding 18 runs and broke the back of MO’s batting unit. And the experienced English spinner Samit Patel too chipped in with crucial wickets. 

It was a thriller of a match as coming into chase, the Trent Rockets chased down the target with 2 balls to spare. The Rockets’ skipper, Lewis Gregory, led from the front, playing a cameo of 17 runs in six balls to win it for his side. 

Oval Invincibles in the year 2023

The Oval Invincibles team won the Hundred competition in the third year of the competition in 2023, playing against the Manchester Originals. Playing under the captaincy of English international Sam Billings, the Ovals posted a mammoth total of 161 runs with the loss of five wickets. After a torrid start at the beginning the partnership between James Neesham and Tom Curran changed the momentum for the Oval Invincibles. Jimmy Neesham and Tom Curran played crucial knocks. The Kiwi all-rounder made 57 runs in 33 balls, meanwhile, Curran scored 67 runs in 34 balls. 

The Invincibles restricted the Manchester team to a total of 147 runs to win their first title. Showing a great all-round performance, with some inspiring bowling skills too, Tom Curran picked up one crucial wicket. Propelled by such inspiring performances, the Invincibles won the coveted trophy, and quite deservingly, young Tom Curran was adjudged the Man of the Match for his brilliant all-round display in the final of the Tournament. 

Oval Invincibles in the year 2024

Oval Invincibles is currently the defending champions of the Hundred competition after they won back-to-back titles in the year 2023 and last year in 2024. The Invincibles performed consistently throughout the tournament, and the finals were no different. Batting first in the final, the Invincibles posted a moderate total of 147 runs with the loss of 9 wickets. Destructive batsman Will Jacks gave a good start as he scored 37 runs in 22 balls. The likes of Sam Curran, Jordan Cox, and Tom Curran chipped in with some runs and helped the Invincibles post this total. 

Coming into the chase, the team from Oval successfully defended the total to lift their second consecutive trophy. Fast bowler Saqib Mahmood turned the match on its head as he took three wickets for only 17 runs, and leg spinner Adam Zampa too chipped in with two wickets. The captaincy of Sam Billings was really impressive, as his captaincy was proactive. For his match-changing spell, Saqib Mahmood was awarded the man of the match trophy. 

The Hundred Awards Till Now

Most Runs

Among all the leagues around the world, The Hundred is the most unique tournament in terms of the playing conditions. In spite of these changes, the Hundred tournament continues to be one of the most competitive tournaments in the world. As far as the most runs in each season are concerned, Liam Livingstone, playing for Birmingham Phoenix, has scored the most runs in the 2021 season. And in the 2022 season, Dawid Malan scored the most runs with 377 runs. As far as the years 2023 and 2024 are concerned, Jos Buttler and James Vince scored the most runs with 391 runs and 424 runs, respectively. 

Most Wickets

As far as the most wickets are concerned, Adam Milne has taken the most wickets in the year 2021 with 12 wickets. In the year 2022, Pl Walter has taken the most wickets with 14 wickets. As far as the most wickets in 2023 and 2024 are concerned, Tymal Mills has taken 16 wickets, whereas Adam Zampa has taken 19 wickets respectively. 

Broadcasting Channels for Watching The Hundred