The Format of The Hundred Tournament – Explained

The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) came up with the idea of this exciting format — The Hundred — in 2021. The Hundred is an action-packed format, as its rules differ from the traditional red and white ball formats.

Both men’s & women’s tournaments, featuring 8 teams from 7 cities, are held for a month. The competition has its own set of rules to make the event exciting.

We look at The Hundred competition’s format and rules in detail.

Format of The Hundred

Teams play against each other on a home and away basis in 32 matches of the group stage. The team finishing at the top makes it to the final, while the 2nd and 3rd ranked teams play each other in an eliminator game to reach the final.

Each bowling team bowls 100 balls, 20 fewer than in T20 cricket. The match will get over quickly, as it will take at most two and a half hours to finish. The team scoring the most runs wins the game.

The fielding team changes ends after 10 balls instead of a six-ball over. Bowlers can bowl 5 balls or 10 consecutive balls, while one bowler can bowl a maximum of 20 balls in a match.

During the start of an innings, there is a 25-ball powerplay for each team. Only 2 fielders are allowed outside the 30-yard circle during the powerplay.

Also Read | Powerplays in T20Is – Explained

Rules of The Hundred

A strategic time out of 90 seconds is allowed for the bowling side while the coach can enter the ground to discuss strategies with his players during this time.

A maximum of one unsuccessful DRS is allowed for each team per innings, while 25 balls are to be bowled to the team that bats second if the result isn’t clear.

One fielder less will be allowed outside the field restriction area if a team is not able to bowl the last 5 balls within 65 minutes of the innings.

During a knockout stage, if there is a tie, a ‘Super 5’ is bowled in which each team bats for 5 balls, and the team that scores more in those 5 balls wins the game.

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