No overs, no six-ball sets, and a wide costs the bowling side two runs instead of one. Five seasons in, The Hundred still looks like nothing else in professional cricket, and its sixth edition just kicked off with more money and more star power behind it than ever before. Here is exactly how The Hundred format works and why it plays so differently from T20.
The Basic Structure: 100 Balls, Not 120
The core idea behind The Hundred is right there in the name. Each innings consists of exactly 100 balls rather than the 120 balls, or 20 six-ball overs, used in T20 cricket. That 20-ball reduction sounds small, but it meaningfully shortens both playing time and total runs scored, with a typical match wrapped up in around two and a half hours, noticeably tighter than a standard T20 fixture.
How Bowling Actually Works Without Overs
Sets of Five or Ten Balls
Instead of the familiar six-ball over, The Hundred is bowled in sets of five balls. A bowler delivers five consecutive balls, and then the captain decides whether that same bowler continues for a second five-ball set, effectively bowling ten balls in a row, or whether a different bowler takes over. This small tweak gives captains a genuinely different set of tactical options compared to T20, since a bowler can be brought on for a short, sharp five-ball burst against a specific batter rather than committing to a full six-ball over.
Ends Change Every Ten Balls
Fielding sides switch ends after every ten balls rather than after every six, which keeps the bowling rotation flowing in longer blocks even as individual bowlers rotate in and out within that block. It takes a match or two to get used to watching, but the effect is a format that never quite settles into the familiar over-by-over rhythm of traditional cricket.
The 20-Ball Bowling Limit
No single bowler can deliver more than 20 balls in an innings, the equivalent of just over three T20 overs. That cap forces teams to use a genuinely varied bowling attack rather than leaning too heavily on one standout performer, and it is one of the format’s more subtle but important points of difference from T20, where a team’s best bowler can send down a full four overs.
Scoring Rules That Change the Math
A handful of scoring tweaks separate The Hundred from every other white-ball format. Here are the ones that matter most:
- A 25-ball powerplay opens each innings, with fielding restrictions designed to reward early aggression
- Wides and no-balls cost the bowling side two runs instead of the usual one, adding real pressure on bowlers to stay accurate
- If scores finish level, the match is decided by a Super 5, a five-ball shootout rather than the traditional Super Over
- Timeouts are kept tight, around 90 seconds, to preserve the format’s fast pace throughout
Every one of these rules exists for the same reason: to squeeze more urgency and fewer dead periods into a shorter match than T20 already offers.
Teams and Tournament Structure
The Hundred runs eight men’s and eight women’s franchises, based in major cities across England and Wales rather than tied to traditional county sides. Men’s and women’s matches are played as double-headers at the same venue on the same day, giving both competitions equal billing rather than treating the women’s tournament as a supporting fixture. The competition follows a round-robin group stage before moving into knockout matches to decide the champion in each competition.
What Changed for the 2026 Season
The sixth edition of The Hundred, running from July 21 to August 16, 2026, arrived with the format itself untouched, ECB chair Richard Thompson was blunt about that, confirming it remains a 100-ball competition despite speculation about a shift to 20 overs, but almost everything around the format has changed.
All eight franchises were sold to new ownership groups, several with direct IPL ties. Manchester Originals became Manchester SuperGiants under majority ownership tied to Lucknow Super Giants, while the Oval Invincibles became MI London under partial ownership from Reliance Industries, the group behind Mumbai Indians. Southern Brave brought in GMR Group, co-owners of Delhi Capitals, as investors. The sale raised more than 500 million pounds, money the ECB says will help clear existing debt across county cricket and fund grassroots investment.
On the cricket side, the tournament introduced its first-ever player auction, replacing the old draft system with IPL-style bidding, James Coles went for 390,000 pounds in the inaugural sale. The overseas player limit was also expanded from three to four per starting XI, and a new combined team trophy now rewards whichever franchise performs best across both its men’s and women’s squads combined, awarding four points for every match win in either competition plus bonus points for topping a group.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many balls are in an innings of The Hundred?
Each innings consists of exactly 100 balls, compared to the 120 balls bowled in a T20 innings.
How many balls can one bowler deliver in The Hundred?
A bowler can deliver a maximum of 20 balls in an innings, made up of either two five-ball sets or one ten-ball set plus one five-ball set.
Is The Hundred switching to a 20-over format?
No. Despite speculation, ECB chair Richard Thompson confirmed the tournament remains a 100-ball competition for the 2026 season and beyond in the current broadcast cycle.
What happens if a match in The Hundred is tied?
Tied matches are decided by a Super 5, a five-ball shootout similar in concept to a Super Over but shortened to match the tournament’s overall format.
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