Southern Brave and Oval Invincibles shine as Hundred’s popularity comes to fore

Good, bad or both?

Ask a staunch cricket traditionalist – someone perhaps currently attempting to halt a potentially imminent reduction in County Championship fixtures – and they will have no shortage of ammunition to explain precisely why The Hundred is terrible for the sport.

But there are plenty of others enjoying it. The ECB this weekend announced that 580,000 tickets have been sold for this year’s tournament, equalling the record attendance figure from 2023. The governing body also proudly proclaimed a total of 1.5 million spectators have watched the women’s Hundred since its inception. It is certainly divisive, but The Hundred has many fans.

Record-breaking Brave

Such is the dominance of Southern Brave’s women that they were able to secure a spot in today’s final with a game to spare, mess around with the batting order for their last group fixture and still make history by emerging victorious.

Never before had a men or women’s team won all of their group matches as Brave did with a perfect record of eight wins this campaign.

Seamer Lauren Bell has been the tournament’s standout player, claiming remarkable figures of 4 for 6 in her last game to take her season’s wicket tally to 19 – an all-time Hundred record.

Outstanding Oval Invincibles

Franchise cricket thrives on competitive balance, where player recruitment is manufactured to ensure anyone can beat anyone. In such a context, Oval Invincibles men are remarkable.

Already double reigning champions, they topped this season’s group standings for the third successive occasion and are on the cusp of a triple success in today’s final.

They have excelled thanks to stability, with minimum squad turnover and a stable core of the Curran brothers, Will Jacks, Jordan Cox, Sam Billings and Nathan Sowter sticking together over multiple seasons. Adam Zampa has also returned in place of the brilliant Rashid Khan for the final.

World Cup clues

England’s three primary seamers – Lauren Bell, Emily Arlott and Lauren Filer – have all enjoyed strong Hundred tournaments, although next month’s Women’s World Cup will be played in the spin-friendly environs of India and Sri Lanka.

New England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt has been her country’s only top-order batter to fire routinely, with fellow veteran Tammy Beaumont enduring a month to forget.

Australians flocked to this year’s Hundred like migrating geese and they have dominated the leading runscorer charts, with Phoebe Litchfield outstanding for Northern Superchargers. Other notable performers include Sophie Devine (New Zealand), Annabel Sutherland (Australia) and Laura Wolvaardt (South Africa).

Ashes watch

Always relied upon to stoke the flames, David Warner’s London Spirit stint will be best remembered for his jibe that Joe Root will have to “take the surfboard off his front leg” if England are to win the Ashes.

Fellow Australian Steve Smith was distinctly underwhelming at Welsh Fire, including being dismissed by standout men’s bowler Josh Tongue, who took 14 wickets in six games.

Zak Crawley has starred with the bat, while Root, Harry Brook and Jamie Smith have shone at points. Rehan Ahmed strengthened his Ashes case by continuing an excellent domestic season with both bat and ball.

Best match

There are a couple of contenders. Nothing beats a close finish and, requiring five runs to win off the last ball against Southern Brave, Graham Clark’s clubbed six over cow corner provided the most dramatic of victories for Northern Superchargers.

The other standout chase saw Oval Invincibles produce a stunning turnaround in pursuit of their 172-run victory target when seemingly sunk in a table-topping clash against Trent Rockets.

With just 40 balls remaining, Invincibles still needed 102 to win. An extraordinary 29 deliveries later they had triumphed thanks to ball-striking of the highest quality from Sam Curran and Jordan Cox.

All change ahead

Like what you see? Good news, the Hundred is going nowhere, but it is poised to change significantly, with ECB boss Vikram Banerjee this week calling for a “reset”.

External investment of £520m means private franchise owners are incoming. Names will change to reflect the wider stables each team now fall under – for example, Oval Invincibles are expected to become MI London as part of the Mumbai Indians empire – and kits/colours will alter accordingly.

Squads will also be ripped apart, with an auction likely to replace the player draft, while a shift to a T20 format remains an option.

Moments you missed

With spectators, the Hundred is all about kids. But it was a different story on the pitch when 43-year-old James Anderson bowled to 40-year-old Samit Patel this week. Who says elite sport has an age limit?

Elsewhere, there was the bizarre scenario of England bowling coach Tim Southee dismissing Joe Root during a short playing stint. Friend one week and foe the next.

So, too, for a pair of England team-mates, with Liam Livingstone revealing his confusion at “good friend” Tom Curran labelling him a “fat slob” out in the middle. Livingstone had the last laugh with a match-winning 69.

Precocious Perrin

In 18-year-old Davina Perrin, Northern Superchargers possess a precocious talent. First drafted in the Hundred when she was 15, Perrin guided her team to an easy victory in yesterday’s eliminator with a phenomenal innings of 101 off 43 balls – the fastest century in women’s Hundred history.

Superchargers’ total of 214 for 5 was the highest ever in the women’s tournament, comprehensively ending London Spirit’s title defence.

With the firepower of Australian duo Annabel Sutherland and Phoebe Litchfield to call upon, plus the considerable bowling nous of Kate Cross, they will hope to ruin Southern Brave’s unbeaten expectations in today’s final.

Photograph by Ben Whitley/Alamy