The 2021 The Hundred season was the inaugural season of The Hundred, a professional franchise 100-ball cricket tournament involving eight men's and women's teams located in major cities across United Kingdom. The tournament was run by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and took place for the first time, having been delayed a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[1]
The tournament gave equal weight to both men's and women's sides, with almost all the matches taking place as back-to-back double-headers at the same venue on the same day, with one ticket giving access to both the men's and women's games.[2]
The eight teams competing were newly created franchises, operating separately from the existing county cricket clubs. Each represented a large area of England and Wales, with venues chosen for their locations in major cities.[3][4][5]
Team personnel was initially announced in 2019. When the tournament finally took place in 2021, Andy Flower replaced Stephen Fleming as the coach of Trent Rockets men and Jonathan Batty replaced Lydia Greenway as the coach of Oval Invincibles women before the start of the season.[6]
Eight teams competed for the men's and women's titles over a month between 21 July and 21 August 2021, ensuring that the competition took place during the school summer holidays. Aside from the opening two fixtures featuring the Oval Invincibles vs the Manchester Originals, all men's and women's matches were held on the same day at the same grounds.
There were 64 matches in the league stage (32 men's, 32 women's). Each team played four matches at home and four matches away. This included one match against every other side and then a second bonus match against their nearest regional rivals.[7]
Once the league stage was completed the top three teams competed in the knockout stage to decide the ultimate champions. The second and third teams met in a semi-final, which was played at the Oval. The winner of the semi-final then met the team that finished top of the league in the final at Lord's.[8]
Semifinal
Final
First-placed team
Second-placed team
Winner of semi-final
Third-placed team
Squads
2019
Each squad was initially made up of 15 players, of whom a maximum of three could be overseas players. For the men's competition, each franchise chose a centrally contracted England Test player, with franchises whose affiliated counties had at least one centrally contracted player in their squads getting first refusal. London Spirit and Welsh Fire, who had no centrally contracted players at their affiliated counties, were then allowed to select from the remaining players.
For the men's teams, each franchise could choose two "local icons", high-profile players who represented one of their affiliated counties.[9]
For the women's teams, each franchise had two centrally contracted players.
On 3 October 2019 the first players to be allocated to teams were announced.[10] They were as follows:
Players for the women's teams were selected between October and 2019 and May 2020, with three player pools established: the remaining England centrally contracted players, overseas players and domestic players.
Teams were allowed a maximum of three centrally contracted players and three overseas players.[11]
Players for the men's teams were signed using a draft system common in other franchise leagues. The draft took place on 20 October 2019 at Sky Studios in Osterley.[12]Sky Sports and BBC Sport showed the event live.[13][14]
The delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on the squads.
Women's teams were less affected because they had had no draft: squads had been built in waves of signings,[15] and were not complete when the pandemic hit. There was little movement among domestic players, as they were allowed to roll over their contracts,[16] but by July 2021, fourteen overseas players had withdrawn.[17]
With regards to the men's teams, changes to England's central contracts in 2020 forced squad changes. Jonny Bairstow lost his contract, so Ollie Pope became Welsh Fire's centrally contracted player, although Bairstow stayed with the side. Elsewhere, Essex's Zak Crawley became London Spirit's centrally contracted player, meaning Rory Burns moved to the Oval Invincibles, the franchise affiliated with his county Surrey. Both the Invincibles and Birmingham Phoenix were given permission to have two centrally contracted players.[18]
In February 2021, teams were given the option to retain or release the players they had drafted in 2019, and took very different approaches. Trent Rockets, Southern Brave and London Spirit kept almost the entirety of the 15-man squads they had drafted in 2019, while Welsh Fire released half of their players and Manchester Originals kept only five.
A total of thirty-five players were released. In some cases this was due to the availability of foreign stars or the changing fortunes of local players, but Brexit was also a factor in this reshuffling. Players who had qualified as "local players" under Kolpak registrations were suddenly "overseas players", meaning eleven of them were released.[19]
The pandemic also meant the men's salaries were reduced by 20%.[20]
Squads were completed in July 2021, with each team being allowed a wildcard pick: a player who had performed well in the T20 Blast.[21] They were as follows:
All games were televised by Sky Sports, with the BBC also showing 10 men's and 8 women's games free-to-air.[3][22] Sky also showed all of the women's games and some of the men's games in full on its YouTube channel.[23]
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