The Hundred: Rules Explained

As cricket welcomes the dawn of its newest format, The Hundred, we’ve taken a look at just how the new game works and what the rules are in this handy guide.

Cricket is a complex game of strategy and all kinds of intricacies so when you throw a completely new format, never before seen, into the mix then confusion is inevitable.

However, the point of The Hundred is to simplify cricket as we know it and in turn open the game up to a new audience, so under that premise, it should be straightforward and easy to understand.

Maybe not, but we have put together this explanation of the rules to accompany our The Hundred: All you need to know guide.

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The rules

Much like traditional one-day cricket, there are two teams consisting of 11 players and each team has an innings to bat through. The highest scoring team in their innings is then the winner, which sounds simple enough. However, each innings will consist of 100 balls – hence The Hundred.

This is the biggest difference. If using traditional overs, 16.4 overs would be bowled, but this is not traditional. Instead, this formula doesn’t rely on conventional overs and bowlers can actually bowl in five or 10-ball stints up to a maximum of 20 balls.

Another difference and shift away from the game as we know it, is that the batting side is able to take a time-out of up to two minutes. The purpose of this time is so that coaches can assess the state of the game and change tactics reactively.

Powerplays remain fairly similar to one-day cricket, however, this comes with the caveat that the powerplay is measured by 25 balls. During this time two fielders will be able to stand outside of the 30-yard ring.

In what is disrupting a historic sport and ruffling the feathers of traditionalists, the one thing we can be guaranteed out of this formula is fireworks.

So, now the rules have been explained, all you need to do is to sit back and enjoy the show.