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The Hundred's 2026 season will run from July 21 to August 16. It is a 100-ball cricket competition with eight men's and women's teams from throughout the UK. The 2026 season will feature higher salary caps, increased overseas player limitations, and a revamped player auction system. Currently, the Women Northern Superchargers are defending champions, while the men's Oval Invincibles won their third consecutive title.
The championship kicks off on Tuesday, July 21, 2026, at the Kennington Oval, with an opening match between MI London and Sunrisers Leeds. A total of 64 matchdays are held throughout venues as per the schedule, ending in the finals on Sunday, August 16, 2026. As per the new rules, both men’s and women’s competitions now permit four overseas players per squad (up from three).
Each team will play four home matches and four away, with one match against each other team in the competition plus a bonus match against their nearest regional rivals. Following the league round, the top three clubs will advance to the knockout stage to determine champions.
New player picking rule in The Hundred
They have also changed the process of picking the players. This season, instead of assigning players through a draft, teams used an auction mechanism to finalise their lineups. Ahead of the new season, the women’s competition have announced the captains for their respective franchises, and surprisingly, only three out of the eight franchises will have captains from England.
This is a contrasting factor from the men’s competition, as out of the eight franchises, seven have captains from the England National Cricket Team. The captains for the 2026 season are Jacob Bethell (Birmingham Phoenix), Liam Livingstone (London Spirit), Aiden Markram (Manchester Super Giants), Sam Curran (MI London), Chris Jordan (Southern Brave), Zak Crawley (Sunrisers Leeds), Sam Billings (Trent Rockets), and Phil Salt (Welsh Fire).
The Hundred to have 3 England captains in Women competition
For the women’s, Charlie Dean (London Spirit), along with Dani Gibson (Sunrisers Leeds) and Hollie Armitage (MI London), are the three captains in the Hundred who are from England, with overseas players leading the other five franchises. Charlie Dean has been a good leader and led the England side as well during Nat Sciver-Brunt’s absence in the recently concluded ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026.
After Nat Sciver-Brunt stepped down as Rockets captain last year, Ash Gardner will lead the team again in 2026. The latter will be joined by Meg Lanning (Manchester Super Giants), Ellyse Perry (Birmingham Phoenix), and Sophie Molineux (Southern Brave), while New Zealand's Sophie Devine will lead Welsh Fire.
IPL franchises who own The Hundred
Currently, the Hundred franchises have been co-owned by the owners of the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL). Four teams are owned by companies with stakes in IPL: MI London, owned by Reliance Industries (owners of Mumbai Indians), bought the 49% stake for £60m. Manchester Super Giants is owned by RPSG Group (owners of Lucknow Super Giants) and took a 70% stake for £81m, with Lancashire retaining 30%.
Sunrisers Leeds, which is owned by Sun TV Network (owners of Sunrisers Hyderabad), purchased 100% of the team for £100m. Lastly, Southern Brave: GMR Group (co-owners of Delhi Capitals) bought a 49% stake.
