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The Hundred 2026 season will run from July 21 to August 16. It is a 100-ball cricket competition involving eight men’s and women’s teams from across the UK. The 2026 season will include a higher salary cap, increased limits on foreign players, and a modified player auction system. Currently, the women’s Northern Superchargers are the defending champions, while the men’s Oval Invincibles won their third consecutive title.
The championship will begin on Tuesday, July 21, 2026, with the opening match between MI London and Sunrisers Leeds at the Kennington Oval. A total of 64 matchdays are scheduled as per the schedule, culminating with the final on Sunday, August 16, 2026. According to the new rules, four foreign players (up from three) are now allowed per team in both the men’s and women’s competitions.
Each team will play four home matches and four away matches, including one match against each other team in the competition and a bonus match against their nearest regional rivals. Following the league round, the top three clubs will advance to the knockout stage to determine the champion.
Rules for selecting a new player in The Hundred
He has also changed the process of selecting players. This season, instead of recruiting players through the draft, teams used the auction mechanism to finalize their lineups. Ahead of the new season, the women’s competition has announced captains for their respective franchises, and surprisingly, only three of the eight franchises will have an England captain.
This is a contrasting factor from the men’s competition, as seven of the eight franchises 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), Jack Crawley (Sunrisers Leeds), Sam Billings (Trent Rockets) and Phil Salt (Welsh Fire).
England will have three captains in the women’s competition in The Hundred
For the women, the Hundred has three captains who are from England, with Charlie Dean (London Spirit), Dani Gibson (Sunrisers Leeds) and Holly Armitage (MI London), while overseas players are leading the other five franchises. Charlie Dean has been a good leader and also led the England team during the absence of Nat Sciver-Brunt in the recently concluded ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026.
Ash Gardner will lead the team again in 2026, after Nate Sciver-Brunt stepped down as Rockets captain last year. 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 that own The Hundred
Currently, the Hundred franchise is co-owned by the Tata Indian Premier League (IPL) owners. Four teams are owned by companies that have stakes in the IPL: MI London, owned by Reliance Industries (owners of Mumbai Indians), bought a 49% stake for £60 million. Manchester Super Giants are owned by RPSG Group (owners of Lucknow Super Giants) and took a 70% stake for £81 million, with Lancashire retaining a 30% stake.
Sunrisers Leeds, which is owned by Sun TV Network (owners of Sunrisers Hyderabad), purchased 100% of the team for £100 million. Finally, Southern Brave: GMR Group (co-owner of Delhi Capitals) bought 49% stake.