WITH a vision to attract younger crowd and marketing the game, cricket's brand new franchise-based tournament, The Hundred begins July 21, as BBC announced its broadcast plan in a media launch on Wednesday (30).
The first match of The Hundred - a women's fixture between Oval Invincibles and Manchester Originals - followed by the men's fixture between the same teams, the next day. Each team has both a men's and women's side.
Drawing inspiration from other city-based tournaments around the world, The Hundred will have eight teams - Birmingham Phoenix, London Spirit, Manchester Originals, Northern Superchargers, Oval Invincibles, Southern Brave, Trent Rockets and Welsh Fire.
BBC will air 18 of the matches, including both the finals, with the coverage being lead by former England cricketer Isa Guha, and will be joined by Phil Tufnell and Michael Vaughan on commentary. For insight and analysis, Carlos Braithwaite and Heather Knight will also be part of the team.
To have a different take and perspective to the tournament's coverage - James Anderson, Greg James, and Felix White, who present the Tailenders podcast will also be involved. There will also be direct insight from the pitch with players Alex Hartley, Tymal Mills, Lauren Winfield Hill, Steven Finn and Heather Knight giving their views as the action unfolds.
Director of BBC Sport, Barbara Slater said: “We are absolutely thrilled to bring The Hundred live across BBC TV, radio and online this summer. Our expert line-up, which includes some of the very best current players, will bring a stellar combination of knowledge, entertainment and analysis for this exciting new competition.”
During the BBC's media launch event, Vaughan and Tufnell picked Southern Brave to win The Hundred because of their strong bowling attack. On the other hand, James Anderson, who will not be part of The Hundred in a playing capacity picked Manchester Originals, an obvious choice being loosely affiliated to the franchise.
About the format
100 balls per team and the side with most runs wins.
Each team will meet each other once, apart from their paired 'rivals', whom they meet twice (home and away).
There will be 32 league matches in total, with the top three finishers competing in the Finals Day (top team automatically reaches the final, with second versus third for the other spot in the final).
(Coverage of The Hundred on BBC Radio 5 Live and 5 Live Sports Extra)
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