Firstpost Explains: All you need to know about The Hundred, cricket's newest format

Twenty20 Cricket, the sport's most exhilarating format, has new competition in town.

And that's The Hundred, cricket's newest format that has been developed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to find a new audience. The ECB believes The Hundred will help them reach people from diverse backgrounds along with making people from next-generation watch the game of cricket. A typical The Hundred match will have two innings of 100 balls and is expected to last not more than two-and-half hours.

The competition was scheduled to start in 2020, however, it had to be delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There are eight franchises in The Hundred and all of them will have separate men's and women's teams respectively. It got underway on 21 July with the women's team of Oval Invincibles taking on Manchester Originals.

Here's a complete primer on cricket's new avatar:

Which are the eight franchises taking part in The Hundred?

Birmingham Phoenix (Home ground: Edgbaston)

London Spirit (Lord's)

Manchester Originals (Emirates Old Trafford)

Northern Superchargers (Emerald Headingley)

Oval Invincibles (Kia Oval)

Southern Brave (Ageas Bowl)

Trent Rockets (Trent Bridge)

Welsh Fire (Sophia Gardens)

Each team is allowed to have a total of 15 players with a maximum of three overseas cricketers.

The men's and women's competitions will run alongside each other.

What are the rules of The Hundred?

- Each innings will have 100 balls and whoever scores more runs will win the match.

- The coin toss can take place off the ground also.

- The methods of run-scoring and dismissal stay the same as other formats.

- An over will consist of five balls instead of six and the bowling team will switch ends every 10 deliveries.

- A bowler can bowl five or 10 balls on the trot. However, each bowler can only bowl a maximum of 20 balls in a match.

- The powerplay will last for the first 25 balls, during which the fielding team can have only two fielders outside the 30-yard circle.

- The bowling team can call for a strategic timeout after the end of the powerplay during which the coach can walk out onto the pitch to discuss strategy.

- Only one two-minute strategic timeout is allowed in each innings.

- Each match of The Hundred will last two-and-half hours and each innings should not last more than 65 minutes.

- If a bowling team fails to finish 100 balls in 65 minutes then one fielder from the outside ring has to come inside the 30-yard circle for the remainder of the innings.

- The non-striker will not take strike even if s/he has crossed during a dismissal.

What is the format of The Hundred?

Each team will play eight matches, and the league topper will advance to the final.  The team finishing second and third will compete in an eliminator to reach the final. The Lord's will host both the men's and women's finals on 21 August.

Two points will be awarded to a team for a win. A tied match or a no result in the group stage will see each team getting a point each.

In the eliminator or the final, a 'Super Five' will be used if the knockout match ends in a tie. A second "Super Five' will also be allowed if the first one ends in a tie. If the second 'Super Five' also ends in a tie then the team which finished higher during the league stage will be declared the winner.

Are Indian players taking part in The Hundred?

No men's cricketer is taking part in the competition but five India women cricketers are part of it, ncluding Shafali Verma, Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Smriti Mandhana, and Deepti Sharma.

Who are the other top players taking part in the competition?

Some of the big names are Eoin Morgan, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Rashid Khan, Faf du Plessis, Quinton de Kock, Mohammad Amir, Jonny Bairstow, Sunil Narine, Sarah Taylor, and Nat Sciver.

Where can I watch The Hundred in India?

In India, you can watch it on FanCode App or at www.fancode.com.

Complete squads:

Birmingham Phoenix

Women's: Amy Jones, Amily Arlott, Thea Brookes, Erin Burns, Gwen Davies, Georgia Elwiss, Ria Fackrell, Phoebe Franklin, Kirstie Gordon, Evelyn Jones, Marie Kelly, Abtaha Maqsood, Katie Mack, Shafali Verma, Isabelle Wong

Men's: Moeen Ali, Tom Abell, Finn Allen, Daniel Bell-Drummond, Pat Brown, Chris Cooke, Miles Hammond, Tom Helm, Adam Hose, Benny Howell, Liam Livingstone, Adam Milne, Dillon Pennington, Dom Sibley, Will Smeed, Imran Tahir, Chris Woakes

London Spirit

Women's: Heather Knight, Tammy Beaumont, Amara Carr, Aylish Cranstone, Naomi Dattani, Freya Davies, Charlie Dean, Deandra Dottin, Danielle Gibson, Hannah Jones, Sophie Munro, Susie Rowe, Grace Scrivens, Deepti Sharma, Chloe Tryon

Men's: Eoin Morgan, Mohammad Amir, Ravi Bopara, Mason Crane, Zak Crawley, Blake Cullen, Joe Denly, Jade Dernbach, Josh Inglis, Dan Lawrence, Mohammad Nabi, Luis Reece, Adam Rossington, Roelof Van Der Merwe, Mark Wood, Chris Wood

Manchester Originals

Women's: Kate Cross, Georgie Boyce, Natalie Brown, Danielle Collins, Mignon du Preez, Alice Dyson, Sophie Ecclestone, Cordelia Griffith, Alex Hartley, Hannah Jones, Harmanpreet Kaur, Emma Lamb, Lizelle Lee, Ellie Threlkeld

Men's: Colin Ackermann, Carlos Brathwaite, Jos Buttler, Joe Clarke, Lockie Ferguson, Steven Finn, Richard Gleeson, Tom Hartley, Sam Hain, Fred Klaassen, Tom Lammonby, Colin Munro, Jamie Overton, Matt Parkinson, Ollie Robinson, Phil Salt

Northern Superchargers

Women's: Lauren Winfield-Hill, Hollie Armitage, Ami Campbell, Alice Davidson-Richards, Helen Fenby, Phoebe Graham, Bess Heath, Sterre Kalis, Laura Kimmince, Beth Langston, Katie Levick, Kalea Moore, Jemimah Rodrigues, Linsey Smith, Laura Wolvaardt

Men's: Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Faf du Plessis, Matthew Fisher, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Chris Lynn, Adam Lyth, Callum Parkinson, Matthew Potts, Adil Rashid, John Simpson, Jordan Thompson, Ben Raine, Ben Stokes, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, David Willey

Oval Invincibles

Women's: Georgia Adams, Megan Belt, Sarah Bryce, Alice Capsey, Tash Farrant, Jo Gardner, Grace Gibbs, Eva Gray, Danielle Gregory, Shabnim Ismail, Marizanne Kapp, Rhianna Southby, Dane Van Niekerk, Mady Villiers, Fran Wilson

Men's: Sam Billings, Alex Blake, Rory Burns, Jordan Clark, Jordan Cox, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Laurie Evans, Brandon Glover, Colin Ingram, Will Jacks, Sandeep Lamichhane, Saqib Mahmood, Sunil Narine, Jason Roy, Nathan Sowter, Reece Topley

Southern Brave

Women's: Lauren Bell, Maia Bouchier, Sophie Dunkley, Smriti Mandhana, Ella McCaughan, Fi Morris, Tara Norris, Sonia Odedra, Carla Rudd, Paige Scholfield, Anya Shrubsole, Charlotte Taylor, Stafanie Taylor, Amanda-Jade Wellington, Danni Wyatt

Men's: Jofra Archer, Danny Briggs, Devon Conway, Liam Dawson, Colin de Grandhomme, Quinton de Kock, George Garton, Chris Jordan, Jake Lintott, Tymal Mills, Craig Overton, Delray Rawlins, James Vince, Max Waller, Ross Whiteley

Trent Rockets

Women's: Katherine Brunt, Kathryn Bryce, Ella Claridge, Abbey Freeborn, Sarah Glenn, Heather Graham, Teresa Graves, Nancy Harman, Lucy Higham, Sammy-Jo Johnson, Michaela Kirk, Alicia Presland, Rachel Priest, Emily Windsor

Men's: Matt Carter, Sam Cook, Ben Cox, Lewis Gregory, Alex Hales, Rashid Khan, Dawid Malan, Tom Moores, Steven Mullaney, Samit Patel, Wahab Riaz, Joe Root, D'Arcy Short, Timm van der Gugten, Luke Wood, Luke Wright

Welsh Fire

Women's: Piepa Cleary, Bethan Ellis, Katie George, Amy Gordon, Alex Griffiths, Nicole Harvey, Georgia Hennessy, Sophie Luff, Lissy Macleod, Hayley Matthews, Georgia Redmayne, Bryony Smith, Sarah Taylor, Natasha Wraith

Men's: Qais Ahmad, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Tom Banton, Iain Cockbain, Josh Cobb, Matt Critchley, Ben Duckett, Leus du Plooy, Ryan Higgins, David Lloyd, Jimmy Neesham, David Payne, Glenn Phillips, Liam Plunkett, Ollie Pope