The Hundred – The New UK’s Favorite Cricket Tournament To Bet On

The Hundred, a brand-new cricket event, just got underway on Wednesday, July 21, 2022, and it promises to be an event unlike any other. Eight teams from seven different cities will compete to score as many runs from 100 balls as possible in what has been called one of the biggest changes to cricket in generations. The coronavirus pandemic caused The Hundred to be postponed by a year from its original summer 2017 start date. On July 21, the women’s competition gets underway, and on July 22, the men’s.

Bettors are also excited and on the edge over this new cricket competition. The hundred betting is already a growing trend, and bookies are scrambling to offer the earliest and best odds to attract bettors to wager on their platform. But with that said, here are the things you need to know about The Hundred.

What is The Hundred?

The Hundred, as the name suggests, will last 2.5 hours and contain 100 balls per innings, 20 fewer than a typical T20 game. In this competition, the six-ball overs are eliminated in favor of a set of five deliveries known as “fives.” The first set of fives will end when the umpire holds a white card. The decision to let a specific bowler bowl 10 balls (two consecutive fives) from one end or only one “five” is up to the fielding captain. After the first 25 balls, a fielding side may, but is not required to, take a two-minute timeout. In The Hundred, the word “batsman” doesn’t exist. It’s been replaced by the gender-neutral term “batter.”

Both sides will receive one point each if there is a tie during the group stage. In the knockout stage, a “Super Five” tie-breaker will be applied if there is a tie. The team that placed higher on the ladder during the group stage will advance if the second Super Five is also deadlocked.

The relevance of The Hundred in English cricket

The Hundred is designed to make the game more approachable to a wider audience, notably mothers and children, and is simpler and shorter than the T20. The ECB developed a special prototype that stood out from the competition in response to the Indian Premier League’s success.

Tom Harrison estimated that the cricket board would stand to make up to £11 million in profits by organizing the Hundred this year, including TV rights, sponsorship arrangements, ticket sales, and merchandise, in an interview while referring to it as “a profit center.” Harrison stated that doing so would enable the ECB to recover most of the losses sustained over the previous 18 months as a result of the pandemic.

Some are against The Hundred

The Hundred is criticized as a kitschy and unwelcome addition to a calendar that is already full. The ECB has also drawn criticism for minimizing the intelligence of their intended audience—”mums and kids”—by implying that traditional cricket was an incomprehensibly complex sport.

The home-grown 50-over domestic tournament, which was a hallmark event in the English summer, has suddenly lost its sheen with the final being played on Thursday and not on a weekend, prompting criticism that it is an “effort to restrict the number of counties by stealth.”

What the future holds

It is unclear whether crowds will pour into the stadiums or gather in front of televisions to watch The Hundred without the participation of prominent international athletes. Despite the abundance of T20 leagues springing up all over the world, it’s too soon to say whether the ECB’s dream 100-ball initiative will usher in the game’s next major transformation.