The Hundred starts tomorrow, with a host of Yorkshire and Northern Diamonds players involved across both the men’s and women’s competition.
Yorkshire have seven players involved in the men’s competition, eight if you include recent Vitality Blast overseas wicketkeeper-batter Donovan Ferreira (Oval Invincibles).
Jonny Bairstow (Welsh Fire), Harry Brook, Adil Rashid (both Northern Superchargers), Dawid Malan (Oval Invincibles), Adam Lyth, Joe Root and Jordan Thompson (all Trent Rockets) are also involved.
Diamonds have 10 players involved in the women’s competition, including Australian overseas all-rounder Erin Burns (London Spirit).
Hollie Armitage, Bess Heath, Sophia Turner (Northern Superchargers), Sterre Kalis, Katie Levick (Birmingham Phoenix), Beth Langston (Welsh Fire), Lizzie Scott, Rachel Slater and Lauren Winfield-Hill (all Oval Invincibles) are also involved.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Beth Langston has signed on with the Welsh Fire for this season’s Hundred.
Here, we have picked a magnificent seven things to look out for over the coming weeks, with both finals taking place at Lord’s on Sunday August 18.
Keep an eye on the Kia Oval tomorrow – it’s a Diamonds takeover!
The Northern Diamonds could have as many as five players involved in the opening game of this summer’s Hundred, between Oval Invincibles and Birmingham Phoenix (2.45pm).
Lizzie Scott, Rachel Slater and Lauren Winfield-Hill are all in the Invincibles squad, Slater for the first time having been picked up in the recent Wildcard draft.
Scott and Winfield-Hill are in turquoise for the second and third year respectively. The latter won the trophy with the Oval side in 2022.
Sterre Kalis and Katie Levick have also returned to the Phoenix squad for their third and second seasons.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Sterre Kalis could be involved in tomorrow’s opener at the Kia Oval.
“I’m looking forward to this next month, it’s going to be really exciting,” said batter Kalis. “It’s a fantastic format which gets a big audience. It shows where women’s cricket is and what we’ve developed into over the last few years.
“It’s a really good competition to play in.”
Significant focus on the Northern Superchargers men
On Sunday morning, the Sky Sports website published an article detailing all you need to know about the Hundred 2024. The first section is entitled, ‘What’s new’.
It says a lot about how much focus there will be on the Headingley-based Superchargers men that the first two things they mentioned were Andrew Flintoff’s appointment as head coach and Harry Brook’s appointment as captain.
Early on in the article, a Ben Stokes photograph also headlined their England availability section.
Picture by Gareth Copley/Getty Images. The Superchargers dream team. England legend Andrew Flintoff has replaced James Foster as coach. Harry Brook has replaced Wayne Parnell as captain. Both were on duty with England at the recent T20 World Cup in the West Indies.
Test captain Stokes is available for four matches following the conclusion of the Test series against the West Indies on July 30.
By that stage, the Superchargers will have already played two games, so Stokes will play in four of the last six group games. It’s as yet unclear exactly which ones they will be.
Maiden Lording it with Spirit
Yorkshire assistant coach Ali Maiden will not be involved with the county through the forthcoming Metro Bank One-Day Cup as he has been appointed as an assistant coach with the London Spirit women’s side, who are based at Lord’s.
Maiden will be one of the assistant coaches working alongside head coach Ashley Noffke, the former Australia men’s white ball seamer.
He will link up with Northern Diamonds overseas all-rounder Erin Burns, who is starting the Hundred with the Spirit as a replacement player for the early games.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Ali Maiden has been appointed as an assistant coach of the London Spirit women’s side this summer.
She is filling in for India’s Deepti Sharma whilst she completes international duties.
Maiden returns to women’s cricket having previously been an assistant coach with England when they famously won the 2017 World Cup on home soil, beating India in the final at Lord’s.
Lythy and Tommo start campaign with Headingley homecoming
Adam Lyth and Jordan Thompson have signed on with Trent Rockets this season, leaving Northern Superchargers and London Spirit respectively. Thompson also started his Hundred journey as a Supercharger back in 2021.
Both men will begin this summer back at Headingley when the Rockets face the Superchargers on Friday evening (6.35pm).
The Trent Rockets men actually have more Yorkshire players in their squad than any other team, including the Headingley-based Superchargers.
Picture by Clive Rose/Getty Images. Adam Lyth in action for the Superchargers last summer. He could play against them on Friday for Trent Rockets.
Joe Root will also return to their squad for a fourth season upon the conclusion of the Test series between England and the West Indies at the start of next week.
The closest thing to a Roses battle comes to Headingley on August 4
If you love your Roses rivalry – and let’s face it, who doesn’t! – you may consider coming to Headingley on Sunday August 4 for the cross-Pennine tussle between the Northern Superchargers and the Manchester Originals.
The women’s match kicks off at 2.30pm before the men’s clash is played under lights from 6pm.
Once again, as has happened across the first three years of the Hundred, the two rivals play each other twice, with the return fixtures at Emirates Old Trafford on August 11.
Picture by Stu Forster/Getty Images. Northern Supercharger Adil Rashid.
The Superchargers women and the Originals men were both beaten finalists in last year’s Hundred, while the Superchargers men and the Originals women both struggled.
The Superchargers men finished bottom and the Originals women second bottom.
Pooran and Phoebe can light up Headingley
Each team in the Hundred is allowed three overseas players.
The Northern Superchargers men have chosen Nicholas Pooran, Mitch Santner and Matthew Short, while the women have chosen Phoebe Litchfield, Annabel Sutherland and Georgia Wareham.
West Indian left-handed batter Pooran is one of the most destructive batting talents in the world – someone who can put bums on seats.
Picture by Stu Forster/Getty Images. Phoebe Litchfield bats for the Northern Superchargers last summer.
Pooran played three Vitality Blast matches for Yorkshire in 2019 as an overseas player and did well, posting scores of 12, 67 and 43. It was good time, not a long time as far as the Vikings were concerned, and it’s a shame he hasn’t been back since.
Australian left-hander Litchfield, 21, is already a superstar of the women’s game, despite her tender years.
All class but not without power, the Sydney Thunder batter was the third leading run-scorer in last year’s Hundred with 279 in nine innings, including one fifty.
She was a major reason why the Superchargers reached the final, only to be beaten by Southern Brave in the final at Lord’s.
