Fixtures Announced For The Ecb’s The Hundred
The fixture list for The Hundred has been announced, taking place between 17th July and 15th August 2020.
The first game of the new league will take place at The Oval in south London and will feature Jason Roy and Sam Billings’ Oval Invincibles take on the Welsh Fire, who picked up Steve Smith and Mitchell Starc in the draft.
Meanwhile, the women’s competition – which will feature the same teams playing in the same grounds as the men’s sides – will kick off on 22nd July, when Georgia Elwiss’s Birmingham Phoenix host Sophie Ecclestone’s Manchester Originals in Worcester.
The ECB’s controversial new format was officially announced in April 2018, and since then has added a number of partner brands such as KP Snacks, New Era Caps and Vitality, even before the tournament had officially announced its city-based teams or the players who would be taking part.
The first draft system for a major UK sport took place in October and featured a host of star overseas players, with the likes of Smith and Starc as well as their Ashes-retaining captain David Warner picked up by the franchises. The first player picked was Afghanistan spin bowler Rashid Khan.
Despite a mixed public reaction to the tournament, the inaugural season will be broadcast on Sky Sport and the BBC.
