English officials have finalized the playing conditions and rules for the much-awaited tournament which is the “The Hundred”. The inaugural competition will see both men’s and women’s games. It will kick start on July 21 with a women’s game between Oval Invincibles and Manchester Originals at Kennington Oval, London. Men’s matches will commence from July 22 and both, men’s and women’s games will run concurrently.
Balls over ‘overs’
The new 100-ball competition will see sets of five deliveries instead of six ball-overs. The term ‘overs’ has reportedly been scrapped for the inaugural season of The Hundred, with ‘balls’ to be used instead to measure the progress of a game.
Two sets of five balls will be bowled from one end before changing, by the same bowler if desired, the umpire will hold up a white card to signal the end of the first set of five. They will also call ‘five’ at the end of a bowler’s set of deliveries, instead of the traditional call of ‘over’. There will be a mandatory 50-second break at the change of ends.
Penalty for slow over-rate
The teams will have to be on their toes right through the duration of the play as they will be penalized for slow over-rate. If a team is deemed to be behind the over rate, they will be required to field with one fewer player outside the inner fielding circle from the point the penalty is incurred.
In another notable change, the non-striker must return to his/her original end after there is a caught dismissal of the striker, even if both have crossed.
Other changes from a standard T20 game include:
* It is not mandatory to have the toss of coin on the ground
* A bowler can bowl a maximum of 20 balls (4 sets)
* The first 25 balls (5 sets) of each innings will mark the Powerplay. During the Powerplay, only two fielders will be allowed outside the inner fielding circle
* An amended Duckwoth-Lewis-Stern method, which factors in balls instead of overs, will be used for rain-curtailed matches
* The fielding team can take a strategic timeout at any point after the first 25 balls (5 sets) of an innings are bowled
* In case of a tie in the group stage, each team will attract one point
* In the knockout stage, if there is a tie, there will be a ‘Super Five’ tie-breaker. If the second ‘Super Five’ is also tied, the team having higher points in the group stage will progress to the next round.
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Indian Women players at The Hundred
In the inaugural “The Hundred”, there will be five Indian women cricketers participating. Right-hand opening bat Shafali Verma will represent Birmingham Phoenix, all-rounder Deepti Sharma will be a part of London Spirit, India’s T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur will play for Manchester Originals, right-hand top-order bat Jemimah Rodrigues will represent Northern Superchargers, and left hand opening bat Smriti Mandhana will be seen in Southern Brave colors. It will be interesting to see how these girls fare in the ultra-short format of the game.
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