A divisive tournament, The Hundred finally comes of age

The Hundred is over for 2025. At Lords, last Sunday, the Oval Invincibles men’s team lived up to their name by winning the trophy for the third consecutive year.

The Trent Rockets, winners in 2022, were dispatched in the final. In the women’s final, the Northern Superchargers beat the Southern Brave.

After five years of getting used to the format, the team names and the garish branding, it has seemed that, whisper it softly, the tournament has gained wider acceptability.

Perhaps the determination, bordering on evangelism, of The Hundred’s proponents for it to succeed have browbeaten naysayers into submission. Even I have watched much more of it in person than in previous years.

Record attendances were recorded at four different grounds in 2025, including 22,542 at the women’s final. A total of 580,000 tickets were sold and issued.

The audience demographics were consistent with 2024, with 23 percent junior tickets, 41percent families and 30 percent female buyers. Viewing figures increased in 2025.

In the group stages, Sky Sports’ audience for The Hundred rose by an average of 38 percent compared with 2024. BBC Sport experienced 2.2 million online viewing requests in 2025, up from 1.6 million in 2024.

These metrics speak of success, of a sound base on which to build for the future. Yet, The Hundred’s future is going to be different to its past. How much so will play out over the coming months under the direction of a new board.

This will feature representatives of the England and Wales Cricket Board, the host clubs and investors. The ECB has delegated authority to the board relating to certain aspects of the strategic direction and commercial growth of The Hundred. These include sponsorship and licensing deals,