Women’s Hundred returns with new stars but prime-time pressure

And so it returns, with all its high-summer razzmatazz. The men have been at it for a week already, but after a short delay due to the Commonwealth Games, the second edition of the Hundred (women’s competition) will get under way on Thursday at the Kia Oval, with defending champions Oval Invincibles going head-to-head against Northern Superchargers. There will be live music. There will be fireworks. There will be coverage on the BBC (seven women’s matches this year), building up to a final at Lord’s on Saturday 3 September.

So far, so similar. Yet this year’s sequel is not without its adjustments. There are personnel changes – a host of leading Australia internationals will have their first taste of 100-ball cricket this year, including Ellyse Perry (Birmingham Phoenix), Megan Schutt and Beth Mooney (London Spirit), and Alyssa Healy (Northern Superchargers). One high-profile absentee will be Meg Lanning, who pulled out of the competition after announcing on Wednesday that she is taking an indefinite leave from cricket for personal reasons.

In a baby step towards narrowing the infuriating gender pay gap, the 16 highest-paid women will this year earn marginally more than the lowest-paid men (£31,250 compared to £30,000). Perhaps most significantly, several of the women’s matches – including Thursday’s curtain-raiser at the Oval – are being played in the “prime-time” slot, after the men’s game has concluded. “Hopefully we can do justice to that,” Invincibles captain Dane van Niekerk said on Wednesday.

If last year is anything to go by, she need have no fears. For players like Alice Capsey, who was the sensation of last year’s competition at the age of just 16, the Hundred smoothed the path to stepping up and thriving on the