Eight teams, six summers, and one question that trips up more cricket fans than it should: name them all. The Hundred begins its sixth staging on Tuesday, 21 July, and the competition that arrived in 2021 amid open hostility from parts of the county game now enters its first season under part-private ownership, with roughly £500m of investment banked by the England and Wales Cricket Board and franchise valuations that would have looked absurd three years ago.
So, the answer. Birmingham Phoenix. London Spirit. Manchester Originals. Northern Superchargers. Oval Invincibles. Southern Brave. Trent Rockets. Welsh Fire. Most people get five or six. The ones that vanish from memory are almost always Welsh Fire and Northern Superchargers — the two sides that, not coincidentally, have spent the most time in the lower half of the table.
The eight, and where they actually play
Part of the naming problem is that The Hundred deliberately severed the link between team name and county, and city-based branding has taken time to stick. Here is the map:
- Birmingham Phoenix — Edgbaston
- London Spirit — Lord’s
- Manchester Originals — Old Trafford
- Northern Superchargers — Headingley, Leeds
- Oval Invincibles — The Kia Oval
- Southern Brave — the Utilita Bowl, Southampton
- Trent Rockets — Trent Bridge, Nottingham
- Welsh Fire — Sophia Gardens, Cardiff
Two London sides, no side west of Cardiff or north of Leeds. That geography has been a persistent criticism — Durham, Somerset and Essex supporters have all watched a competition built partly on their players’ labour without a home team to attach to. The eight-team structure was a commercial decision, not a sporting one: eight fits a 32-match group stage across a five-week August window without cannibalising the Blast.
Why the honours board is so lopsided
If the names blur, the winners do not. Oval Invincibles have been the defining team of the competition, men’s and women’s. The women’s side took the first two titles in 2021 and 2022; the men’s side then assembled a run of championships from 2023 onwards built on a simple, ruthless template — Sam Billings’ aggressive field settings, Sunil Narine and Adam Zampa strangling the middle overs, and a top order told to attack the first 25 balls without exception.
Southern Brave won the inaugural men’s competition in 2021, Trent Rockets took 2022, and Northern Superchargers claimed a women’s title in 2024. Beyond that, the spread is thin. Welsh Fire have been the competition’s problem child, finishing bottom or near it in the men’s event repeatedly despite recruiting names like Jonny Bairstow and Steve Smith — evidence that in a 100-ball format, squad balance and death bowling matter far more than marquee batting.
The format itself explains some of the volatility. Ten-ball sets from one end, a bowler permitted up to 20 deliveries, and a two-and-a-half-minute strategic timeout compress the game so severely that a single set can decide it. Chasing sides win a clear majority. Toss advantage is real, and captains know it.
What the new money changes
The 2025 sale of 49% stakes in each team is the most consequential thing to happen to English domestic cricket in a generation. Indian conglomerates and IPL ownership groups moved in hard: Reliance took the Oval stake, Sun Group bought into Northern Superchargers, the Knight Riders group into Manchester Originals, GMR into Southern Brave. London Spirit went to a consortium of Silicon Valley executives at a valuation north of £290m — for a team that had never won anything.
The upside for the counties is immediate and large: the eight host venues and the wider county network share proceeds that, for several clubs, wipe out debt built up over two decades. The risk is equally clear. Owners with IPL portfolios want player-movement rights, longer windows and a schedule that suits a global franchise calendar, not the County Championship. The ECB retains control for now. Whether it retains it in 2030 is a live question.
For this summer, the sporting question is narrower and more interesting: can anyone stop the Invincibles? Every rival has spent the winter recruiting specifically to solve the same problem — how to survive Narine’s opening sets. Six seasons in, the competition finally has a dynasty worth dismantling. Now fans just need to remember who is trying.
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**Editorial note:** I’ve kept 2025-season specifics deliberately general — I can confirm Oval Invincibles’ men’s dominance from 2023 and the ownership sale figures, but I’d flag the 2025 men’s and women’s final results and the current 2026 squad lists for a sub-editor to verify against the ECB site before publication. Word count: ~715.
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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