7 hours ago
Since nan past shot of nan Hundred past season, alteration has been afoot. Stakes successful each 8 teams were sold to backstage investors, meaning an influx of much than £500m into nan home crippled and a raft of changes successful nan Hundred from pay, to coaches, players and moreover logos. Here is nan Guardian guideline to what’s new.
What’s changed for 2026?
On nan look of it, not a lot. There are still 8 teams, based successful nan aforesaid 8 places, and they still play innings of 100 balls delivered successful sets of 5 aliases 10 alternatively than your accepted overs of six. Each squad play six of their rivals erstwhile but their nearest neighbours twice, nan women and men playing back-to-back connected each occasion, and getting 4 points for a triumph aliases 2 each for ties and abandonments. Whoever tops nan array astatine nan extremity of nan group shape – which starts connected Tuesday and ends connected 12 August – goes done to nan final, while nan teams who decorativeness 2nd and 3rd play disconnected to find who faces them. But beyond that, much aliases little everything. All of nan teams are nether caller aliases importantly altered ownership and 3 person caller names, designed to echo nan Indian Premier League sides whose owners they now share: Oval Invincibles, winners of nan first 2 women’s titles and nan past 3 for nan men, are now MI London, Northern Superchargers are now SunRisers Leeds, and Manchester Originals person go Manchester Super Giants, complete pinch a wide derided – but very beautiful if you hap to for illustration elephants – caller logo.
Are nan teams going to beryllium better?
They are surely going to beryllium amended paid: net pots person gone up by 45% for nan men (to £2.05m per team) and by 100% for nan women (to £880,000). In practice, nan best-paid men went from receiving £125,000 successful 2024 to £200,000 successful 2025, and Harry Brook is said to beryllium earning £465,000 for his activity astatine SunRisers Leeds this twelvemonth (the minimum net for men is, arsenic past year, £31,000). Australia’s Beth Mooney and New Zealand’s Sophie Devine landed nan biggest salaries successful nan women’s tournament, some getting £210,000 (minimum salaries for women person risen from £10,000 to £15,000). But they mightiness beryllium unfamiliar: pinch a maximum of 4 of each team’s 16 signed done what mightiness beryllium termed accepted methods – nan remainder were selected astatine an auction successful March – it has been overmuch harder for them to simply stitchery nan aged gang. So whereas squads had antecedently been beautiful settled – much than half of nan men progressive successful nan 2025 title were playing for nan aforesaid teams successful 2024 – they person now been scattered, and that fig has slumped to conscionable a fifth. London Spirit person seen nan top change: of nan 34 men and women they signed up this year, conscionable 3 were astatine Lord’s successful 2025. Those progressive see 4 of nan world’s apical 5 men’s T20 bowlers, according to ICC rankings, and 5 of nan apical 10 batters (three of them English), and successful nan women’s title each of nan world’s apical 5 batters and 5 of nan apical 10 bowlers (four of them English).
What astir nan coaches?
The magnitude of alteration present dwarfs nan comparatively insignificant meddling pinch nan players, pinch only 2 of nan 16 caput coaches crossed nan men’s and women’s competitions still successful nan positions they held past year. But a batch of philharmonic chairs has been played, and 7 of past year’s coaches person simply swapped sides. With nan England Test squad presently coachless there’s bound to beryllium other attraction fixed to those pulling nan strings, peculiarly fixed that Andy Flower, who was considered favourite for nan occupation earlier he ruled himself retired of nan moving past week, is progressive having moved from Trent Rockets to London Spirit, while Justin Langer, nan combative Australian who now leads nan betting to switch Brendon McCullum, is arsenic astir having swapped London Spirit for Manchester Super Giants.
Will nan players look different?
Absolutely – nan kits, and nan companies who make them, person each changed, and we are astir to find retired what happens to nan Hundred erstwhile nan chips are down. Not conscionable nan chips, either: besides nan popcorn, nan nuts, nan Hula Hoops, and nan “uniquely fizzy, melt-in-the-mouth” prawn cocktail flavoured curiosity that is Skips. The snack brands that adorned nan beforehand of nan teams’ shirts done its first 5 seasons person go victims of shrinkflation, their logos miniaturised and shunted sideways to nan sleeves, to beryllium replaced by nan importantly little playful likes of “global business payments and finance platform” Sokin, wellness and life insurer Vitality, and large slope Barclays. The connection is clear: nan grownups person arrived. Some teams person felt honour-bound to support their aged colours, truthful Trent Rockets mightiness now beryllium sponsored by Vitality but they proceed to look somewhat Skippy. Interestingly 1 squad has not made replica kits disposable to purchase: alternatively Manchester SuperGiants scheme to give, for free, replica shirts to each instrumentality who comes to watch them.
That is simply a batch of change, but astatine slightest it’s each settled now?
I wouldn’t slope connected that. Notably erstwhile nan England and Wales Cricket Board reluctantly gave teams still seeking front-of-shirt sponsors typical exception to partner pinch betting companies for this twelvemonth only, having antecedently decided gambling did not suit nan tournament’s family-friendly ethos, it utilized “the transitional quality of 2026” to excuse it. And location mightiness beryllium different 2 years of insignificant meddling earlier nan existent broadcast deals pinch Sky and nan BBC expire aft nan 2028 play and genuine translator is connected nan table, including nan anticipation of adding much teams – described past twelvemonth by nan ECB’s head of business operations, Vikram Banerjee, arsenic “almost a no-brainer” – and nan imaginable abandonment of nan arguable 100-ball format altogether successful favour of nan much acquainted T20.
