100-ball cricket

100-ball cricket gives each side exactly 100 deliveries, counted in balls rather than overs.

The English competition The Hundred introduced the format in 2021 with eight city-based teams. Instead of six-ball overs, the bowling is organised in sets of five. A bowler may deliver five or ten balls in a row, and the ends change after every ten balls rather than every six. No bowler may send down more than 20 balls in an innings. The powerplay lasts 25 balls, with two fielders allowed outside the circle, and the fielding side may call one timeout to regroup.

For a manager the differences are subtle but real. A ten-ball spell from one end lets a bowler settle into a plan against the same pair, and there are only ten bowling changes to make. Batters have fewer balls than in a T20 and the scoreboard counts balls remaining rather than overs, which makes the chase equation easier to read and harder to hide from.

In Masterstroke: the City 100 is played by eight city sides across England and Wales, with five-ball sets, ten-ball ends and a balls-first scoreboard.