The Hundred 2024 - schedule, England players & how to follow

The fourth edition of The Hundred starts on Tuesday, 23 July with the best players in England again joined by a host of overseas talent.

Southern Brave and Oval Invincibles are the defending champions in the women's and men's competition respectively.

Here's everything you need to know about the 2024 cricket tournament including the schedule, when England players will be available and how to watch and follow on the BBC.

The Hundred is a white-ball cricket tournament designed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to attract more investment and diverse audiences to the game.

It was due to launch in 2020 but was delayed for a year by the Covid-19 pandemic.

There are eight teams in the competition, each representing cities of the UK, rather than the traditional county structure.

The eight teams are: Birmingham Phoenix, London Spirit, Manchester Originals, Northern Superchargers, Oval Invincibles, Southern Brave, Trent Rockets and Welsh Fire.

The men's and women's tournaments run simultaneously and each match sees both team bat for 100 balls, with the highest score winning.

Each bowler can bowl a maximum of 20 balls each, and they can bowl them in five or 10-ball sets.

A powerplay - a section of the innings where the fielding side are only allowed two fielders on the boundary - lasts 25 balls per innings.

Matches are designed to last for two-and-a-half hours in total, making it the fastest format of the game played in the UK and more attractive to TV broadcasters.

The 2024 tournament starts on Tuesday, 23 July with Oval Invincibles hosting Birmingham Phoenix.

In the group stages, which run until 15 August, every side plays eight matches. They play six teams once but their local rival twice.

The local pairings are Phoenix and Rockets, Spirit and Invincibles, Originals and Superchargers, as well as Brave and Fire.

The top side after the group stages qualifies automatically for the final.

The second and third-placed teams meet at Kia Oval on 17 August in the Eliminator, with the winner going through to the final the following day.

The final takes place on Sunday, 18 August at Lord's.

The women's final will start at 14:15 BST, with the men's from 18:00.

Southern Brave finally won their first women's title in 2023 having been beaten by Oval Invincibles in the final of the first two editions.

The men's tournament has had a different winner in each of the three editions.

Southern Brave won the inaugural tournament, before Trent Rockets and Oval Invincibles were successful.

Manchester Originals have been beaten in the past two men's finals.

England's players will be available throughout the women's competition with Heather Knight (Spirit), Nat Sciver-Brunt (Rockets) and Sophie Ecclestone (Originals) among those set to captain their sides.

The tournament will also give players a chance to impress and nail down spots ahead of the Women's T20 World Cup taking place in Bangladesh in October.

However, teenage left-arm seamer Mahika Gaur has been ruled out with a side strain so won't be able to push her case at Originals.

In the men's competition the likes of Jos Buttler (Originals), Phil Salt (Originals), Moeen Ali (Phoenix), Liam Livingstone (Phoenix), Jonny Bairstow (Fire) and Jofra Archer (Brave) are set to feature after appearing for England in June's T20 World Cup.

England Test captain Ben Stokes (Superchargers) will be available to former all-rounder Andrew Flintoff for four matches, with the other batters - Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope (both Spirit), Joe Root (Rockets), Harry Brook (Superchargers), Ben Duckett and Jamie Smith (both Phoenix) - will be available the third Test against West Indies finishes on 30 July.

Brook will captain Superchargers, while Crawley, Pope, Duckett and Smith will hope to push their white-ball aspirations in the tournaments.

Chris Woakes (Phoenix) will be available from 6 August, while Gus Atkinson (Invincibles), Dillon Pennington and Matt Potts' (both Superchargers) availability will be decided after the Test series concludes.

Former England coach Chris Silverwood will assist Tom Moody at Oval Invincibles, with James Foster taking a role at London Spirit.

A host of players from all-conquering Australia are set to play in the women's tournament this year, including former captain Meg Lanning.

The 32-year-old retired from international cricket last November having guided Australia to four T20 World titles and one 50-over success.

She is due to play for London Spirit in her first appearance in the tournament, while compatriots Beth Mooney (Originals) and Ash Gardner (Rockets) are among the others involved.

India's Smriti Mandhana (Brave) and Richa Ghosh (Phoenix), South Africa's Marizanne Kapp (Invincibles) and Laura Wolvaardt (Originals) are other big name overseas players featuring in the women's tournament.

In the men's competition, all eyes will be on leg-spinner Rashid Khan at Rockets, while his Afghanistan team-mate Fazalhaq Farooqi will play for Originals, having finished as the joint-leading wicket-taker in the T20 World Cup last month.

Andre Russell (Spirit), Nicholas Pooran (Superchargers) and Kieron Pollard (Brave) are among a strong West Indies contingent taking part, while Australia leg-spinner Adam Zampa returns to Invincibles.

As with previous editions there are no Indian players in the men's tournament, with their players only allowed to feature in the Indian Premier League.

You will be able to follow the tournament across the BBC.

There will be ball-by-ball commentary on every match across BBC Sounds, BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra and the BBC Sport website and app.

There will also be 15 matches live on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer. Every game is live on Sky Sports.

The BBC Sport website and app will have reports on every game throughout the tournament and daily video highlights of the best moments.

There will be live text commentary and in-play video clips on the Eliminator and final.

The BBC Cricket Instagram, external account will also have all the best moments, plus you can keep up to date with the competition via the BBC Cricket WhatsApp channel, external.

The Hundred 2024 - BBC TV schedule

Times are BST and subject to change

Men's competition:

23 July: Oval Invincibles v Birmingham Phoenix (18:30)

25 July: Manchester Originals v Welsh Fire (18:30)

1 August: London Spirit v Welsh Fire (15:00)

3 August: Birmingham Phoenix v Southern Brave (14:30)

4 August: London Spirit v Oval Invincibles (14:30)

8 August: Welsh Fire v Northern Superchargers (15:00)

10 August: Southern Brave v Trent Rockets (14:30)

13 August: Northern Superchargers v London Spirit (18:30)

14 August: Trent Rockets v Oval Invincibles (18:30)

18 August: Final - TBC v TBC (18:00)

Women's competition:

23 July: Oval Invincibles v Birmingham Phoenix (14:45)

25 July: Manchester Originals v Welsh Fire (15:00)

13 August: Northern Superchargers v London Spirit (15:00)

17 August: Eliminator - TBC v TBC (14:15)

18 August: Final - TBC v TBC (14:15)