The new cricket tournament gets underway on 21 July.

bbc the hundred cricket

The BBC has revealed its broadcast plans for The Hundred, ahead of its launch on 21 July.

The Hundred features a number of rule changes aimed at marketing cricket to new audiences. These include limiting innings to 100 balls, with five-ball overs until the final one which will have ten deliveries. Each player can bowl a maximum of 20 deliveries in the match.

In addition, instead of counties there are eight city-based sides: Birmingham Phoenix, London Spirit, Manchester Originals, Northern Superchargers, Oval Invincibles, Southern Brave, Trent Rockets and Welsh Fire.

18 matches will be aired by the public broadcaster, ten of which will be men’s and eight women’s - including both finals. Isa Guha will lead the coverage, and will be joined by Phil Tufnell and Michael Vaughan on commentary. Carlos Braithwaite and Heather Knight will also give insight and analysis.

James Anderson, Greg James, and Felix White, who present the Tailenders podcast, will also be involved in the coverage, giving an alternative take on proceedings. Players Alex Hartley, Tymal Mills, Lauren Winfield Hill, Steven Finn and Heather Knight will be giving their insight directly from the pitch.

On radio, BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra will feature matches, with a commentary team including Henry Moeran, Alison Mitchell, Aatif Nawaz, Isabelle Westbury and Scott Read.

Director of BBC Sport, Barbara Slater said: “We are absolutely thrilled to bring The Hundred live across BBC TV, radio and online this summer. Our expert line-up, which includes some of the very best current players, will bring a stellar combination of knowledge, entertainment and analysis for this exciting new competition.”

The women’s and men’s opening matches, both Oval Invincibles v Manchester Originals, take place on 21 and 22 July respectively.