What has changed in The Hundred for 2026?

The 2026 edition of The Hundred gets under way on Tuesday and will have some significant changes from previous years.

In 2025, the ECB finalised the sale of stakes in all eight teams with over £500m of the funds generated set to be reinvested back into English and Welsh cricket.

As part of the changes, some team names and badges have also been updated to reflect their new owners.

Here is a look at all of the changes coming on and off the field for this year's competition.

Since the 2025 Hundred campaign ended last August, all eight teams have been either partially or fully taken over by new owners as part of significant financial investment into the competition.

Of those eight, four have gone to ownership groups that are also involved in the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises.

Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly is also among the new investors after purchasing a 49% stake in the Trent Rockets.

Following the influx of new ownership, there have also been some changes made to a few team names, badges and kits.

Three team names have changed to be in line with IPL clubs they are partners with. The Northern Superchargers have become Sunrisers Leeds, the Oval Invincibles are now known as MI London and the Manchester Originals have become the Manchester Super Giants.

That trio of teams have also updated their badges and kits following their re-branding.

While the Southern Brave have not changed their name, their colour scheme has switched from green and black to blue and red.

MI London have also switched colour schemes to blue and gold, in line with their partner IPL side the Mumbai Indians.

London Spirit have changed jerseys from dark blue to purple and black with a red and yellow trim.

Sunrisers Leeds have swapped from purple and white strips to orange and black.

Manchester Super Giants are yet to release their shirt for the campaign, but have changed their badge to a red, white and yellow colour scheme with an elephant on it.

Trent Rockets, Welsh Fire and Birmingham Phoenix are the only teams to not make significant changes to their badges or shirt colour schemes.

Grace Ballinger column: How will a revamped Hundred play out?

The opening match of the 2026 edition of The Hundred is in the women's competition between MI London and Sunrisers Leeds at The Oval.

That starts at 14:45 BST on Tuesday, 21 July. The two teams will meet later that evening in the men's competition.

There are daily matches from then until Wednesday, 12 August, which is the final day of the group stage in both competitions.

On Friday, 14 August the eliminator will take place in both competitions. There, the teams finishing second and third in the group stage will meet in a play-off, with the winner facing the group stage winners in the final.

The finals for both competitions take place two days later on Sunday, 16 August in a double header at Lord's.

New investment brought major changes in the player auction, which took place in March.

In both competitions, teams were allowed to pre-sign up to four players each. England white ball captain Harry Brook was the most expensive signing, staying at Sunrisers Leeds for £460,000.

England white ball batter Phil Salt signed for Welsh Fire in a £450,000 move, while England fast bowler Jofra Archer remains at Southern Brave, having been picked up for £400,000.

Archer is joined by England's Test wicketkeeper Jamie Smith, joining the Brave for £300,000.

English all-rounder James Coles broke the record for most expensive Hundred signing from the auction when joining London Spirit for £390,000. England wicket-keeper Jordan Cox also signed for Welsh Fire for £300,000.

Former England Test captain Joe Root joined Welsh Fire for £240,000, while England white-ball spinner Adil Rashid was acquired for £250,000 by Southern Brave.

England pace bowlers Josh Tongue and Gus Atkinson both signed for the Manchester Super Giants for £200,000 and £70,000 respectively.

In the women's competition, England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt and Lauren Bell were the joint-most expensive retention signings at £140,000 each. All-rounder Sciver-Brunt is staying with the Trent Rockets, with Lauren Bell staying at Southern Brave.

England all-rounder Alice Capsey has joined Birmingham Phoenix, having been sold for £130,000 in the retentions round.

Following a one-year break from the competition, India batter Smriti Mandhana has joined Manchester Super Giants for £90,000. England spinner Sophie Ecclestone is alongside, being retained at £110,000.

New Zealand all-rounder Sophie Devine and Australia wicket-keeper Beth Mooney both recorded the most expensive women's signings. The duo, both sold for £210,000, joined the Welsh Fire and Trent Rockets respectively.

England fast bowler Issy Wong has signed for Southern Brave for £130,000. Wong joins England spinners Tilly Corteen-Coleman and Sarah Glenn, who the Brave signed for £105,000 and £75,000 respectively.

Batter Tammy Beaumont, who recently called time on her international career, was signed by Birmingham Phoenix for £70,000.

2025 – Sunrisers Leeds (formerly Northern Superchargers)

You will be able to follow the tournament across the BBC, including 16 matches live on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer.

Isa Guha, Alex Hartley and Amber Sandhu will present the coverage with Michael Vaughan, Sir Alastair Cook and Phil Tufnell returning as pundits.

New faces include England Test opener Emilio Gay and seamer Mark Wood, while former India batter Ajinkya Rahane and New Zealand wicketkeeper Katey Martin will also be involved.

World Cup-winners Tymal Mills, Ebony Rainford-Brent, Dawid Malan, Amanda Jade-Wellington and Carlos Brathwaite will also be part of the coverage.

There will be ball-by-ball audio commentary on all 68 matches on BBC Sounds, with extensive coverage on BBC Radio 5 Live and 5 Sports Extra.

The BBC Sport website and app will have reports on every game and daily video highlights of the best moments, while there will be live text commentary and in-play video clips on the Eliminator and finals.

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

BBC Sport's YouTube channel will have highlights throughout the tournament, and keep an eye out for 'Ravi meets' - a new feature with a partially-sighted cricket fan who took BBC Sport's social channels by storm in the summer of 2025.

Times are BST and subject to change (women's game first, then men's)

Tuesday, 21 July : MI London v Sunrisers Leeds (14:45 & 18:30)

Wednesday, 22 July : Southern Brave v Welsh Fire (14:45 & 18:30)

Sunday, 26 July : Trent Rockets v London Spirit (14:30 & 18:00)

Sunday, 2 August : MI London v Manchester Super Giants (14:30 & 18:00)

Tuesday, 4 August : Sunrisers Leeds v London Spirit (15:00 & 18:30)

Wednesday, 5 August : Trent Rockets v Birmingham Phoenix (15:00 & 18:30)

Sunday, 9 August : London Spirit v Birmingham Phoenix (14:30 & 18:00)

This article is the latest from BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team.

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