ECB announce figures showing success of The Hundred’s second edition

Following The Hundred’s showpiece final on Saturday, which saw Oval Invincibles crowned women’s champions and Trent Rockets lifting the men’s trophy, figures show more than 500,000 people attended games across the course of the competition.

The Hundred has once again excited cricket fans new and old with its innovative mix of high energy sporting action and epic entertainment. It is an integral part of the ECB’s strategic plan, Inspiring Generations, which aims to grow cricket and inspire a new generation to believe that it is a game for them, whether they follow a team, play the game, or attend a match.

This year has built on the inaugural summer of The Hundred when it comes to encouraging more families to get into the game. 22% of tickets went to children, up from 19% last year; 28% of ticket buyers were women, up from 21% last year; and families made up 41%, up from 36% last year.

2022’s edition of The Hundred also saw incredible support for the women’s game with 271,000 people attending – another global record for a women’s cricket competition. All eight venues also broke their previous best for domestic women’s attendances. The UK domestic record for a women’s game was broken twice at Lord’s (17,387 attended London Spirit vs Oval Invincibles on Saturday 27 August and 20,840 for The Hundred final), resulting in an average attendance of 10,400 for women’s games in 2022.

Through Sky and the BBC, a total of 14.1m people watched some of the action on TV, with women (31%) making up a significant share of the audience. Of this audience, 42% hadn’t watched any other ECB cricket in 2022 prior to The Hundred, resulting in 5.9m new viewers.

In addition, selected games across this year’s competition were live on BBC iPlayer, shown by Sky Sports on their YouTube channel and, for the first time, streamed on TikTok by Sky Sports. Millions more have caught up with the action through video clips online.

Viewers will have seen memorable moments throughout the competition, with Will Smeed hitting the first hundred, closely followed by Will Jacks, and Alana King taking the first hat-trick in the women’s competition. Overseas talent from cricketing powerhouses such as Australia, the West Indies, South Africa and West Indies was pitted against the best short-format home grown stars, with standout performances from Laura Wolvaardt and Dawid Malan with the bat and Amanda-Jade Wellington and Tom Helm with the ball.

Birmingham Phoenix captain Moeen Ali said: “I really enjoyed playing in this year’s competition, and there’s been some top quality cricket. It feels like there’s been more depth across all the squads and we’ve seen some standout performances from both big names but also rising stars. I’m already looking forward to next year’s draft to see how we shape up in 2023.”

Oval Invincibles batter Suzie Bates added: “Coming over from New Zealand, I was keen to experience The Hundred after seeing it last year and to finish up winning the competition is an unbelievable feeling. It is amazing that through the Commonwealth Games and now a domestic competition in The Hundred, we’ve been playing in front of massive crowds, which is amazing for women’s cricket, and why the biggest names in the game are coming to play here.”

As well as inspiring on the pitch, stars from The Hundred have played their part off it too. Communities across the UK have benefitted from over 150 activations engaging with over 10,000 children and young people, with over 300 players from all eight teams giving up their time to run training sessions, take selfies and chat to grassroots cricket players as well as those experiencing the sport for the first time. The eight teams’ social channels have seen strong growth this summer, rising by 76% overall, as more fans build an affinity with their Hundred superstars.

The Hundred supports this investment in grassroots cricket by providing another revenue stream for the game. The ECB is once again, on course to hit projections for surplus revenue of around £10m, which is then invested back into cricket. Last year’s surplus has helped to support, amongst other initiatives, bursaries to fund free places on All Stars and Dynamos courses. 

Sanjay Patel, Managing Director of The Hundred said: “It’s been brilliant to see more families, more kids and record numbers attending the games this year. The Hundred is all about welcoming more people into cricket, and it has delivered on that again this year. It’s wonderful to see and hear so many families being inspired by a mix of great cricket and great entertainment.

“Huge congratulations go to Oval Invincibles and Trent Rockets for taking the titles this year. I would like to thank everyone involved for their contribution, from Sky and BBC, through to all our commercial partners, the host venues and the fans. You’ve helped to make The Hundred a fantastic, world-leading competition and grown cricket’s audience once again.”

For the second year in a row, the number of kids’ participating in cricket remains strong, with over 100,000 All Stars and Dynamos expected to have taken part in the programmes by the end of the year, with at least 27,000 being girls. As part of the programmes, Hundred Topps Cards have been given out to children to help inspire the next generations to emulate their heroes. Almost 20,000 free places have been offered to Counties, 10,000 through the ECB’s partnership with Sky Dynamos Intros and a further 10,000 funded through the ECB’s All Star bursaries.

Bryan Henderson, Sky Sports Director of Cricket said:“We couldn’t be happier with The Hundred after two years. Since its inception, the competition has reached more than 13.5m people across Sky Sports platforms and the aim of bringing cricket to new fans is proving successful as our audience over the last two years is younger and more diverse than other formats of the game, with more women watching than ever before. 

“Our award-winning coverage has again been well received, with our on-screen team proving incredibly popular for both new and existing cricket fans. We’re incredibly proud of implementing further innovations into our coverage to give the viewer even more insight into the game through technology such as helmet cam and power rating, while player avatars have once again proven popular.

“We’re thrilled to continue working with The ECB as we keep bringing this competition to cricket fans old and new until at least 2028.”

Exec Producer, BBC Cricket, Stephen Lyle said: “We are really proud of our extensive coverage of The Hundred, on TV, Radio and online this summer. To be able to bring new audiences to the world of cricket and see increased levels of engagement in local areas is integral to our offering at the BBC. It has also been a pleasure to witness breakout players star alongside world class talent and we can’t wait to see where The Hundred goes next.”