The 2024 edition of The Hundred will kick off on Tuesday, July 23. While the competition has reached its fourth season despite its criticism and a sizeable number of people, who dislike it, this edition will also serve as a sales pitch for the incumbent private investment into the league and the eight franchises from the 2025 edition onwards. However, getting international star quality in both men's and women's competitions was the first step for the league to increase its popularity and the teams and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have got that part right to start with.
The defending champions Oval Invincibles will kick off the tournament in the opener against the Birmingham Phoenix. The Invincibles have retained the core that won the championship last year apart from a couple of key changes in the batting department with the inclusions of Dawid Malan and South African Donovan Ferreira in the order. The Phoenix, however, await their Test players, who form a huge part of their batting line-up as they will be without two of their important players, Naseem Shah and Will Smeed with both unavailable.
The Invincibles start as favourites with the all-round strength they have, however, Phoenix with Liam Livingstone and Moeen Ali in the line-up can't be counted out.
My Dream11 team for The Hundred 2024 Match 1, OVI vs BPH
Will Jacks, Jordan Cox, Sam Billings, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Tom Curran (vc), Adam Zampa (c), Adam Milne, Tom Helm, Sean Abbott
Probable Playing XIs
Oval Invincibles: Dawid Malan, Will Jacks, Tom Lammonby, Jordan Cox, Sam Billings (w/c), Donovan Ferreira, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Adam Zampa, Marchant de Lange, Saqib Mahmood
Birmingham Phoenix: Aneurin Donald, Jacob Bethell, Louis Kimber (w), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali (c), Benny Howell, Dan Mousley, Tom Helm, Tim Southee, Adam Milne, Sean Abbott
