International Cricket

The Hundred 2026 Fixture Release Men's Women's Day-by-Day Decoded

Rohan Bhatia 19 May 2026 Updated 19 May 2026 ~5 min read ~971 words

The Hundred 2026 fixture release decoded

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The ECB has released The Hundred 2026 fixtures, with the men's and women's competitions running August 2 through September 1, 2026, the longest single Hundred window the tournament has used since launch. Each of the eight franchises plays eight group-stage fixtures across the season, with the eliminator and final structured as a single weekend block. The 2026 edition introduces revised double-header pairings, with every men's fixture except the final two double-headered with the matching women's match. Broadcast routing covers Sky Sports as the primary in-country rights holder and JioHotstar handling the streaming rights for the Indian sub-continent. Here is the day-by-day decode of the fixtures.

Opening week and double-header structure

The Hundred 2026 opens August 2 with the marquee double-header at Lord's. London Spirit vs Welsh Fire opens proceedings: women's fixture at 14:00 BST and men's at 18:30 BST. August 3 sees Trent Rockets vs Northern Superchargers double-headered at Trent Bridge in the same time slots. August 4: Birmingham Phoenix vs Manchester Originals at Edgbaston. August 5: Oval Invincibles vs Southern Brave at the Kia Oval. The double-header design is the central commercial proposition of The Hundred, with the ECB confirming that 71% of 2025 ticket-buyers attended for both fixtures rather than the men's only. The 2026 cycle expands the double-header rule to every group-stage fixture pair, the first time the format has been fully aligned across both competitions.

Mid-tournament fixtures, August 7-21

The mid-tournament block runs across two weeks of regular double-headers, with each franchise playing five fixtures across the period. August 7: Welsh Fire vs Trent Rockets at Sophia Gardens, double-header at 14:00 and 18:30. August 9: Manchester Originals vs Oval Invincibles at Old Trafford. August 10: Northern Superchargers vs Southern Brave at the Headingley. August 11: London Spirit vs Birmingham Phoenix at Lord's. The mid-tournament block has a deliberate two-day break between fixtures for each franchise to ease the workload, with the schedule built around the ECB's player-welfare commission recommendations from December 2025. Captains and head coaches have all been consulted on the spacing rules. The marquee mid-tournament fixture is the August 16 Welsh Fire vs Oval Invincibles at Sophia Gardens.

Final week and knockout block

The final week runs August 29 through September 1, with the eliminator on August 30 at the Kia Oval and the final at Lord's on September 1. Both fixtures are double-headed: the women's eliminator at 14:00 BST on August 30, men's at 18:30 BST, and the women's final at 14:00 BST on September 1, the men's final at 18:30 BST. The eliminator is contested between the second and third-place finishers in the regular-season table, with the top side getting a direct pass to the final. The Hundred's eliminator-only format (no semi-finals) keeps the back end of the tournament tight, with the eliminator winner playing the final 32 hours later, a workload window that has been criticised by the ECB Players' Committee but retained for the broadcast value.

Broadcast routing and ticket pricing

Broadcast routing covers Sky Sports as the primary in-country broadcaster, BBC Sport for the highlights and a free-to-air match-per-week broadcast (5 fixtures total), JioHotstar for the Indian sub-continent streaming, and ICC.tv handles the global pathway feed in 70-plus markets. The ECB has confirmed a streaming-app partnership with Cricbuzz for the 2026 cycle, with Cricbuzz handling the South Asian market live commentary feed. Ticket pricing varies by fixture and venue, with the cheapest general-admission tickets at GBP 15 for the regional fixtures and the most-expensive Lord's final hospitality at GBP 295. The ECB has confirmed family bundle pricing of GBP 45 for two adults and two children across all double-headers.

What it means

The Hundred 2026 is the most-aligned men's-and-women's tournament the ECB has produced. The full double-header structure across every group-stage fixture is the central commercial play, and the format expansion is designed to drive both ticket revenue and broadcast volume. Watch the August 2 opener at Lord's between London Spirit and Welsh Fire, that single fixture pair sets the tone for the entire tournament window. The August 16 mid-tournament marquee between Welsh Fire and Oval Invincibles at Sophia Gardens is the cricket-quality benchmark. The September 1 final at Lord's closes the tournament with both competitions producing back-to-back champions on the same day.