Inaugural seasons of new competitions always have an element of the unknown about them, impacting everyone from the teams themselves to the fans and the media. The delayed launch of The Hundred this year amplified this doubt. It was not just a new competition but one with brand-new teams and a brand-new format with different rules and terminology to imbed.
Specifically from a data analysis perspective that brings a whole fresh set of challenges. Typically, we can rely on historical data both at a basic results level but also a more granular team and performance level. Benchmarks are usually established already, historical records there as incentives to break in the coming campaign. But that’s the case in this year’s debut of The Hundred. There are no records to break, only records to set.
We kicked things off by using our deep T20 data, both on a franchise level and also internationally, to create data-driven previews of key players to watch. But, as the competition began forging its own path and slowly creating its own history, we can combine in-tournament data and insights to really bring things to life.
With an exciting group stage now at a close, we have a rare rest day to assess the teams and preview the Eliminator matches in both the women’s and men’s editions of the tournament.
Below are the 10 best Opta Facts we have curated for each of the two Eliminator fixtures, coupled with several deeper insights.
Oval Invincibles v. Birmingham Phoenix
- This will be the second meeting between the Oval Invincibles and Birmingham Phoenix in the women’s edition of The Hundred. The Invincibles won their inaugural clash by eight wickets (August 4, 2021).
- Birmingham Phoenix have won each of their last three games in the women’s edition of The Hundred, after winning only one of their first five matches in the competition (L4).
- Two of the three completed matches at Kia Oval in the women’s edition of The Hundred have been won by the side batting second on the day; the Oval Invincibles were the chasing team in each of those two victories.
- Birmingham Phoenix have scored 133 boundaries in the women’s edition of The Hundred (10 sixes, 123 fours), the most by any side in the competition and 33 more than the Oval Invincibles (100).
- The Oval Invincibles have a batting dot ball percentage of 41% in the women’s edition of The Hundred, the highest of any team in the competition, four percentage points higher than the Birmingham Phoenix (37%).
- The Oval Invincibles boast the best catch success rate (80%) of any team in the women’s edition of The Hundred – 19 percentage points more than the last-ranked Birmingham Phoenix (61%).
- Dane van Niekerk (Oval Invincibles) has the best batting average (57.8) of any player in the women’s edition of The Hundred (min. 15 balls faced); only the Northern Superchargers’ Jemimah Rodrigues (three) has made more than van Niekerk’s two 50+ scores.
- Shabnim Ismail (Oval Invincibles) has bowled a dot ball on 52% of her deliveries in The Hundred, the highest rate of any player in the women’s edition (min. 30 balls bowled).
- Shafali Verma (Birmingham Phoenix) has scored 125 runs during the powerplay in the women’s edition of The Hundred, the most by any player in either the men’s or women’s competitions.
- Amy Jones (Birmingham Phoenix) has scored a boundary once every 3.3 balls during the powerplay in The Hundred, the second most frequent of any player in the women’s edition to face at least 10 balls during this time (Georgia Redmayne – 3.2).
- Phoenix have hit the most boundaries (133) in the Women’s Hundred, however they only have the fourth highest rate (52.5%) of runs from boundaries, just marginally higher than the Invincibles (52.5%), whilst Welsh Fire are the only side to score fewer than 50% of their runs from boundaries (44%).
The Rockets had the highest rate of runs scored from boundaries, helped by the tournament joint high 18 sixes they’ve smashed, seven of those from the bat of Sammy-Jo Johnson, more than any other player has hit in the competition.
Runs Scored From Boundaries, Women’s Hundred:
| Team | Sixes | Fours | Boundaries | % Runs From Boundaries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birmingham Phoenix | 10 | 123 | 133 | 52.5% |
| Southern Brave | 18 | 101 | 119 | 52.5% |
| London Spirit | 8 | 111 | 119 | 52.7% |
| Northern Superchargers | 6 | 109 | 115 | 55.5% |
| Trent Rockets | 18 | 96 | 114 | 56.0% |
| Oval Invincibles | 9 | 91 | 100 | 52.2% |
| Manchester Originals | 12 | 86 | 98 | 50.5% |
| Welsh Fire | 9 | 88 | 97 | 43.8% |
The Invicibles’ catch success rate of 80% is the best in the Women’s Hundred, Phoenix have the worst rate, 61%. Four of the 11 catches that the Phoenix have dropped have been ‘easy chances’, meaning they’ve dropped twice as many easy catches as any other team. Manchester Originals dropped the most catches (14) of any side in the group stage, but nine of those were classed as ‘hard’ catches (two easy, three medium).
Dropped Catches – Women’s Hundred:
| Team | Easy Catches | Medium Catches | Hard Catches | Total Drops |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birmingham Phoenix | 4 | 3 | 4 | 11 |
| Manchester Originals | 2 | 3 | 9 | 14 |
| Oval Invincibles | 2 | 4 | 2 | 8 |
| Welsh Fire | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Trent Rockets | 1 | 4 | 5 | 10 |
| London Spirit | 0 | 3 | 5 | 8 |
| Southern Brave | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Northern Superchargers | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Total | 11 | 23 | 34 | 68 |
Southern Brave v Trent Rockets
- This will be the second meeting between the Southern Brave and Trent Rockets in the men’s edition of The Hundred; the Rockets won their inaugural match by nine wickets (July 24, 2021).
- The Southern Brave have won their last five completed fixtures in succession in the men’s edition of The Hundred; a sixth consecutive victory in this match would mark the longest winning run by any side in the competition.
- The Trent Rockets have won two of their four away games in the men’s edition of The Hundred; they are one of only two sides to have logged multiple victories on the road (Birmingham Phoenix – W2).
- This is set to be the first time the Southern Brave have played at Kia Oval in the men’s edition of The Hundred, meanwhile the Trent Rockets suffered a nine-run defeat in their only previous fixture at the venue (August 8, 2021 v Oval Invincibles).
- The Southern Brave have made a good connection on 66% of the balls they have faced in the men’s edition of The Hundred, the second lowest of any team when batting in that time (Manchester Originals – 63%) and one percentage point lower than the Trent Rockets (67%).
- The Southern Brave have hit 25 sixes in the men’s edition of The Hundred, the fewest of any team and 13 fewer than the Trent Rockets (38).
- The Trent Rockets have bowled 265 dot balls in the men’s edition of The Hundred, the most by any team and 12 more than the Southern Brave (253), who are ranked third in this category (Northern Superchargers – 255).
- Quinton de Kock (Southern Brave) has made eight dismissals in The Hundred (7 catches, 1 stumping), the joint-most by any wicketkeeper in the men’s edition (also John Simpson for Northern Superchargers).
- Rashid Khan (Trent Rockets) has taken 12 wickets in The Hundred, the joint-most by any player in the men’s edition (also Adil Rashid) and two more than the Southern Brave’s best Jake Lintott (10).
- Dawid Malan (Trent Rockets) has made three scores of 50+ in The Hundred, the joint-most by any player in the men’s edition (also Liam Livingstone), including one in his most recent innings (52 v Manchester Originals, 15 August 2021).
The Rockets have bowled the most dot balls (265) and recorded the second highest dot ball rate (35%) of any side in the Men’s Hundred. The Nottingham-based side have taken the most wickets in the competition (54) whilst only the Supercharges (36%) and Invincibles (36%) have a higher false shot rate when bowling than the Rockets (32%). 4.1% of all their deliveries in the competition were Yorkers, the highest rate of any side, with four of their wickets coming from these deliveries, twice as many as any other side.
Wickets From Yorkers, Men’s Hundred:
| Team | Wickets | Dot Ball % | False Shot % | Yorker % | Wickets From Yorkers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trent Rockets | 54 | 34.6% | 31.7% | 4.1% | 4 |
| Welsh Fire | 36 | 29.1% | 29.0% | 3.9% | 2 |
| Birmingham Phoenix | 50 | 32.6% | 30.5% | 2.4% | 2 |
| Manchester Originals | 37 | 31.6% | 28.5% | 2.4% | 1 |
| Southern Brave | 34 | 31.8% | 29.5% | 2.1% | 1 |
| London Spirit | 42 | 34.6% | 30.7% | 1.9% | 1 |
| Oval Invincibles | 37 | 32.1% | 35.8% | 1.7% | 1 |
| Northern Superchargers | 43 | 37.1% | 36.3% | 1.4% | 1 |
Recent England Test call-up, Dawid Malan, has the joint most 50s in the Men’s Hundred so far, smashing 52 against the Originals last time out, 51 against Phoenix at the start of August and an unbeaten 62* when the Rockets met the Brave earlier in the season.
In that unbeaten 62*, 21 of his runs came against England teammate Chris Jordan, and 19 against George Garton, both of whom bowled 11 deliveries at Malan. Tymal Mills was definitely the pick of the bowlers against him, bowling nine deliveries and going for just four runs, all of which were singles, probably in a bit get off strike against the super quick bowler.
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Design by Matt Sisneros.