A fourth summer, and a title defended
The Hundred came back for a fourth season on 23 July 2024 and finished at Lord's on 18 August, thirty-four men's matches squeezed into twenty-seven days across eight grounds. Oval Invincibles won it. They had won it in 2023 as well, which made them the first men's side to retain the trophy, and they did not do it by luck. Six wins from eight in the group, the best net run rate in the competition, and top spot secured with enough room to rest.
The opening night at The Oval told you most of what you needed to know. Birmingham Phoenix were bowled out for 89, Adam Zampa taking three for 11, and the chase was over inside 69 balls. Zampa finished the season with 19 wickets, level with Southern Brave's Tymal Mills at the top of the list. Sam Curran took 17 of his own, including a spell of five for 16, scored usefully down the order and was named player of the tournament.
Below the Invincibles the table stayed cramped for a fortnight. Trent Rockets beat Manchester Originals by one run at Old Trafford in a game Rashid Khan marked by becoming the quickest bowler to 600 Twenty20 wickets by matches played. Birmingham Phoenix rolled Northern Superchargers for 83 at Edgbaston and knocked the runs off in 39 balls without losing a wicket, Tim Southee having taken five for 12. Rain took two matches entirely and shortened two more. Welsh Fire, who had never made a knockout game, came closer than the bare record suggests. Manchester Originals and London Spirit won one apiece and were finished by the second week.
Two tied innings and a Super Five
The eliminator at The Oval produced the match people still bring up. Southern Brave made 126 for six. Birmingham Phoenix made 126 for seven, Jofra Archer bowling the last set. That took it to a Super Five, the competition's own tie-breaker: five balls each, one chance. Phoenix managed seven for two. Brave answered with 11 without loss and were through.
Lord's was full for the final, 28,860 in on a Sunday evening. Oval Invincibles batted first and made 147 for nine, which looked thirty short until Saqib Mahmood began removing the top order. Southern Brave never got going and finished on 130 for seven, beaten by 17 runs. James Vince had scored 424 runs across the season, more than anyone else by 155, and could not add to them when it counted.
The argument underneath
None of this settled the wider row. Supporters point to the crowds, the free-to-air coverage and a women's competition that has genuinely grown. Critics inside the county game argue that the Hundred takes the best players out of the T20 Blast at its peak, compresses the domestic schedule and dilutes a competition the counties already ran profitably. 2024 was also the year the ECB handed 51 per cent of each team to its host county and prepared to sell its own 49 per cent to private investors. Both sides read that as vindication: the boards saw a windfall for the eighteen counties and the recreational game, sceptics saw a format designed for broadcast being sold before anyone had agreed what it was for.