'Overs' scrapped for inaugural season of The Hundred

The term 'overs' has reportedly been scrapped for the inaugural season of The Hundred, with 'balls' to instead be used as the fundamental way to measure the progress of a game.

ESPN is reporting that English officials have finalised the playing conditions for the new 100-ball competition, which has affirmed the switch away from the traditional six-ball overs to the implementation of sets of five deliveries.

With two sets of five balls to be bowled from one end before changing, by the same bowler if desired, the umpire will hold up a white card to signal the end of the first set of five.

They will also call 'five' at the end of a bowler's set of deliveries, instead of the traditional call of 'over', and there will be a mandatory 50-second break at the change of ends.

The report says that due to the embedded use of 'overs' in the cricket lexicon, the ECB have conceded the term will continue to be used in scorecards and match reports.

Despite media reports in April that 'wickets' will also be scrapped in favour of 'outs', the term wickets will remain.

Despite the differences between 20-over and 100-ball games, all statistics will be added to existing T20 data.

The controversial shift from a standard 120-ball T20 match to a shorter 100-ball affair has been motivated by a desire for shorter games of just two-and-a-half hours in length, and further incentives have been added to promote faster play.

If a team is deemed to be behind the over rate, they will be required to field with one fewer player outside the inner fielding circle from the point the penalty is incurred.

In another notable change, the non-striker must return to their original end after a caught dismissal, even if they had crossed with their batting partner.

Other changes from a standard T20 game include:

* Each bowler can bowl a maximum of 20 balls each

* The first 25 balls of each innings will be a Powerplay, with only two fielders allowed outside the inner fielding circle

* The coin toss does not have to take place on the ground

* An amended Duckwoth-Lewis-Stern method, which factors in balls instead of overs, will be used for rain-reduced matches

* The fielding team can take a strategic timeout at any point after the first 25 balls of an innings

* Tied matches in the group stage will see each team get one point each

* Tied matches in the knockout stage will see a 'Super Five' tie-breaker used. If the second 'Super Five' is also tied, the team who finished higher on the ladder during the group stage will progress to the next round.

The inaugural season of England's new-look competition, which it's hoped will encourage a whole new audience to the game, was meant to be held last year but was scrapped due to the pandemic.

While the event will go ahead this summer, it has been hit by a raft of major player withdrawals due to complications with travelling during the pandemic.

The men's and women's tournaments will run concurrently and start later this month.