The Hundred Finals: Qualification Possibilities- Men & Women

With the finals of The Hundred just around the corner, the battle to qualify is heating up in both the men’s and women’s competitions. Although some teams will ultimately qualify and others will be ruled out, with a little hope, the remaining games are still important.

Analysis on the Hundred Finals qualification for men’s and women’s

Men’s Competition: Two Places for Three Contenders

Oval Invincibles – On Top as Hundred Finalists

With a dominating net run rate (NRR), Oval Invincibles are favourites to qualify for The Hundred Finals and potentially win a third title in a row. They top the standings with a net run rate lead of around 180 runs from Trent Rockets and 200 runs from Northern Superchargers.

Even a defeat to the London Spirit on Monday won’t prevent them from qualifying, unless it is a comprehensive loss that severely impacts their NRR.

Trent Rockets – Focusing on Spirit vs Invincibles Result

Rockets have a slight NRR advantage of around 20 runs against Superchargers. Their destiny is heavily dependent on the Spirit vs Invincibles encounter. If the Invincibles lose, the Rockets must win comprehensively in their subsequent game to have a genuine chance.

Most importantly, the Rockets have the advantage of playing after the Spirit-Invincibles match, thereby having precise qualification equation in mind.

Northern Superchargers – Small Margins, Big Opportunity

Even though a bit behind Rockets in NRR, Superchargers are still in the mix. They require both Rockets and Invincibles to slip up and themselves produce a huge win to turn around the NRR deficit. Playing earlier than Rockets, however, means that they might have to go all-out without knowing the precise margin required.

Women’s Competition: Four Teams in the Race for Two Places in The Hundred Finals

Northern Superchargers – In Good Shape but Not Safe Yet

Northern Superchargers have five victories and 20 points, placing them in second position behind Southern Brave. Though they possess a healthy NRR of 1.027, a heavy defeat against Manchester Originals might still eliminate them from the Eliminator.

For instance:

When Originals post 140 playing first, the Superchargers need to prevent the loss by 58 runs or more to remain on top. If Spirit defeated Invincibles by 40 runs after scoring 140, Superchargers would still make it with a 70-run loss, depending on other NRR results.

London Spirit & Manchester Originals

Both have 4 victories and 16 points, and are divided by a mere three runs on NRR. Their last matches are decisive:

If both win, the team with the larger margin of victory will go through to Saturday’s Eliminator.
If both lose, Trent Rockets could sneak into the top three if they win their final match.
If only one wins, they’ll likely qualify unless the margin is too small to impact the NRR standings.

The Originals benefit from playing after Spirit, allowing them to calculate and chase a required net run rate target.

Trent Rockets – Outside Betting Opportunity But Not Out

With only 3 victories and 12 points, Trent Rockets require a great deal of luck. To make it to The Hundred Finals, they need:

Spirit to lose to Invincibles
Superchargers to defeat Originals

If those outcomes do and Rockets defeat Birmingham Phoenix on Wednesday, then they will likely surpass both Spirit and Originals on NRR. Rockets are just 12 runs behind Spirit and 9 behind Originals in terms of NRR. Even if Originals and Spirit lose narrowly, it would be sufficient to bring them below a winning Rockets team.