The reigning champions launched a rebranded era of The Hundred with a commanding seven-wicket win over MI London at The Kia Oval, driven by a dazzling Phoebe Litchfield display — though a shoulder injury to Kate Cross took the shine off an otherwise dominant night.
Key takeaways
- SunRisers Leeds beat MI London by seven wickets with 31 balls to spare in the women's season opener.
- Phoebe Litchfield top-scored with 43 off 26 balls, drawing lavish praise from Stuart Broad.
- Both clubs played under new identities following major overseas investment.
- Kate Cross walked off with a shoulder problem and now faces scans.
A fresh chapter in the women's competition got under way in style as SunRisers Leeds brushed aside MI London by seven wickets at The Kia Oval. The fixture carried extra intrigue: both sides arrived with new names after significant foreign investment reshaped the tournament, and it was the defending champions — crowned last season as the Northern Superchargers — who set the early standard.
MI London, the club formerly known as Oval Invincibles, never quite kicked on after a promising start. Restricted to 107-8 from their 100 balls, they were reeled in with ease as the visitors knocked off the runs in just 69 deliveries, sealing the chase with 31 balls to spare.
New names, new money
The rebrand is the most visible sign of the biggest shake-up in The Hundred's short history. The ECB opened the eight teams to private investment, with combined franchise valuations topping £975 million, and several of the new backers arrived from the Indian Premier League.
At The Kia Oval, Reliance Industries — owners of the Mumbai Indians — took a 49% stake alongside Surrey, who retain 51%, and the side now sits in the same global family as MI Cape Town and MI New York. The Superchargers went further still: Sun TV Network, the group behind Sunrisers Hyderabad, bought the franchise outright in a deal reported at around £100 million, and the Headingley-based team was relaunched as Sunrisers Leeds in November 2025.
The two clubs brought plenty of pedigree into the opener. MI London, in their Oval Invincibles guise, won the first two women's titles in 2021 and 2022, beating Southern Brave in both finals. Leeds are the holders after a seven-wicket win over the Brave at Lord's last August, in front of a record women's Hundred crowd of 22,542.
The Hundred 2026 at a glance
- The season runs from 21 July to 16 August, with Finals Day at Lord's.
- For the first time, women's squads were partly built through a player auction, held in London in March.
- Each women's team had a salary pot of £880,000.
- Australia's Beth Mooney and New Zealand's Sophie Devine topped the bidding at £210,000 each.
A bright start undone by the spinners
The hosts looked well set through an opening stand of 56 between Hayley Matthews (33) and Danni Wyatt-Hodge (29), but the innings unravelled once that partnership was broken. Spin proved decisive: Wyatt-Hodge, West Indies skipper Matthews and New Zealand captain Melie Kerr (13) all fell to slower bowling.
Deepti Sharma (2-20) accounted for both Wyatt-Hodge and Matthews — the latter snapped up via a sharp caught-and-bowled by the India all-rounder — while young English leg-spinner Hannah Baker (2-16) removed Kerr. Captain Dani Gibson (2-17), the most expensive English signing at this year's auction after SunRisers paid £190,000 for her, also chipped in, bowling Australia's Nicola Carey (5) with a cross-seamer.
Gibson's auction fee made her the most expensive English player in the history of the women's competition, and Sunrisers promptly handed the seam-bowling all-rounder the captaincy. It was, by her own account, a lot to take in.
"I am still in shock. I had a cold shower to try and calm down but it didn't really help. I am absolutely buzzing and excited to start."
— Dani Gibson, Sunrisers Leeds captain, after the auction
In Deepti Sharma, meanwhile, Leeds have one of the form players in the world game. The India all-rounder was named Player of the Tournament at last year's 50-over World Cup, scoring 215 runs and taking 22 wickets as India beat South Africa in the final — the first time any cricketer, male or female, had managed 200 runs and 20 wickets at a single World Cup. Wisden has since named her its Leading Women's Cricketer in the World.
Litchfield lights up the chase
The reply belonged to Phoebe Litchfield. The Australian opener raced to 43 from just 26 balls, recovering impressively from an earlier moment she would rather forget — running out compatriot Jess Jonassen (14) after chancing a single that was never on. Fellow Australian Annabel Sutherland added a brisk 30 not out, before Gibson rounded things off by clattering the winning boundary.
Litchfield's innings, which included seven fours and a six, earned her the Player of the Match award — and it came as no surprise to anyone who watched her last autumn. In the World Cup semi-final against India in Navi Mumbai she struck 119 from 93 balls, reaching three figures in just 77 deliveries: the fastest century ever scored in a women's World Cup knockout match, and, at 22, she became the youngest player to make one.
"She looks the best player in the world to me — she has everything covered. She can hit the ball anywhere, has so much time, opens up the off side and drives beautifully. The sound off the bat is just different, and she can score all around the ground."
— Stuart Broad, Sky Sports Cricket, on Phoebe Litchfield
Cross injury the one worry
The single sour note on an otherwise excellent evening came with an injury to Kate Cross. The seamer had just held a superb running catch at long-on to see off Wyatt-Hodge when she landed awkwardly while fielding at extra-cover and left the field in visible discomfort. Early indications are that she has not dislocated the shoulder, but she will undergo scans to assess the damage.
Leeds will be desperate for good news. Cross, no longer centrally contracted by England after a 102-cap international career, has been a cornerstone of the franchise's success. In last year's final at Lord's she struck twice in successive balls inside the powerplay, removing Maia Bouchier and Laura Wolvaardt, to finish with 2-23 — a spell that also made her only the third bowler to reach 50 wickets in the women's Hundred.
Score summary
MI London 107-8 (100 balls): Hayley Matthews 33, Danni Wyatt-Hodge 29; Hannah Baker 2-16, Dani Gibson 2-17, Deepti Sharma 2-20.
SunRisers Leeds 109-3 (69 balls): Phoebe Litchfield 43, Annabel Sutherland 30no, Dani Gibson 12no; Alexa Stonehouse 1-12, Kirstie Gordon 1-17.
What's next
Attention now shifts to Southampton's Utilita Bowl for the next double-header, where Southern Brave take on Welsh Fire. The women's fixture gets the action going in the afternoon, with the men's side following later in the evening — a fitting continuation of a competition that, on this early evidence, has plenty of star quality to offer.
