The introduction of the Hundred tournament format caught the cricketing realm off guard and elicited a diverse range of reactions upon its unveiling in 2021. Now in its third season, the tournament has established itself as a thriving platform, paving the way for exhilarating and aggressive cricketing moments, while also showcasing emerging young talents with exciting potential.

Adding to the tournament’s uniqueness is the fact that only the top 3 teams out of the 8 contenders secure playoff berths, setting it apart from other leagues where a minimum of 4 teams make their way to the playoffs. Thus, the level of competence is always on the high among each individual player.

In this article, we will perform some comparative analysis among the various teams’ batting performance in the first half and second half of the tournament. We will be covering this analysis among the three phases of play, and we will be considering the Strike rate and Balls per wicket as the metric for comparison.

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The Strike rate metric in the Hundred

The difference metric calculates the difference between the Strike rate in the 2nd half of the tournament and the strike rate in the first half of the tournament. A negative value indicates that the team’s strike rate has gone down in the 2nd half of the tournament in comparison to the first half and vice versa for the positive value.

A quick glance of the chart indicates that London Spirit and the Birmingham Phoenix have the highest positive difference in the strike rate metric. London spirit had a strike rate of 100 in the 1st half of the tournament and transformed it to a strike rate of 191 in the 2nd half of the tournament. But a couple of close losses and unfortunate ‘No result’ matches restricted them from qualifying for the playoffs.

Welsh Fire have the highest negative difference in the powerplay overs phase, and it significantly affected their chances of qualifying. While they had a fantastic strike rate of 181 in the first half, they had a meager strike rate of 90 in the 2nd half of the tournament. Manchester Originals have a very high positive strike rate difference in the middle overs, and it significantly played a role in their qualification to the playoffs. They transformed their strike rate to a brilliant 194 in the 2nd half of the tournament.

The Oval Invincibles secured their top position on the table owing to their unwaveringly high strike rates throughout the tournament’s three phases. Notably, they significantly elevated their strike rate during the death overs, escalating from 170 in the initial half of the competition to an impressive 207 in the latter half. This shift is substantiated by a favorable difference metric value in this particular phase.

Balls per wicket metric in the Hundred

The difference metric calculates the difference between the Balls per wicket metric in the 2nd half of the tournament and the strike rate in the first half of the tournament. A negative value indicates that the team has lost more wickets in a span of lesser balls in the 2nd half of the tournament in comparison to the first half and vice versa for the positive value.

A glance of the chart indicates that the Northern Superchargers have a drastic decrease in the balls per wicket value in the 2nd half of the tournament. They had a value of 38.5 in the first half of the tournament and this value decreased to 9.25 in the second half of the tournament, which heavily dented their chances of qualifying for the playoffs.

The southern brave had a shaky start to the tournament losing 2 of their first 4 matches and 1 match ending in a ‘No result’. But they had a fantastic second half winning 3 out of their 4 matches in a spectacular fashion to qualify for the playoffs. This is further backed by their impressive batting response in the 2nd half of the tournament with their Balls per wicket metric increasing from 20 to 31 in the powerplay and 10.8 to 22 in the middle overs.