How to Watch The Hundred 2026

Where to watch The Hundred 2026 by country

What The Hundred is — and the 2026 dates, teams and format

The Hundred is English cricket's shortest, fastest format: each innings is exactly 100 balls, not the 120 of a standard Twenty20, which strips out overs in favour of a rolling count and keeps games to a brisk couple of hours. There are eight city-based teams in each of the men's and women's competitions, and the two run in parallel — most match days are doubleheaders pairing a women's game with a men's game at the same venue. The 2026 season runs from Tuesday 21 July to Sunday 16 August, opening with a doubleheader at the Kia Oval in south London. The group stage feeds a knockout in which the top three teams in each table progress: second plays third in an eliminator at The Oval, and the winner meets the table-topper in the final, with both the men's and women's finals staged on Finals Day at Lord's in London on Sunday 16 August. The 2026 edition arrives with a reshaped ownership map after the ECB sold equity in all eight teams in 2025, and three sides carry new names this year: Oval Invincibles become MI London under Reliance (Mumbai Indians), Northern Superchargers become Sunrisers Leeds under Sun TV Network, and Manchester Originals become Manchester Super Giants under RPSG (Lucknow Super Giants). The full fixture list, individual match dates and which venues host which days are best confirmed on the official site closer to July.

Free vs paid in the UK: Sky Sports and the BBC

UK viewers have two routes, and they complement each other. The comprehensive route is Sky Sports, which broadcasts every ball of every match live across the men's and women's competitions — its rights deal runs through 2028. You can watch through a Sky TV package on a set-top box or, if you would rather avoid a long contract, through a NOW Sports membership that streams the same Sky Sports channels on a rolling monthly or day pass. The free route is the BBC, which keeps free-to-air rights and shows eight doubleheaders each season — a selection that includes the opening day and Finals Day. That works out at roughly 16 live matches on free-to-air, a fraction of the full programme. The BBC's coverage runs on its linear channels — typically BBC One or BBC Two — and streams on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website, so anyone in the UK with a TV Licence can watch those games for nothing. The trade-off is simple: the BBC gives you a free taste plus the marquee occasions, while Sky gives you the whole tournament. If you only want the opener and the finals, the BBC alone may be enough; if you want every match your team plays, you will need Sky or NOW. Note that beyond the confirmed opener and finals, exactly which doubleheaders the BBC televises in 2026 is best checked on BBC Sport closer to the start. Both BBC iPlayer and the Sky/NOW apps are geo-restricted to the UK, which matters the moment you leave.

How the cricket diaspora watches The Hundred

The Hundred has a global following, and outside the UK the rights are split region by region according to The Hundred's official 'how to follow' page. In the Indian subcontinent the tournament streams on FanCode, typically as a paid match or tournament pass; in Australia and Southeast Asia it is listed on FOX Sports, watchable through Foxtel or the Kayo streaming service; in North America it sits with Willow TV and DAZN; in the Caribbean it is on ESPN; across the Middle East and North Africa it is on beIN SPORTS; and throughout Sub-Saharan Africa it is on SuperSport. Each of these is a subscription or pay service in its territory, and each app is geo-locked to that territory. That creates the classic diaspora problem: an England-based fan who pays for Sky cannot open the Sky Go app on holiday in Spain, and an Australian who pays for Kayo cannot stream it while visiting family in the UK. The honest, legal use of a VPN here is to reconnect you to a service you already subscribe to in your home country, so you can watch the coverage you are already paying for while you are temporarily abroad. A quick caveat worth stating plainly: these per-region assignments come from the official page and reflect the current arrangement, but some 2026 territory rights are not separately date-stamped to this season and could shift — verify against thehundred.com closer to July 2026 so you buy the right service.

How to watch The Hundred from abroad with a VPN — step by step

A VPN routes your internet through a server in another country, so a broadcaster sees that server's location instead of your real one. If you are travelling and want your home stream back, the process takes a few minutes. 1) Choose a reputable VPN with servers in your home country — all of our picks qualify, and each has a money-back guarantee so you can test it risk-free. 2) Download and install the app on the device you will watch on; create your account and sign in. 3) Open the VPN and connect to a server in your home country — for a UK subscriber abroad, pick a UK server; for an Aussie abroad, an Australian one. 4) Wait for the app to confirm it is connected; this assigns you an IP address in that country. 5) Open your usual broadcaster — BBC iPlayer or Sky Go/NOW for UK viewers, Kayo for Australians, FanCode in India, Willow TV in the US — and sign in with the account you already hold. 6) Start the stream; it should now play as if you were at home. A few honest reminders: you still need a valid subscription or licence for paid services, a VPN does not make paid coverage free, and using a VPN to access a broadcaster outside its territory may breach that broadcaster's terms of service, so the clean use case is reaching your own home account while travelling. If a stream will not load, the troubleshooting section below walks through the fixes in order.

Best VPNs for streaming The Hundred 2026

For live cricket the two things that matter most are speed, so the picture holds up in HD through a fast passage of play, and a money-back guarantee, so you can test the service risk-free around the tournament. All of our picks offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, and CyberGhost extends that to 45 days, so you can trial a service across multiple match days and still get a refund if it does not work for you. ExpressVPN is the fastest premium option, with its Lightway protocol built for low-latency streaming and a broad server network that reliably reaches major broadcasters including UK services. NordVPN runs on its quick NordLynx protocol, holds the number-one US market share and bundles threat protection — a strong all-rounder for BBC iPlayer and Sky. Surfshark is the standout value pick because it allows unlimited simultaneous devices, useful if family members are watching on different screens at once. Proton VPN is the privacy-first, Swiss-based choice and the only pick with a genuine free tier, though the free servers are not ideal for live HD sport. CyberGhost is streaming-optimised with dedicated servers and the longest refund window. Private Internet Access and IPVanish round out the network-heavy budget end, and TotalVPN is a no-frills cheap option. We earn a commission if you sign up through our links, at no extra cost to you, and current discount ranges — often steep on longer plans — appear live in our comparison table rather than as fixed prices here, so you always see today's real number.

Device setup: phone, laptop, smart TV and streaming sticks

The cleanest experience depends on your device. On a phone or tablet, install the VPN app from the App Store or Google Play, connect to your home-country server, then open BBC iPlayer, Sky Go, NOW, Kayo, FanCode or Willow as normal — mobile is the most reliable route because the apps are well maintained and the VPN sits right on the device. On a Windows or Mac laptop, install the desktop app, connect, and watch in a browser or the broadcaster's desktop app; if a site is stubborn, watching in a private/incognito window helps. Smart TVs and streaming sticks are where people get stuck, because many TV platforms do not run VPN apps natively. There are three workarounds: 1) Install the VPN on a supported device such as an Amazon Fire TV Stick or an Android TV box, where most of our picks offer a native app, then sign in to your broadcaster there. 2) Set the VPN up on your home router so every device on the network — including the TV — inherits the home-country connection; ExpressVPN, NordVPN and others publish router guides. 3) Cast or screen-mirror from a phone or laptop that is already on the VPN to the TV. Whichever route you choose, connect the VPN before opening the streaming app, keep both apps updated, and use a 5GHz Wi-Fi band or Ethernet for the steadiest HD picture during a busy doubleheader.

Troubleshooting: blocked, buffering or wrong region

If a broadcaster shows a proxy/VPN-detected error, or the stream simply will not load, work through these fixes in order. 1) Switch servers: broadcasters block individual VPN IP addresses, so disconnect and reconnect to a different server in the same country — a fresh IP often clears the block instantly. 2) Clear cookies and cache: streaming sites store location data, so clear your browser cookies or the app's cache, or open the stream in a private/incognito window, then reconnect. 3) Connect the VPN first: always connect to the VPN before opening the broadcaster app, never after, so the app never records your real location. 4) Check for location leaks: enable the VPN's leak protection and make sure device-level location services or GPS are not overriding your VPN IP, a common cause of blocks on mobile. 5) For buffering, connect to a server geographically closer to where your account is based, switch to a faster protocol such as Lightway (ExpressVPN) or NordLynx (NordVPN), and use 5GHz Wi-Fi or Ethernet. 6) Update both the VPN app and the broadcaster app, since an out-of-date version can fail silently. If several servers still fail, contact your VPN's live chat — the reputable providers maintain streaming-server lists and can point you to one that currently works. Because every recommended VPN offers a money-back guarantee, you have a safety net if a service simply cannot reach your broadcaster, so test it well before Finals Day on 16 August.

Why use a VPN for The Hundred at all?

There are three honest reasons a VPN earns its place during The Hundred. The first and most common is travel: if you pay for Sky or NOW in the UK, or Kayo in Australia, or Willow in the US, those apps geo-block you the moment you leave the country, and connecting to a home-country server restores the stream you already pay for so a work trip or holiday does not cost you a match. The second is privacy: a VPN encrypts your connection, which is genuinely worthwhile on hotel, airport or café Wi-Fi where your traffic would otherwise be exposed to whoever runs the network. The third is comparison shopping: subscription and pass prices for international cricket services can vary by region, and a VPN lets you see how pricing is presented in different markets before you commit. What a VPN does not do is conjure free access to paid coverage — you still need a valid subscription or, for the BBC, a TV Licence — and it is not a tool for dodging the rules of a service you have no account with. Accessing a broadcaster outside its territory can breach that broadcaster's terms of service, so the clean, defensible use is reaching your own legitimate home account while abroad. Used that way, a VPN is simply the bridge between the subscription you already hold and the country you happen to be sitting in.

Schedule context: opener at the Kia Oval, knockouts and Finals Day at Lord's

Planning your viewing around the calendar helps you decide whether the free BBC package is enough or whether you want full Sky coverage. The tournament opens on Tuesday 21 July 2026 with a doubleheader at the Kia Oval in south London, and the group stage rolls through late July and into August, with most days built around doubleheaders that pair a women's fixture with a men's fixture at the same ground. The BBC's free-to-air selection includes the opening day, so the very first day of action is set for free coverage — though the precise full list of BBC doubleheaders beyond the opener and finals, the complete fixture list and the venue for each matchday after opening day are best confirmed on thehundred.com's official fixtures page and BBC Sport. The business end is clear: the top three teams in each table reach the knockouts, the eliminator between second and third is played at The Oval, and both the men's and women's finals are staged on Finals Day at Lord's in London on Sunday 16 August 2026. If you only care about the showpiece, the BBC's inclusion of the finals means you can watch Finals Day free; if you want to follow MI London, Sunrisers Leeds, Manchester Super Giants or any single team through every game, Sky or NOW is the route that guarantees no gaps.

The Hundred 2026 — FAQ