Oval Invincibles Explained

Oval Invincibles
Founded:2019
Ground:The Oval
Capacity:25,500
Num Titles:4
Title1:Men's titles
Title1wins:2 (2023, 2024)
Title2:Women's titles
Title2wins:2 (2021, 2022)
Website:Oval Invincibles

Oval Invincibles is a franchise 100-ball cricket side based in South London. The team represents the historic counties of Surrey and Kent in the newly founded The Hundred competition,[1] which took place for the first time during the 2021 English and Welsh cricket season. Both the men's side and the women's side plays at The Oval.

History

See also: The Hundred (cricket). The announcement of the new eight-team men's and women's tournament series in 2019 was not without controversy, with the likes of Virat Kohli criticising the England and Wales Cricket Board for pursuing a shift away from Test cricket,[2] while others argued the format should have followed the established and successful Twenty20 format. The ECB however decided it needed a more unique format to draw crowds.

In August 2019, the side announced that Australian coach Tom Moody would be the men's team's first coach, while former England Women player Lydia Greenway was appointed coach of the Women's team.[3]

The inaugural Hundred draft took place in October 2019 and saw the Invincibles claim Sam Curran as their headline men's draftee, and Laura Marsh as the women's headliner. They were joined by England internationals Tom Curran and Jason Roy for the men's team, while Fran Wilson joined Marsh in the women's side.[4]

Honours

Men's honours

The Hundred

Women's honours

The Hundred

Ground

See main article: The Oval. Both the Oval Invincibles men's and women's sides play at the home of Surrey, The Oval, in the Kennington area of London.

The women's side had been due to play at the County Ground in Beckenham, one of the outgrounds of Kent County Cricket Club, but both teams were brought together at the same location as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Current squads

Notes and References

  1. News: The Hundred: Team-by-team guides, coach details and venues. Sporting Life. 21 October 2019. 4 August 2021.
  2. News: Virat Kohli gives ECB’s 100-ball 'experiment' the thumbs down. sport. The Guardian. 2018-08-28. The Guardian. 2019-10-04. en-GB. 0261-3077.
  3. Web site: Tom Moody recruited by Oval franchise for The Hundred. The Cricketer. 2019-08-14. 2019-10-05.
  4. Web site: The Hundred: Central contract and local icon 'drafts' explained. 2019-10-01. ESPNcricinfo. en. 2019-10-04.