Oval Invincibles search for three-peat as Hundred approaches finish line

Stability has helped defending men’s champions while Southern Brave women have a 100% record to preserve

If we have learned anything about the Hundred as we near the end of its fifth season it is that people will see in it whatever they wish to. So Adam Zampa’s last-minute arrival in the Oval Invincibles squad from Australia, confirmed on Thursday, will be perceived by some as the welcome return of a global white-ball star, the leading wicket-taker in last season’s competition. Others will consider the very possibility of a team making a big, potentially decisive signing for just the final of a competition proof of its essential unseriousness. Another group might care about nothing but their own entertainment. Protest will be fuelled by the fact that the success of the Invincibles, who go into Sunday’s decider seeking a three-peat, and Oval-based teams in general, is perhaps starting to grate.

They are something of an anomaly. The Hundred is structurally designed to promote inconsistency across seasons, unpredictability generally being seen as a positive trait in sporting competition and particularly important in a tournament with only eight teams and no relegation, circumstances that might allow it to become very stale very quickly. So Trent Rockets men, runners-up in this year’s table, have now finished first, second, third and fifth twice; while the team they face in Saturday’s eliminator, third-placed Northern Superchargers, have never finished in the same position twice.