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When Jamie Overton reported to Lord’s last Friday for the start of the new Hundred season, he experienced something that, even in the often head-spinning world of franchise cricket, was extraordinary, potentially unique. Returning to a team he played for in 2025, he would have looked around the dressing room and seen none of his former teammates. He is the only survivor of the men’s squad from last year, part of a team that will be led by a new head coach, assisted by new coaches for batting, fielding, spin and pace bowling.
“It definitely does feel like a different competition this year, because every team is effectively different,” he says. “Oval Invincibles were the best side over the last three or four years, but that’s spread out a little bit now and every side you look at them and go: ‘Oh yeah, they’ve got a good team.’
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“It’s going to be a tough competition, and I’m going to be biased, but I’m backing this squad. We’ve got a lot of firepower, a lot of wicket-taking potential and we’ve got a hell of a lot of experience. We’ve just got to go out and perform well.”
The Spirit women’s squad is twice as settled, in that among the playing group they have two veterans of 2025: Charlie Dean, who has taken over as permanent captain having stood in for the injured Heather Knight (now the general manager) in 2025; and Grace Harris. “It’s a little bit weird, but it’s not that bad,” Harris says.
“It’s only bad if you miss friends. I really enjoyed playing with Sarah Glenn [now at Southern Brave] and with Danny Gibson [now captaining Sunrisers Leeds]. I enjoyed playing with a few of the London Spirit girls that were around last season, but it’s not like they’ve completely gone missing. They’re going to be playing for other teams so we’ll still see them around.”
London Spirit are not one of the three Hundred sides who come into this season with a new name, but they do have a new logo, a new sponsor and a new kit made by a new kit producer. They have relatively new co-owners in the Tech Titans, the consortium of entrepreneurs who paid £144m for a 49% stake, a deal announced in January 2025 and completed last July, making them the competition’s most valuable franchise.
Andy Flower, the new men’s coach, says they will bring “renewed energy and perhaps a bit of pizzazz”, and also new ambitions: the women’s team has reached (and won) one of the five previous finals, but the men have come last or second-last in four years out of five and never been in the top two.
There is no reason, though, for them to be defined by results obtained by different people in a different era and Flower has won the Hundred, with Trent Rockets in 2022, as well as the past two Indian Premier League titles with Royal Challengers Bengaluru. He summarises his role, now that the squad has been assembled, as “looking to get people feeling as confident and clear as possible … to make them feel confident and clear and free to go and make decisions for themselves”.
As a young player Overton worked with Flower when he was Lions coach and the pair reunited more recently at Gulf Giants in the ILT20. “I’ve known him quite a long time and I know how he works,” Overton says.
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“He’s very different now than he was, but franchise cricket is very different to younger players trying to play for England. You’re on a journey in that phase of your life, whereas in franchise cricket you probably know where you want to be.
“He’s developed, like all good people do. But he’s very direct in how he wants to play the game. He’ll do all the one percenters, find the small margins.”
The women’s team is also being led for the first time by a former England coach in Jon Lewis and will get their season under way against Manchester SuperGiants on Thursday afternoon, with the men’s teams meeting in the evening. “Since it’s been privatised there’s a bit more of a buzz, just about what changes might happen,” Harris says. “But we can’t be any more professional than what it’s been over the past three seasonsI’ve been involved.
“If there’s more money in the game maybe they pay for an ice bath now or we get better access to off-field facilities or more clothing to wear. Our team room’s been done up quite well at the hotel, so that’s good fun. But I don’t think your on-field expectations should change that much.
“You can only do so much as a human being. You can try harder, but if you haven’t been trying up until that point then where have you been?”
Entertainment between the games at Lord’s on Thursday will be provided by Tinie Tempah and if rap will never not feel incongruous at the home of cricket his most recent chart single, 2020’s Top Winners, sounds pretty apposite. “It’s about a winners’ mindset and mentality, about striving to achieve more and continuing to do better for yourself,” he says. But then, ambition is the easy bit. Top Winners peaked at No 64.
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