With such a busy cricket calendar, it seems like almost a lifetime ago that the Oval Invincible women's side and Southern Brave men lifted their respective titles on August 21 last year at Lord's.

The Brave begin their title defence against Welsh Fire in Southampton on Wednesday - live on Sky Sports Cricket from 7pm - while the women's competition gets under way just over a week later with the Invincibles against Northern Superchargers on Thursday August 11.

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What are the rules?

• Each innings lasts 100 balls and is scheduled to take 65 minutes.

• Two sets of five deliveries will be bowled before changing ends.

• A bowler can bowl two successive sets of five from the same end or successive sets of five from each end.

• Each bowler can bowl a maximum of 20 deliveries in an innings.

• The Powerplay will be the first 25 deliveries of a 100-ball innings.

• The fielding team can take a two-minute strategic time-out at any stage after the first 25 deliveries.

• If a team is not in position to bowl the last five balls of the innings within 65 minutes, one fewer f­ielder will be permitted outside the f­ielding restriction area.

• No drinks intervals are permitted. Players may be given drinks at the boundary edge or at the fall of a wicket provided no playing time is wasted.

• If a batter is out caught, and the batters crossed while the ball was in the air, the non-striker returns to his/her original end.

• Each team will be allowed a maximum of one unsuccessful DRS review per innings.

• To constitute a match, a minimum of 25 balls has to be bowled to the side batting second, unless a result has been achieved earlier.

• Each team plays eight matches. There are two points awarded for a win, one point for a tie/no result and zero points for a loss.

• The team finishing top of the group progresses straight to the final. The teams finishing second and third will compete in the 'Eliminator', with the winner progressing to the final.

• In the knock-out stages, if a match is tied, then a 'Super 5' will be played, with the winner being the team which scores the most runs from a further five balls.

The Hundred 2021 season in stats

In 2021, the men's player who propelled himself into the stratosphere was Liam Livingstone of the Birmingham Phoenix. The England international topped the run-scoring tables with 348 runs - more than a hundred more than anyone else - and also struck more sixes than any other player.

Livingstone also hit the highest individual score of the men's competition, in which there were a total of 35 half-centuries.

A complete unknown quantity at the start, the average score batting first in the men's competition was 143, and spinners proved to be more economical - giving away 136 runs per 100 balls as opposed to seamers, who conceded 150 runs per 100 balls bowled. The highest total of the competition - and the only team to reach 200 - was Northern Superchargers' 200-5 against Manchester Originals at Leeds.

Perhaps understandably, 23 of the captains winning the toss chose to bowl first. In the end, there were 12 matches won batting first, 19 batting second and two no results.

The leading wicket-takers in the men's competition proved to be a mixture of pace and mystery, with wildcard selection Jake Lintott a particular hit.

In the women's competition, overseas players accounted for four of the seven top run-scorers, but Sophia Dunkley also impressed, staking her claim for the England T20 openers berth which she now occupies.

Australian Sammy-Jo Johnson hit the most sixes, with seven, closely followed by Smriti Mandhana and Danni Wyatt with six each. As in the men's competition, one player made it into the 90s with the bat among the 22 half-centuries scored.

The leading wicket-taker across both competitions was Tash Farrant, who helped Oval Invincibles to the title, before unfortunately falling foul of a back stress fracture which has ruled her out of England's 2022 summer so far.

Marizanne Kapp saved her best for last, returning the best figures for the women's tournament of 4-9 in the final against the Southern Brave to help seal victory for her team.

The average score batting first in the women's competition was 123, with the highest total being 166-3 by the Brave against Welsh Fire in Southampton. With only nine captains choosing to bat first, compared to 24 opting to bowl, 13 matches were won batting first and 19 won batting second.

With one season of the competition in the bag - and even more attention now given to disciplines such as range-hitting, bowling variation and studying match-ups - it will be fascinating to see how teams approach year two of The Hundred and find out which players emerge with their reputations enhanced once the month-long festival of cricket ends.

Tickets for The Hundred are selling fast! If you want to be part of the action, go to thehundred.com/tickets