Manchester Originals Cricket Fixtures for 2025

With temperatures across the UK regularly dipping below zero at night, the memories of the heavy snow at the start of January still fresh, and named storms seemingly making the news almost every week, the 2025 summer of cricket seems a long way off. Manchester continues to get its normal share of the rain, which of course won’t stop even when the mercury has risen a little.

However, whilst August remains half a year away (as Oasis didn’t quite sing), now is a very important time of the year for The Hundred. In the days ahead we will soon know more details about who will take part-ownership of the various franchises, including of course the Manchester Originals. That process begins with an announcement about the Oval Invincibles and Birmingham Phoenix on Thursday, with news of the other deals set to follow.

However, before that, we do have some concrete news about the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) newest competition, because the fixtures for the 2025 campaign were announced on Wednesday the 29th of January.

Will the Originals Make It to Lord’s?

This year the competition gets underway on the 5th of August and then runs for the rest of the month of August. We’re optimistically starting at the end and hoping that one of the Manchester sides, men’s or women’s, will at least make it to The Eliminator.

That “semi-final” will take place on Saturday the 30th of August for both the men and the women. That decider is held at the Oval, with the finals taking place the following day, Sunday the 31st of August, at Lord’s. Get those dates in your diary!

Men’s Season – The Originals Fixtures

The tournament as a whole starts on the 5th of August but the Originals are not in action until the following day, with the London derby between the Spirit and the Invincibles kicking things off.

6 August – Old Trafford

On the 6th of August, Southern Brave will visit Old Trafford and if history is anything to go by, this game could be important in terms of the bigger picture. The Brave lost to defending champions Oval Invincibles in the final last August, with that same team beating the Originals 12 months before that. Going back a further year to 2022, the Manchester side again made the final but this time were defeated by Trent Rockets.

And, if you can keep apace with this time travelling, 12 months before that it was the Southern Brave who made the final, though that year – the tournament’s first – they managed to win. In summary, one of these two sides has made the final in all four previous seasons of The Hundred, so this one could be telling.

9 August – the Oval

In what is a tough start for the men, three days later, on Saturday the 9th of August, they face the current champions away at the Oval. If, somehow, they can open the tournament with two wins, it might just be time to start booking the train to London!

11 August – Old Trafford

Of course, we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves and there is a lot of cricket to be played. Once it gets started… in six months! Third up is a home clash against the other London side, the Spirit, on Monday the 11th. The Originals will be at home for this, a battle between the teams who finished with just one win each last term, both collecting a meagre two points out of 16!

13 August – Sophia Gardens

Then we have a trip to Wales to face Welsh Fire on Wednesday the 13th of August, before the big one.

17 August – Old Trafford

On Sunday the 17th of August it is War of the Roses (sort of, though the ECB would like to make out otherwise), as Northern Superchargers come to Old Trafford.

19 August – Trent Bridge

The Originals will face the Trent Rockets on the 19th, in Nottingham.

24 August – Old Trafford

Then play their penultimate clash against the Phoenix on 24 August at home. That one will be the last home game of the campaign, so another date for the diary. Let’s hope there is at least one more game in London after the league phase is complete though!

26 August – Headingley

This will be the final game of the normal season and takes place at Headingley on Tuesday the 26th of August.

Women’s Fixtures

As usual the women’s Eliminator and Final will take place on the same day as the men’s. And indeed, as usual, the women’s fixtures in the regular season will also take place on the same days, forming doubleheaders. For the sake of clarity, and so you can see all the fixtures more clearly in one list, the women’s games are as follows:

1. 6th of August v Southern Brave at home
2. 9th of August v Oval Invincibles at the Oval
3. 11th of August v London Spirit at home
4. 13th of August v Welsh Fire at Sophia Gardens
5. 17th of August v Northern Superchargers at home
6. 19th of August v Trent Rockets at Trent Bridge
7. 24th of August v Birmingham Phoenix at home
8. 26th of August v Northern Superchargers at Headingley

The women’s games take place before the men’s and this makes going to see the cricket an incredibly good-value day out. The strict timing of the matches means you know you won’t be in for a late finish and the atmosphere is very family-friendly. This structure has been brilliant for the women’s game and means that their games attract excellent crowds, relative to women’s cricket in general. Early on there are usually plenty of empty seats but these gradually fill up during the second innings of the women’s match, although increasingly many fans are there right from the start.

Last year was a very, very poor campaign for the men’s team and they will be desperate to bounce back. The women didn’t do all that much better in truth, finishing sixth of the eight franchises and managing just three wins from eight. Both have plenty to prove, so let the countdown to the summer commence!