The Northern Superchargers, who missed out on the eliminator spot narrowly on net run rate last year, will be keen to do a bit better this time around, with a few new additions to the squad, including the likes of Zak Crawley, Michael Pepper and Dan Lawrence, all from the London Spirit in a mass exodus. The Superchargers, led by Harry Brook, have really strengthened their batting line-up, adding some international experience to it, with Dawid Malan and international David Miller also part of the side.
Mitchell Santner will miss a few games and Brydon Carse will be unavailable for the whole tournament, but Imad Wasim and Mohammad Amir are not bad replacements in the starting line-up by any stretch of imagination. However, in the meantime, Brook has become England's white-ball captain and is coming off a gruelling five-match Test series. How mentally fresh and ready he is for the Hundred will play a key part in how the Superchargers perform, which is where the head coach Andrew Flintoff's role becomes critical.
On the other hand, the perennial underperformers of the men's competition, Welsh Fire, will be heralding a new journey with the part ownership of Washington Freedom and, hence, will welcome Steve Smith into the squad. Smith has been terrific in the T20 leagues he has played in the last couple of years - Big Bash League and the Major League Cricket and having mentioned that LA28 Olympics is on his mind, he will do everything in his might to have a successful season here.
My Dream11 team for The Hundred Men's 2025 Match 3, NOS vs WEF
Graham Clarke, Jonny Bairstow (c), Harry Brook, Steve Smith, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Paul Walter (vc), David Miller, Imad Wasim, Matthew Potts, Adil Rashid, Riley Meredith
Probable Playing XIs
Northern Superchargers: Zak Crawley, Michael-Kyle Pepper (w), Graham Clark, Dan Lawrence, Harry Brook (c), David Miller, Imad Wasim, Pat Brown, Matthew Potts, Mohammad Amir, Adil Rashid
Welsh Fire: Jonny Bairstow (w), Steven Smith, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Tom Abell (c), Luke Wells, Paul Walter, Saif Zaib, Chris Green, Josh Hull/David Payne, Ajeet Dale, Riley Meredith