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We're off and running in the 2022 Hundred competition.

England bowler Craig Overton starts with a dot ball - meaning no runs are scored - to Joe Clarke.

Clarke played for Manchester Originals last summer but has moved to Welsh Fire.

Moeen Ali
England & Birmingham Phoenix all-rounder on BBC Two

I think Vincey is the best captain in the country in domestic cricket. He's been doing it for a while now and has that leadership that you need, dealing with all different kind of egos at times and helping the young players.

He's a fantastic player too, of course.

The smoke is finally starting to clear at the Ageas Bowl and the two teams, led by defending champions Southern Brave, are making their way out to the middle.

Captain James Vince, who will be looking to use this tournament as an opportunity to push his case for an England call-up for October's T20 World Cup in Australia, is first out.

A little lad in the crowd is wearing a cardboard helmet.

Love it.

The Ageas Bowl is currently bathed in smoke after a quite FANTASTIC firework display to mark the opening of this year's Hundred.

Loads of pink and green.

Welsh Fire's Tom Banton, speaking to BBC Sport: "We had him [Jonny Bairstow] for two games and it's a huge miss but it's an opportunity for someone else to fill his spot. We wish him all the best after a busy couple of months.

"We have Ollie Pope with us for a few games before he goes off to play in the Tests. I don't want to think about last year's Hundred. We had a few meetings and Gary Kirsten, who has come off the back of winning the IPL, but the main thing is to enjoy our cricket."

You can watch 18 games live across the BBC throughout the tournament - 10 men's and eight women's matches.

All of the men's fixtures will be live on BBC Two - alongside BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app - while six of the women's games will be on BBC Two, with the other two available on BBC's digital platforms.

There is ball-by-ball radio commentary of every game, available across BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Sounds and the BBC Sport website and app. We'll also have live text commentary, with in-play video clips of all the best moments.

Details of what games are live on the BBC and more can be found here.

James Anderson
England bowler on BBC Two

Welsh Fire have guys who have been on the fringes of the England set-up for a while, so it's up to one of them to try to step up and fill Jonny Bairstow's boots. For the England players who are going away like Ollie Pope they will keen to get their team off to a good start and impact the game.

The men's teams will play eight games in the original group stage - twice against their local rivals (Manchester Originals and Northern Superchargers for example) and once against the other six teams. This year, with the tournament starting later, the women will play six group matches.

Once the women's tournament begins, all of the fixtures will be double-headers at the same ground.

At the end of the group stage the top side automatically qualifies for the final at Lord's on 3 September, while the second and third-placed teams will face off in the eliminator at The Ageas Bowl in Southampton the day before, with the winner reaching the final.

The games themselves are simple: each team bats for 100 balls. Whoever scores the most runs wins.

Matthew Henry
BBC Sport at the Ageas Bowl

There are lots of kids around the ground here, some no older than four or five. On the concourse to one side there are skill games for kids to try out. There's a throwing one, another catching drill and a reaction time machine.

That's an improvement on last year.

Alongside the TV coverage tonight, there is the usual ball-by-ball radio commentary.

Use the audio icon at the top of this page to listen along or tune the radio to BBC Radio 5 Live.

Tim David, who stands at 6ft 5in tall, is among the ones to watch today, along with Welsh Fire's Afghanistan spinner Noor Ahmad.

You can find out about others to watch here.

Southern Brave: James Vince, Alex Davies, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Ross Whiteley, James Fuller, Chris Jordan, Craig Overton, Jake Lintott, Rehan Ahmed, Michael Hogan.

Welsh Fire: Joe Clarke, Tom Banton, Ben Duckett, Sam Hain, Ollie Pope, Josh Cobb, Ryan Higgins, Adam Zampa, Jake Ball, David Payne, Noor Ahmad.

It's quite simple really.

The Hundred is an eight-team competition that was created by the England and Wales Cricket Board with the aspiration of reaching a younger, and more diverse, audience while bringing all of the best domestic and overseas players together.

The eight teams are spread across seven cities in the UK: London (London Spirit & Oval Invincibles), Manchester (Manchester Originals), Birmingham (Birmingham Phoenix), Leeds (Northern Superchargers), Nottingham (Trent Rockets), Southampton (Southern Brave) and Cardiff (Welsh Fire). Each has a men's and women's side.

The competition was due to start in 2020, but was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, with the first season taking place in 2021. Southern Brave took home the men's title, while Oval Invincibles claimed the women's crown.

Need a reminder of what happened last year?

Here are the highlights of the men's and women's final for you to enjoy.

We're getting to see the men's champions Southern Brave in action tonight.

Welsh Fire captain Josh Cobb: "We're really looking forward to it and getting going today.

"We've got a few new faces, we go into this tournament fresh and obviously at the top of the order we've got some real firepower with Tom Banton and Joe Clarke.

"Hopefully they can get going tonight and give us a good total to defend.

"We got three seamers, three spinners so we've got all options covered."