ML-W vs SUL-W Dream11 prediction: Hundred Women 2026 opens at Kennington Oval.
MI London Women and Sunrisers Leeds Women kick off the rebranded Hundred Women’s Competition on 21 July, 7:15 PM IST. Below covers captain picks, vice-captain calls, squad combinations, and the Oval pitch read you need before locking entries.
Why this opener matters for fantasy cricket entries
A new era under rebranded franchises
The Hundred Women’s Competition returns with two of its eight sides carrying new identities. Oval Invincibles and Northern Superchargers have been rebranded as MI London and Sunrisers Leeds respectively, the first meeting between the two under their new banners. The Hundred’s rolling 100-ball format compresses decision windows and inflates ceiling variance, which makes the opening fixture a useful early-season data point for fantasy users trying to size up the captain pool for the rest of the campaign.
For the broader Hundred Women coverage, see our fantasy cricket editorial hub for captain frameworks, points system references, and weekly rotation strategy.
Match essentials
Toss and start at 7:15 PM IST on 21 July 2026. Venue: Kennington Oval, London. Match number 1 of the Hundred Women’s Competition 2026. Predicted XI announcements typically drop 30–45 minutes before the toss, so fantasy users have a tight window to score captain candidates and lock entries.
Captain and vice-captain calls for ML-W vs SUL-W
Hayley Matthews (ML-W) — captain choice for mega contests
Right-handed explosive opener and frontline off-spinner. Matthews carries two skill paths into one selection, which is rare even in T20-style fantasy formats. With 100-ball cricket offering only 20 legal deliveries in the powerplay, a player who can impact both the new-ball batting window and the middle-overs spin phase has the broadest ceiling of anyone on either roster. For mega contests where ownership can drop to single digits, that dual-path ceiling makes her the top differential.
Amelia Kerr (ML-W) — captain choice for small leagues
Right-handed top-to-middle-order anchor with right-arm leg-break. Kerr plays the longer innings and controls run-rate during the middle phase. In small leagues where you want a single high-floor captain and don’t need variance to win, Kerr’s consistency makes her the safer call. Pair her with Matthews in the same XI by using Kerr as a non-multiplier differential pick.
Vice-captain pool
Annabel Sutherland (SUL-W) and Paige Scholfield (ML-W) sit just behind the two Kerr-Matthews locks. Sutherland is a right-arm fast-medium pace bowler with aggressive middle-order batting — her skill mix is similar to Matthews and gives you exposure to the Sunrisers Leeds skill path. Scholfield brings middle-to-lower-order power hitting at a lower ownership band than the top picks, which makes her the obvious vice-captain for differential squads.
Budget picks under 8 credits
Alice Davidson-Richards (ML-W) is a lower-order finisher and right-arm fast-medium pacer. Jess Jonassen (SUL-W) is a left-handed middle-order batter and slow left-arm orthodox spinner. Both round out a 100-credit squad cheaply and contribute across two phases, which keeps the credit-band tier math flexible for the marquee picks. They also have lower ownership percentages than the captain pool, which is useful for small-to-medium contests where you want to push ownership down without sacrificing floor.
Two squad combinations for ML-W vs SUL-W
Combination A — safe captain differential
Wicketkeeper: Lauren Winfield-Hill. Batters: Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Paige Scholfield. All-rounders: Hayley Matthews (C), Deepti Sharma, Amelia Kerr, Annabel Sutherland (VC), Nicole Carey, Dani Gibson, Chinelle Henry. Bowler: Kirstie Gordon. Combination: 1-2-7-1 (keeper-batter-allrounder-bowler). This XI funnels all four all-rounder slots into the dual-skill pool, which is the highest-EV skill mix for 100-ball cricket because every all-rounder can absorb batting or bowling credit depending on match flow.
Combination B — ceiling-heavy grand-league squad
Wicketkeeper: Lauren Winfield-Hill. Batters: Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Alice Davidson-Richards, Paige Scholfield (VC). All-rounders: Jess Jonassen, Hayley Matthews (C), Deepti Sharma, Amelia Kerr, Annabel Sutherland, Chinelle Henry. Bowler: Kirstie Gordon. Combination: 1-3-6-1. The extra batter slot is Alice Davidson-Richards, who provides lower-order depth and adds a third differential beyond the captain pool. Matthews captained, Scholfield vice-captained, with Kerr as a non-multiplier differential — a triple-path ceiling structure that works in contests over 10,000 entries.
Players to fade
S Turner and K Moore have NA credits and NA recent-match points, which means the platforms have not yet priced or scored them in their databases. For the opening fixture of a rebranded competition, that uncertainty is a captain-pool red flag. Skip them even if they appear in the predicted XI. The cap on your squad is 11, and the opening round is the worst time to spend a slot on a player with no live data.
Kennington Oval pitch and weather read
Weather: partly cloudy, dry surface expected
A 23°C evening with overcast intervals usually holds the surface together rather than breaking it up. That means batting second is the favoured path — the 53% chasing win rate at this venue reflects a pitch that does not deteriorate sharply across an evening innings. If you’re picking a captain from the team batting second in the run-up to the toss, weight that pick slightly.
Pace is the better skill pool than spin
The Oval traditionally offers true bounce, and the surface rating for this match has been tagged pace-friendly rather than spin-friendly. That tilts captain value toward fast-medium all-rounders (Matthews is the exception because she bowls off-spin, but she makes up for it with batting ceiling). Pace bowlers who can hit the deck — Sutherland, Gordon, Davidson-Richards — have higher wicket-projection floors than the spinners in either XI.
Predicted playing XIs
MI London Women (ML-W)
1) Marizanne Kapp, 2) Alice Capsey, 3) Lauren Winfield-Hill (wk), 4) Chamari Athapaththu, 5) Paige Scholfield, 6) Kalea Moore, 7) Kirstie Gordon, 8) Ryana MacDonald-Gay, 9) Sophia Dunkley, 10) Amanda-Jade Wellington, 11) Tilly Kesteven. Matthews (off-spin) and Wyatt-Hodge rotate through the XI based on the toss decision — the published XI may shift one slot. Watch for the toss announcement and adjust.
Sunrisers Leeds Women (SUL-W)
1) Grace Scrivens (C), 2) Bryony Smith, 3) Dani Gibson, 4) Jess Jonassen, 5) Hollie Armitage, 6) Bess Heath (wk), 7) Mady Villiers, 8) Kate Cross, 9) Linsey Smith, 10) Grace Ballinger, 11) Sophia Smale. The Leeds side is anchored by Scrivens at the top with Jonassen as the spin-bowling all-rounder through the middle. Cross and Linsey Smith handle the death-overs pace work; either is a viable lower-order captain differential if you want to push ownership below 5%.
Head-to-head under new identities
0-0. This is the first meeting between MI London Women and Sunrisers Leeds Women under their rebranded names, which means there is no direct head-to-head record to weight. Both franchises have retained strong cores from the previous Invincibles-Superchargers era and added fresh international talent through the inaugural Hundred auction. Treat the historical edge as neutral and lean on form, pitch, and matchup.
Contest-size guidance for this opener
Small leagues (under 1,000 entries)
Captain Kerr. Use Combination A. The all-rounder-heavy structure gives you the highest average floor because every slot can absorb batting or bowling points, which reduces the risk of a positional wipeout. Skip the differential chase here — in small fields the ownership differential is too narrow to swing prizes.
Grand leagues (10,000+ entries)
Captain Matthews. Use Combination B with Scholfield vice-captain and Alice Davidson-Richards as the third differential. The ceiling-heavy squad accepts a lower floor in exchange for top-1% upside. Expect 60–70% of grand-league entries to bust; the 30–40% that hit cover all losses.
Head-to-head contests
Captain Kerr or Matthews — pick the player you expect to bat the full innings. Head-to-head contests reward floor over ceiling, and both locks have a top-three floor in their respective skill paths. Stake 2–3% of bankroll per contest, cap at three contests per day across formats.
Match-winner call
On squad strength and home advantage, MI London Women go in as favourites. But favourites win roughly 55–60% of T20-style fixtures at neutral-quality venues, so do not weight your fantasy captain call on the match-winner pick alone. Treat the match-winner call and the captain call as independent decisions.
What this preview cannot tell you
First-match data is noisy
Opening fixtures of a rebranded competition are the hardest to model. Players are adjusting to new team environments, captaincy groups are testing combinations, and the ownership projections on the platforms are still running off pre-season priors. Treat the captain picks above as starting points, not locks — check the final XI, the toss decision, and any late injury news before submitting.
No live points history yet
For S Turner and K Moore the platforms list NA credits and NA recent-match points. If either is named in the final XI, you have no live scoring data to weight the captain decision. Default to skipping them on opening day; use the first 2–3 fixtures of the Hundred Women’s season to build your own rolling form numbers before committing a captain slot.
Weather updates can shift the read
Partly cloudy forecasts in London can drift into rain delays or shortened innings. If the match is reduced, captain value shifts sharply toward top-order batters and powerplay specialists because the middle-overs all-rounder path collapses when overs are cut. Re-score your captain pick after the toss if the match length changes.