Steve Elworthy, the CEO of Surrey County Cricket Club, has called the Oval Invincibles “a bit of a no-name” while defending the franchise’s rebrand to MI London ahead of The Hundred 2026.
“Invincibles is a bit of a no-name really. I understand there are a lot of people that loved it right… but at the same time, we’ve had to evolve into something which I think from a global franchise point of view, we’ve got something now with London in there.”
Steve Elworthy, YouTube interview, August 2026
The Invincibles won five titles in five years of The Hundred. The women’s team took consecutive championships in 2021 and 2022. The men completed a three-peat from 2023 to 2025, a run unmatched in any major T20 franchise league in the world. Elworthy oversaw all of it as Surrey CEO.
No other franchise in The Hundred’s history has come close. Southern Brave and Trent Rockets have one men’s title each. Northern Superchargers, now fully owned by the Sun Group as SunRisers Leeds, won one women’s title. The Invincibles dominated both competitions from The Oval in green, building a brand identity that was directly tied to winning.
That identity no longer exists. From July 2026, the team plays as MI London in Mumbai Indians blue and gold. The green is gone. The name is gone. The connection to The Oval remains only through the venue.
What Surrey Gave Up For The MI Brand
The rebrand was not smooth. Surrey chairman Oli Slipper initially wanted the franchise to carry the county’s name.
“From a brand perspective, I hope we can brand it as a Surrey team.”
Oli Slipper, Surrey chairman, 2025
That did not happen. Reliance Industries, the parent company of the Mumbai Indians, acquired a 49% stake in the franchise in a deal valuing it at £123 million. Surrey retained 51% and a board majority, but the name went to MI London. The deal, finalised on December 3, 2025, was the last of eight equity sales in The Hundred, delayed specifically because of Surrey’s reluctance to let go of the Invincibles identity.
The MI brand now operates across five countries. Mumbai Indians in the IPL, a league that has crossed $20 billion in valuation. MI Cape Town in the SA20. MI Emirates in the ILT20. MI New York in Major League Cricket. And now MI London in The Hundred. Thirteen titles across those franchises in 17 years. For Reliance, the logic was straightforward: one global brand, one identity, one colour scheme.
For The Hundred, the rebrand is part of a wider shift that has reshaped the debate around franchise cricket in England. Three of eight teams changed names for 2026. Northern Superchargers became SunRisers Leeds. Manchester Originals became Manchester Super Giants. Southern Brave kept their name but switched to Delhi Capitals blue and red. The original identities that launched in 2021 are being replaced by IPL parent brands at pace.
Insider Read:
When a team wins five titles under one name, that name stops being a brand. It becomes part of how the dressing room talks about itself. Players who lifted the trophy at Lord’s in 2025 did so as Invincibles. That word carried weight because it was earned across five seasons, not assigned by a marketing department.
Calling that “a no-name” tells the players that what they built on the field mattered less than what could be sold off it. It tells the fans who stood at The Oval in green from 2021, who adopted the Invincibles identity before the team had won anything, that the thing they supported was never considered valuable by the people running it.
The rebrand does not erase the wins. Sam Billings still lifted three men’s trophies. The women’s squad still won back-to-back in the first two years. But those achievements now belong to a name that the franchise’s own CEO has dismissed. MI London can win titles of its own. It just cannot claim the ones that came before, because the man in charge has made clear he never thought that identity was worth keeping.
Sources:
Steve Elworthy, YouTube interview, August 2026
Also Read:
