Former England captain Kevin Pietersen is a big fan of The Hundred and believes the tournament will "grow the domestic structure" and "produce better England players", comparing it to his experiences of the Indian Premier League.
Will Jacks, Jordan Cox and Tom Helm were all given their first England call-ups for the upcoming T20I series against Pakistan off the back of some stellar performances in the tournament. Jacks and Cox built on their impressive form in the T20 Blast by finishing The Hundred as the only uncapped players among the top 10 leading run scorers, while Helm was the joint leading wicket taker with 14 scalps after being signed by Birmingham Phoenix as an injury replacement player for Matthew Fisher.
"These tournaments are so important for domestic players," Pietersen told Sky Sports. "When the IPL started, I was at RCB [Royal Challengers Bangalore] and we had Virat Kohli in our side.
"He was a little guy and he sat next to [Jacques] Kallis, [Anil] Kumble, [Rahul] Dravid, all these amazing players. I said it was an academy for learning.
"No matter how many Test matches I played, no matter how many one-day internationals, it was an academy for all of us to learn. This will grow the domestic structure, make the domestic players better and that will produce better England players.
"This is going to become a very big trophy to lift." While the men's tournament suffered from the amount of players missing through injury, several overseas stars leaving early due to international or Caribbean Premier League (CPL) commitments and a lack of close games during the group stages, the women's tournament was once again excellent.
There were record crowds for domestic women's cricket at all eight grounds and more close finished than the men's. And teenager Alice Capsey, who broke into the England side following a breakout season in last year's Hundred, revealed the tournament "really set me up for being able to play international cricket".
She said: "I think it's been amazing for the women's game. I think from last year it exceeded all our expectations. Going to this year it's almost had to one-up it and I think it's absolutely done that.
"We've seen some amazing games of cricket, we've seen some new records. We've seen new records for crowd attendance. I think the general standard of the game has gone up and it's been incredible to play in, to be a part of that and to see it.
"It gives players a platform to show what they're about. I think looking back, for me The Hundred was amazing because it did set me up for playing international cricket.
"Obviously when you make your debut you've got the nerves of making your debut. If I hadn't have played in The Hundred I would have been so nervous to play in front of that crowd as well whereas coming into the Hundred last year it wasn't daunting, I loved it.
"I love playing in front of crowds, I love the energy that it gives me so for me, the Hundred really set me up for being able to play international cricket."
