The future of The Hundred is in doubt after reports emerged that English cricket is considering turning the format into a Twenty20 competition.
According to the Daily Mail, the 100-ball men’s and women’s cricket competition, which only began in the summer of 2021, has been the subject of ‘informal discussions’ around its value to the sport.
The major concern surrounding The Hundred’s sustainability centres on its international appeal. With 100-ball cricket only being played in the UK, the format is regarded as a barrier to its global growth.
Conversations are thought to be at ‘an early stage’ and ‘sensitivities are high’ because of the money invested by Sky Sports, the English game’s main broadcasting partner.
Sky extended its deal with the ECB – which is said to be worth £220million annually – last year until 2028, with the expectation that the Hundred would still be around.
But now, the ECB is already eyeing a new format to increase its global commercial appeal.
Twenty20 seems the most obvious alternative, with the format expanding internationally. Major League Cricket is set to begin in the USA this summer and Saudi Arabia is looking to start its own competition too.
No change to the men’s Hundred is likely before 2025 – the highly successful women’s format would be untouched – but one option is to invite the National Counties (formerly the Minor Counties) to join the 18 first-class teams in an expanded competition aimed at ‘providing promising cricketers with a pathway into the professional game.’
The T20 Blast might then become a two-league affair, with promotion and relegation.
But no change would be possible without consensus among the first-class counties, and the ECB remain open to ideas about how best to shape the summer.
ECB chair Richard Thompson recently suggested that the board were open to the idea of offloading the Hundred to private investors, citing the sale of IPL franchise Lucknow Giants for $930m.
But the failure of other nations to take up 100-ball cricket has led to a general consensus among English administrators that it should not be for sale at any price.
Earlier this month, a report by Worcestershire chairman Fanos Hira, a chartered accountant, claimed the Hundred had lost £9m in two years – a figure that did not include £25m paid by the ECB to the counties and MCC to back the competition.
The ECB responded with claims that the competition made a profit of £11.8m.
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