The Hundred has become popular among the players and the cricket fans in England but it hasn't made it to the hearts of the global audience as yet.
Lancashire Chairman Andy Anson felt that the Hundred should become a T20 competition from 2025. For the unversed, the eight teams in the Hundred are owned by the English Cricket Board (ECB) and run by boards comprising county representatives and independent members. However, the league could soon welcome private investors.
"It would make absolute sense. I think the format was an unnecessary creation. It was there to create a difference between the Blast and the Hundred… I think we are past that now. You won't even need to change the branding of it: it could still be called the Hundred," Anson told LancsTV, Lancashire's in-house channel.
"I think it should be T20, just to fall in line with this game that is brilliant. It is the best format of cricket from a global audience perspective. It does generate huge amounts of interest around the world…. I would just fall in line with it, and I do feel, in the meetings I'm in, that there is a sympathy for that attitude and for that change to happen," Anson added.
The Hundred was one of the many decisive factors that led to the TV rights deal between ECB and Sky Sports. Therefore, the future of the tournament is not in jeopardy. However, there could be a change in the ownership structures in 2025. Furthermore, Anson also suggested that private investment is necessary to attract some of the biggest names in world cricket.
"If you are going to make the Hundred the second-best tournament after the IPL, you probably need to improve the amount of money going into player wages to get the better players coming in. Right now, we've got salary limits that mean the South African league [SA20] is paying more. The Middle Eastern league [ILT20] is certainly going to pay more, and I wouldn't be surprised if the US league [MLC] pays more. And it [the Hundred] will drop down the pecking order, and we can't let that happen actually, from a value perspective," he said.
MCC chairman to seek consensus regarding private investment in The Hundred
Bruce Carnegie-Brown, the chairman of Marleyborne Cricket Club (MCC), who is involved in the running of London Spirit, will meet the members next week to "discuss concepts… and seek a broad consensus," on the club's stand regarding private investment in The Hundred. Anson also said that the club's £30 million debt after investment in Emirates Old Trafford is sustainable and there is no immediate need for an injection of capital or cash.
"At the moment the way forward is far from certain. What we do know is that change is coming," Carnegie-Brown told members in a recent email.
"The opportunity that everyone is discussing is around the Hundred, and if the counties potentially have more ownership of the franchises in the Hundred… we have this discussion at the county chairs and CEOs meeting and I'd say the vast majority would like an injection of capital at some point in the near future," Anson concluded.
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