ECB launches 100-ball innings to bring in fans
City-based tournament will revolutionise cricket Broadcasters sign up for £1.2billion rights deal
A 100-ball innings and a ‘wild card’ 10-ball over – cricket in the summer of 2020 will look very different, after the England and Wales Cricket Board announced revolutionary plans yesterday for its new citybased tournament, which it hopes will breathe new life into the nation’s summer sport.
The ECB pulled a major surprise when it announced that the new tournament that has divided opinion in the game will not be a Twenty20 competition as planned, but a radical new format based around 100-ball innings, 20 balls fewer than Twenty20.
Teams will bowl 15 traditional six-ball overs, with a wild-card 10ball over that could be used at any stage a captain deems it useful tactically. A countdown clock, showing how many balls are remaining, will be used and there will be a strict cut-off time. Full details are yet to be finalised and there could be further unique innovations, including scoreboards modified for the 100-ball concept.
Matches will be played in a five- week block during the school summer holidays, with games starting at 2.30pm and 6.30pm. They will last three hours with eight to be broadcast live on BBC, the rest on Sky Sports.
Broadcasters were consulted on the new competition and gave it their enthusiastic backing. It is made-for-television cricket, a reflection of the fact the broadcasters have paid £1.2 billion for rights from 2020 to2024.
The ECB has been working on the plans for six months and presented them to chief executives and chairmen of the 18 counties and MCC yesterday, receiving unanimous support. The format will be used in both the men’s and women’s eight-team tournament. Eight double-headers of men’s and women’s matches are planned, one each at the Test grounds chosen as host venues. Other women’s matches will be played at smaller county grounds.
The ECB has been assured that once they settle on the details, it will automatically receive formal approval from the ICC. Further plans will be presented to the ECB board for final approval in June. A name for the tournament, as well as the identities of the eight teams, will be announced later this year.
“From a cricket point of view, there is still lots of scoping out to do. There are all manner of ways this 100 balls could be split up,” said Clare Connor, the ECB’S director of women’s cricket.
“The key was getting a concept unanimously approved. We are talking about simplifying cricket, whether it is creating countdown clocks or changing the language of the game we all know so well but means absolutely nothing to so many other people in this country at the moment. It is about how we put on a cricket match that is going to be more easily understood.”
A player draft will be held with squads of 15 players, three from overseas.
At the moment, England players are not expected to feature because the competition will clash with the Test programme, but this could change. Stars such as Ben Stokes, Joe Root and Jos Buttler will be important to the success of its launch.
The ECB is hopeful of attracting the game’s best overseas talent, although it is unlikely Indian players will be given permission by the BCCI, which wants to protect the IPL. “This will be a box-office tournament, something players want to play in. Not only from reward perspective but playing perspective too,” said Tom Harrison, the ECB’S chief executive.
Twenty20 matches now have the slowest over-rates of any format at international and domestic level, some IPL games have been dragging on beyond four hours. For this new tournament to work, on the BBC in particular, it has to be short and fit into existing television schedules, hitting the prime-time audience and not over-running.
“Evening games will start at 6.30, which will allow youngsters to get home before 10pm. That is really important in terms of getting young people into our grounds,” said Sanjay Patel, the competition’s managing director. The ECB is planning test events with exhibition matches next summer in the new format, possibly played in the Kia Super League women’s tournament, second-xi cricket or the age-group matches, such as under-19s.
Counties will worry the new competition will further sideline the championship and traditionalists will be horrified. But T20 was scoffed at when it was introduced by the ECB 15 years ago and many in this country predicted the IPL would crash and burn. Both have changed the game dramatically.
“I’m hugely optimistic, I love the fact that it’s different to all the other tournaments worldwide,” said England bowler Stuart Broad.
Most counties have greeted the tournament with relief, mainly because they feel it gives their own T20 competition room to breathe.
The Professional Cricketers’ Association, which was told about the plans six weeks ago, is yet to give the competition its full backing and will start consulting members. Players spoken to by The Telegraph are sceptical, but the competition will be an extra money-spinner for the 96 picked by the new teams.