Game changer Bowlers kept on for 10 deliveries
Format to help bowlers and speed up the game Stokes available for first Test despite court case
The new Hundred competition is set to deliver a brand new format but not the sort that caused uproar after being laid out in its original blueprint.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal that teams will now be able to bowl sets of 10 deliveries from each end but captains will be able to decide whether to use one bowler or two.
Bowlers will deliver a minimum of five balls in succession but could be kept on for the full 10 if the team consider it the right option. Overs would, in effect, be replaced by “ends”.
Under the plan, the compulsory final 10-ball over – following 15 of six balls – that was mooted when the competition was announced this year has been dropped after talks with players.
Instead, it is believed the tactical option of allowing one bowler to continue at one end will bring a new element. Bowlers will bowl a maximum of four overs in total.
The idea of extended “ends” will help speed up the game.
Trial matches are to be held at Trent Bridge for the men, and at Loughborough for women, in September to test the regulations.
It is looking likely that the international schedule will be tweaked to enable England players to play the first two rounds of the Hundred and the finals day when it is launched in 2020 in order to give the tournament more star quality.
Trent Woodhill, a freelance Twenty20 consultant, has joined the England and Wales Cricket Board for a month to help set up the competition from a playing perspective. Woodhill has long experience in the Indian Premier League and Big Bash and will advise the ECB on all aspects.
Woodhill was at New Road yesterday to talk to the England Lions players and will speak to county directors of cricket in the next month.
Ben Stokes, meanwhile, will play in the first Test against India even though it could finish just 24 hours before the start of his court case. Stokes has been backed by Joe Root, the Test captain, to remain focused on cricket and not be distracted during the first Test. If the match at Edgbaston lasts the full five days, it will not finish until Aug 5, the day before Stokes is due to answer charges of affray at Bristol Crown Court.
England could have decided to leave Stokes out for the first two Tests, given that he will miss the second at Lord’s to be in court. But Root wants his strongest XI on the field and, if he is fit, Stokes will be named in the squad when it is announced next Thursday.
“No, we are going to pick our best team and make sure we go into that series with the strongest squad. If Ben’s fit to play, he’ll be up for selection,” said Root. “He loves playing cricket. He wants the ball all the time. I’m sure that will be the same throughout that game.”
England insisted at Headingley on Tuesday that Stokes was fit despite him looking to be troubled by a leg injury in the outfield.
He was not required to bat in the victory over India, giving him more time to rest, but he will play for Durham in the Vitality Blast tomorrow and in the County Championship next week.
Stokes missed the last Test against Pakistan with a torn hamstring and was replaced by Sam Curran, who took five wickets for the Lions against India A at Worcester yesterday, where he exploited cloudy, swinging conditions.
Chris Woakes looked back to full fitness, bowling sharply for his two for 28 off 13 overs, and believes he will be ready to play in the first Test against India after five weeks out with knee and thigh injuries. India A were cruising at 189 for four, with Test batsmen Ajinkya Rahane and Rishabh Pant looking comfortable before Woakes and Curran started to find movement. India A lost six wickets for eight runs to be bowled out for 197.
England did not enforce the follow-on, instead batting again, with Dawid Malan scoring 56 to take his match tally to 140 and Olly Pope strengthened his growing reputation with an unbeaten fifty.