The England and Wales Cricket Board has rejected a new round of leaked reports that said the besieged 100-ball domestic competition would comprise teams of 12 or 15 active players where 11 are nominated to bat with the remainder permitted to bowl.
The working group assembled to iron out the kinks of the new competition – known as the high-performance group – is chaired by Clare Connor, the ECB’s director of women’s cricket. It is understood its participants were encouraged to have a wide-ranging discussion at the beginning of the process, from which tinkering with the number of players was thrashed out.
But insiders have indicated the conclusion of the conversation was that 11 players will continue to appear on teamsheets. Substitute fielders, however, could be formally brought in to assist bowling teams. A power play period comprised of just 20 balls at the start of the innings is also set to be endorsed by the group.
In an effort to water down stories that made public yet more internal discussions, an ECB spokesman released a statement on Tuesday morning to confirm that “no final decisions” have been made on the city-based competition, scheduled to begin in the summer of 2020.
“To develop the competition, there are a number of ongoing discussions, including within a high-performance group who are planning a series of pilot matches in September,” he added. “Ultimately, it is the Board of the ECB which makes the final decisions on the format and rules for the new competition and that is expected later this year.”
“Later” is November of this year. But before the ECB board deliberates once and for all on what will be implemented, the high-performance group’s work will also need to be given the green light by the new competition’s main board, appointed in March a month before The Hundred had entered the public lexicon.
The former England batsman Michael Lumb is serving as that committee’s cricket adviser; a 10-person board that is also overseen by the ECB’s chairman, Colin Graves, alongside six independent directors external to the day to day running of the professional game.
Last week it was revealed that the 10-ball over slated to finish the innings – originally described as adding a “fresh tactical dimension” to The Hundred – had been shelved in favour of five-ball overs bowled in pairs before changing ends each 10 deliveries.
By requiring only 10 changes of end per innings, it helps prevent games taking longer than two and a half hours, the timeframe that the BBC – contracted to televise live 10 of the 38 men’s games and eight women’s fixtures in the new format – are supportive of. The players’ union, who were dissatisfied at not being consulted before the announcement of the competition in April, are also pleased to see the back of the 10-ball final set.
The Professional Cricketers Association does have a formal seat on the high-performance group with its president Daryl Mitchell, the Worcestershire veteran, at the table. Andy Flower, currently the ECB’s acting director of cricket, and Paul Farbrace, assistant coach of the men’s team, are also members of the 10-person group.
The model where 12 players are named with 11 nominated to bat but not field is not new in professional cricket, introduced to Australia’s domestic 50-over competition in the mid-1990s and surviving until 2003. It continues to be used widely in premier-level limited overs club cricket in that country. The logic runs that having more personnel to select from reduces the likelihood that bowlers will be required to struggle with the bat and creates more room to pick five specialist bowlers rather than requiring overs from an all-rounder.
