Colin Graves, the chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, has insisted its new 100-ball tournament will definitely go ahead in 2020 and is needed because the younger generation is “just not attracted” to the sport in its current guises.
The ECB had appeared to be softening on the introduction of a fourth format during its conversations with the Professional Cricketers’ Association last week, telling the union it was “not set in stone” and just a “concept” following player concerns over the new eight-team competition’s move away from Twenty20.
But Graves, speaking on Monday to the BBC, has hardened the governing body’s position on The Hundred – only the 10-ball over remains up for debate – and reiterated the assertion that the two-and-a-half-hour length for matches has not been dictated by the broadcasters. Asked if the 100-ball tournament was set in stone, despite a largely negative public response, Graves replied: “Yes, as far as we and the ECB board is concerned.”
This statement from Graves prompted a response from the PCA chairman, Daryl Mitchell, who wrote on Twitter: “He should probably let [the ECB chief executive] Tom Harrison know then. That’s not what he told us last week!”
It was Graves who two years ago described the existing T20 Blast played by the 18 first-class counties as “mediocre” compared to the Indian Premier League and Australia’s Big Bash League. In his latest offering the 70-year-old offered a similar verdict when he outlined why a new tournament is needed. “It is not attracting the audiences, if it was we would not have that issue,” Graves said.
“The younger generation, whether you like it our not, are just not attracted to cricket. In all the work, surveys and research we have done, the younger generation want something different. They want more excitement, they want it shorter and simpler to understand. Those are the things we have learnt for this new competition and that is what we have to make it.”
This came on the same day the ECB announced 50,000 children aged five to eight years old had signed up to its All Stars Cricket coaching programme – up 13,000 on the first year – while it should also be noted that in the T20 Blast last summer 900,000 tickets were sold, nearly treble the number of six years earlier.
As well addressing The Hundred, Graves was asked about the controversial allocation of compensation payments to Test counties in years they miss out on staging a match, including the £2.5m given to Glamorgan for not applying to be a Test host during the major match allocation from 2020-24.
This money has already appeared in the Welsh club’s accounts for 2017 but its allocation is now set to be reviewed by the Good Governance Institute at the request of the ECB. It was also queried by two senior directors, Andy Nash and Richardson Thompson, when they resigned from their positions before the board’s reorganisation this month.
Graves said: “No payments have been made to counties at all, full stop. I floated an idea talking to four or five county chairmen, that would need to be agreed by the board to go any further. No payments have been made. No payments have been promised. End of conversation.”