Lord's to host inaugural Hundred final day, confirms ECB
The England and Wales Cricket Board has announced that Lord's and Hove will stage next year's inaugural finals day of 100-ball competition "The Hundred". While Sussex's Hove stadium will host the women's final on August 14, Lord's would host the men's final on the very next day on August 15.
While the men's competition will take place across eight Test venues and starts at The Oval on 17 July, the women's tournament will begin at Worcester's New Road on 22 July and will continue until August 14. The arrangement means that the London Spirit side, based at Lord's and Hove, will play host to two of the women's Southern Brave home matches.
Hove, despite not being a traditional centre,Ā hasĀ been one of England's leading venues for women's cricket and has seen tickets being sold out for women's internationals and the T20 Super League finals in recent years.Ā
"We're delighted to award the first finals of The Hundred to Lord's and Hove - two grounds with a great history of staging showcase events in men's and women's cricket," said managing director of The Hundred Sanjay Patel, reported BBC.
"The Hundred represents an incredible opportunity to broaden our audience for cricket and it's great to see our finals venues committed to delivering great spectacles next August to close the inaugural competitions with a bang."
The tournament, however, has been severely under scanner from fans and media with concerns over fixture congestion in a schedule already featuring first-class, one-day and Twenty20 cricket. It is feared that the Hundred will have a potential knock-on effect on the county set-up and the development of players for Test matches.