Did ECB miss a trick by postponing The Hundred by a year

Did ECB miss a trick by postponing The Hundred by a year

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Hundred has been postponed for a year

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The draft was done, the stage was set and Tom Harrison’s brainchild was all set to roll this year but then Corona decided to stream its own reality show. Everything has since been distancing itself, every plan has been in self-quarantine and well, the mighty Hundred is now in a one-year hibernation.

Ever since Harrison announced the board’s ambitious plan of launching the new tournament, which would render them a proposed profit of £11m, thanks to the UK and international broadcasting revenue, sponsorship, tickets and merchandise, it had attracted nothing but criticism for more reasons than one. It was simply because Harrison and Sanjay Patel, managing director of the Hundred, laid out the plans in a reverse way to attract the PR but forgot to amplify the basic cult factor that English club and county cricket has generated for centuries now.

In all honesty, English people never care about the finances brought into the system at the expense of quality and Hundred tried to disrupt that established order. With many counties being systematically kept out of it, the tournament’s very existence defied what cricket stood for in the UK - a community-building exercise in a multicultural country. It was no surprise that every step from the management step was a desperate attempt to gain support from the fans but the foundation was too weak for the plinth to go up. It really doesn’t work that way.

In that context alone, it assumed great significance when ECB announced their decision of pushing the tournament for another year in the wake of the Covid crisis, as it gave a breather for all parties to chalk out the fresh narrative. Especially given the fact that there would be new management in place, starting next year, there might be a fresh look at the way things will be planned. Keeping the projected loss during the economic recession into account, there is a good chance that the tournament might never happen.

However, not throwing my support for the tournament, but a delay in the announcement of the postponement of The Hundred could have carried the potential to make the matter straight, as despite overflowing negative opinions, eyeballs being fixed on to the tournament, globally, would have been inevitable. As the world awaits the series between England and West Indies with a baiting breathe, ECB could have explored the gap to bring in the 100-ball competition - even without spectators and international players - so as to quash the negative PR and show the product in the way they wanted to. 

That could have been the first step to bring sanity to the marginalised broadcast deal even though the prevailing circumstances dealing with few more euros going off their account. But if the tournament had found some international and local support on free-to-air deals they have, not only would the royalty value have gone over the roof, but ECB could have found a nicer ring to their strategy going forward. While one can defend that by saying the situation was prevailing, one can not discount how the BCCI has approached the IPL this year, keeping every option wide open and now at a position of conducting a full season of the IPL in the October-November window. Even close to home, the way Premier League and Serie A changed the course of action by not pulling the trigger early, and that ensured them being at the pole position of finishing the tournament. It was a lesson in planning and providence.

As ECB argued that the primary objective of the Hundred is not to make money but to make it a marketable force for the next generation of cricket fans, it seems by pushing it for a year, they have taken a step backwards in that count. In an ideal world with the Hundred happening, England could have actually been at a better position in solving one of the fundamental problems of English sporting culture as fans have moved past cricket for better-run football. 

If ECB at all wanted that, then 2020, with the pandemic around, would have offered a better position to garner international eye-balls as well, while delivering a prospective cliffhanger to cling onto. Well, if it would have done something charismatic this year, who knows, a mini-IPL-like dominance even couldn’t have been ruled out completely. ECB’s reserves have dropped from £73m in 2016 to £11m now will mean it will be further ill-equipped to have a contingency plan going forward. A dream, in all seriousness, has been quashed. 

Because hey, the ambitious plan, which cost ECB a daunting £11m only as set-up costs, was not designed to be just another tournament; it wanted to break the traditional barriers and sit at the top of the hierarchy as English cricket’s crowning jewel. Anything other than that is a failure, no matter how much load it is putting on the account, and therein lies the challenge to the norm. The Hundred, after creating massive buzz, has now sent its plan down the drain and failed to do justice due to the hurriedness. The doubters will breathe a sigh of relief but if it fails to go ahead at all, it will be a massive opportunity lost and at the heart of it will be England and Wales Cricket Board’s hurriedness to take every decision. 

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