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

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.

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.

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.