Tom Brady and India's richest family who had the Kardashians at their wedding snap up English cricket teams alongside CEOs of Microsoft and Google in sport's latest gold rush

English cricket, for so long run by the well-heeled and played by the privately-educated, is no longer the sole province of the blazer brigade. Only at the half-way stage, the sale of stakes in each of the eight men’s and women’s teams that make up the Hundred, the England and Wales Cricket Board's flagship competition, has already secured enough riches to permanently alter the complexion of the domestic game.

Never mind the lounge suits and tailored jackets so beloved of Lord's; after a £280 million scramble that has delivered eye-watering investment from the likes of NFL legend Tom Brady, the chief executives of Microsoft and Google, and India's super-rich Ambani family, the world of English cricket is about to be turned on its head, if not sartorially then certainly in every other sense. By the time the dust finally settles, as it will once the remaining four franchises are sold next week, officials who originally anticipated raising about £350 million from the sale of a 49% stake in each Hundred franchise will be contemplating a windfall of up to £800 million. Not bad for a competition consistently accused of overestimating its own worth since its inception in 2021.

But given that 51% of each franchise will remain with the host club, which will able to keep or dispose of it as it sees fit, what exactly are these big-name investors getting for their money?. In a word, history: the prestige that accompanies a connection with storied venues like Lord's, the Oval and Edgbaston. It is what the new money men and women do with that history - how effectively they are able to market and monetise it through broadcast rights, ticketing and expansion - that will determine the wisdom or otherwise of their extraordinary outlay.

The process will be challenging, no doubt, with a long-term increase in the number of teams and games perhaps the only way forward. Evolution of that nature will involve overcoming a variety of hurdles, not least logistically, yet it would seem foolhardy to bet against a cast of players with almost limitless wealth and expertise at their disposal. Few know more about building a sporting dynasty than Brady, who spent two decades at quarterback for the New England Patriots, with whom he won all but one of his seven Super Bowl titles.

The 47-year-old is a minority investor in Knighthead Capital Management, a New York-based private equity firm that acquired a controlling stake in League One football club Birmingham City in 2023 through Shelby Companies Limited. Tom Brady, seen here with his daughter at last year's Paris Olympics, is a minority investor in a firm set to pay £40 million for a 49% stake in Hundred cricket franchise Birmingham Phoenix.

Sam Billings in action at the Oval in 2021. India's super wealthy Ambani family made a projected £60 million investment in the Oval Invincibles team in this week's Hundred auction. Kim and Khloe Kardashian were part of a stellar guest list at the wedding of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant in Mumbai last summer. Anant's father, Mukesh, is India's richest person. Knighthead committed to paying about £40 million for a 49% stake in Birmingham Phoenix on the first day of bidding on Thursday, reportedly edging out CVC Capital Partners, the American private equity company that once owned Formula One.

It raises the intriguing prospect of Brady, whose net worth has been estimated at about $300 million (£242 million), occupying a place in the posh seats at Edgbaston, just as he has on several occasions at St Andrew's. But even Brady's wealth is eclipsed by that of India's Ambani family, who made a  projected £60 million investment in the Oval Invincibles, the tournament's reigning champions, through Reliance Industries Ltd on the same day.

Reliance is chaired and run by Mukesh Ambani, whose estimated worth of £75 billion makes the 67-year-old the wealthiest person in India and the ninth richest individual in the world. The Ambanis also own Mumbai Indians, the most valuable franchise in the Indian Premier League - itself a multi-billion dollar business - as well as teams in Twenty20 leagues in the United States, United Arab Emirates and South Africa.

In short, the family's involvement in the Hundred is a big deal - in every possible sense of the phrase. Last summer, when Anant Ambani, Mukesh's 29-year-old son, married the healthcare heiress Radhika Merchant in Mumbai, the lavish celebrations lasted six days. The  nuptials, which cost hundreds of millions, were the culmination of a barely less opulent build-up that included a jungle-themed safari and a star-studded Mediterranean cruise.

Guests? They had them. Kim and Khloe Kardashian. Priyanka Chopra and her husband Nick Jonas. Half of Bollywood. A pair of former British prime ministers in Boris Johnson and Tony Blair. Mike Tyson. The American actor and wrestler John Cena. Models, billionaire businessmen, and even a brief appearance by the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi. Billionaire Anant Ambani, left, tied the knot with Merchant, the daughter of a wealthy pharmaceutical mogul, in a traditional Hindu ceremony in Mumbai.