The ECB also denied suggestions that the Hundred might be staged earlier in the day to appeal to the Indian market, especially as games in the T20 World Cup in the West Indies started at 10.30am last year because of Indian TV demands.
English cricket bosses believe that it will be “almost a no-brainer” to expand the Hundred in the future after raising more than £520m by selling a stake in each of the competition’s eight teams.
The England and Wales Cricket Board announced on Thursday that the eight bids had placed a total enterprise value of just over £975m on the Hundred teams – with £520m being injected into the professional and recreational game.
Meanwhile in a letter to cricket supporters, the ECB chair, Richard Thompson, said the auction would lead to benefits for the game at all levels.
“We didn’t want to sell the competition, because it’s really important that the structure of the game, and how the season is structured, is retained and owned by the ECB and our members,” the organisation’s chief executive, Richard Gould, said.
