The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) seems ecstatic after the success of the fifth season of its marquee franchise league, The Hundred, with ECB chair Richard Thompson branding the league as a “clear challenger brand” to the Indian Premier League.
“We have owners who have very deep pockets. These individuals are very determined to turn this into the world-class tournament that it really will become now,” Thompson said to Sky Sports.
“We are the clear challenger brand to the IPL and the quality of people that have chosen to invest, not all IPL owners, have a real ambition to turn this into something incredibly special,” he added.
The Hundred has seen an influx of investment, with many IPL owners putting money into the league. Thompson believes this could lead to Indian players featuring in The Hundred. As of now, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) does not allow active Indian men’s cricketers to play in foreign leagues.
“The impact it’s made on the women’s game has been profound. I think that will accelerate even further in terms of what we do there to ensure this parity over having men and women playing on the same day. I think you’re going to see Indian players coming into the hundred faster as a result of this investment,” said Thompson.
“Ultimately we have something now that’s raised 1.1 billion pounds. We’ve managed to wipe off all of the debt within the game, which you know is something we didn’t think was possible. But we’ve managed to pull that off and leave hundreds of millions to invest in the game to grow it and to ensure the game never has this level of debt again. So this is a complete reset. It’s a moment we have to recognise as an endowment, and use the funds that we’re getting into the game very smartly and very wisely,” he said.
Wider Impact Remains Unclear
The change in landscape, however, is fairly new for the ECB, which had admitted ahead of the fifth season that there was no evidence that new fans attracted by the tournament have gone on to attend other forms of the game.
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When the ECB launched the tournament in a new format – 100 balls per side – it claimed the league would attract a new set of fans different from those of the three existing formats. According to The Guardian, a report published in October 2024 stated that 31% of tickets for the Hundred were bought by women, that 23% were bought for juniors, and that 41% of buyers attended in family groups.
