Hundred schedule is ‘short-term issue’, says ECB CEO and 100-ball format will not change before end of current cycle.
ECB chair says crammed Hundred schedule is ‘short-term issue’.
ECB chairman Richard Thompson has promised that the “short-term issue” of the short turnaround between England’s international and the Hundred will be resolved for the upcoming TV rights cycle.
All-format players lacked adequate preparation for the current ODI series against South Africa because England’s team played one day prior to the start of the Hundred and two days following its conclusion. In 2026, the Hundred is anticipated to begin three days prior to the opening Test match against Pakistan and two days following an ODI series against India.
The Hundred’s new investors will anticipate that their England players will be accessible for the duration of the competition. The day after the fifth Test at The Oval, London Spirit’s first game of the season was missed by Jamie Smith, Jamie Overton, and Ollie Pope. Their new co-owner Nikesh Arora called the action “disappointing” and demanded “better planning” from the ECB.
Speaking as an Alzheimer’s Society ambassador during England’s third ODI against South Africa on Sunday, Thompson said that the schedule is too packed. Thompson told Sky Sports that “there are no easy answers, but the reality is we can’t have our cake and eat it.”
“We want England players to play. This is our premium white-ball competition and we want England players to play in it. What we have to do is find a way of ensuring the schedule before and after the tournament [is better]. Take this year: the gap was a day or two days… That can’t be right.
“If we’re going to get this level of investment, we’ve got to commit to ensuring our England players are available. We don’t want that to be at the expense of the success of England. We need to find a balance, and ultimately we can look at the schedule and we can try and free up time.
“We’ve done this deal in the middle of a rights schedule. Come ’28, when we then cut the next deal for the next four years, we can cut this in a different way. We might have a short-term issue here, but we can overcome that.
“Ultimately, if a player feels they’re injured, they’re going to rest themselves. They won’t want to play on an injury. England is still everything here. But we are not prepared to accept that you can’t find a halfway house and work with the owners to ensure that the owner will get what they need, and England will get what it needs.”