Outgoing chairman Colin Graves interview extract
The Hundred
The competition is designed to give the ECB an asset it owns and can monetise in future years from standalone broadcast deals. But it horrifies the county core who believe it undermines the existing domestic structure and will never be profitable.
It will be Graves’s most lasting legacy if it gets off the ground next year.
Tom Harrison, the ECB chief executive, insisted at a Government hearing the Hundred will go ahead but if there are still no mass gatherings at sporting events next summer then it will be in doubt again.
“The broadcasters are excited about it. If we turn our back on the Hundred I think the game has made a massive, massive mistake,” says Graves. “I know there are one or two out there who don’t think we should be playing it. I think they are wrong for the wrong reasons. They are just looking at it personally and not looking at it for the wider game.
“From where I can see it will go ahead. The broadcasters are all ready to do it. The executive are desperate to do it, the Hundred board are desperate to do it and as far as I know the new chairman is totally behind it. With all that going why shouldn’t it go ahead?
“If it doesn’t go ahead the counties aren't going to get the £1.3million a year (dividend) and that would put the game in a serious position. But still people put a question mark over it. I think they are saying it with an ulterior motive.”
The county game
Graves has been critical of the structure of the county game, calling the Blast a "mediocre tournament" in 2016. He believes county members have to accept change, floating the notion that
some clubs will need to go part-time, and scrap red-ball cricket, in order to survive in the post-Covid environment.
“The message I say to county members is just look forward instead of looking back," he says. "The county structure and membership is different than it was 20-30 years ago. County cricket has a role and is important but don’t just be blinkered and look at red ball county cricket. It is not about people turning up with a flask and sandwiches watching four-day cricket anymore. People will not like me saying that but it is reality.
“People say I have been anti the existing Blast tournament. I have not been at all. It is a massive revenue earner for the counties. What I have said is it has not reached the level of the IPL and Big Bash from an audience or broadcast point of view. The Blast works for the counties but in world cricket it is not recognised at the same level of the Big Bash or IPL. That is fact.
“This is me talking personally, but our players play too much cricket in England in a summer. That is where I would look at restructuring the red ball game because you don’t need the quantity of cricket. You need quality but not quantity. Yes we have added an extra tournament but that is designed to bring new crowds in.
“By having a new broadcasting deal in place the £106million loss will affect the game but it is not disastrous. We can bear it this year but if that loss gets worse there could be serious repercussions going forward. Next year is crucial. We cannot have another season where we have behind closed doors. It would affect international cricket dramatically.”
