Durham consider England captain Ben Stokes would “jump at the possibility” to front a brand new Hundred team within the region, but accept they could need to wait until 2029 for the tournament to expand.
Discussions are still continuing between the England and Wales Cricket Board and the private investment groups who’ve agreed to plough around £520million of latest money into the competition, with a variety of areas yet to be ironed out before contracts are signed.
Considered one of those pertains to the terms for any future increase from the present eight-team structure, something Durham have long positioned themselves to profit from.
The ECB‘s director of business operations, Vikram Banerjee, has described the concept as a “no-brainer”, but some prospective co-owners are more guarded about potentially diluting their stake in future broadcast deals.
Tim Bostock
Durham chief executive Tim Bostock still believes it would occur and is optimistic about bringing the Hundred to the Banks Home Riverside, but accepts there could also be no movement until the present rights cycle ends in 2028.
“The way in which the sales have gone, with the cash that has been committed, the clear message is that they are unlikely to expand before the top of the published deal,” he said.
“I believe there might be expansion and when that day comes we’re ready. When it comes to facilities, demographics, having a world stadium, likely investment, putting a team together, we’re able to go.
“Take a look at the standard of players we produce for England. We now have high-profile players who could also be enthusiastic about fronting up a Durham franchise…we’ve got the England captain here.
“I’m sure at some stage Ben would jump at the possibility at being the face of it, definitely. All of that works. It’s all about timing, but I don’t see a greater candidate than us.”
Northern Superchargers
Stokes has been aligned to the Headingley-based Northern Superchargers because the Hundred launched but has played only a handful of games. He opted out of this yr’s edition in a bid to administer his fitness and due to this fact was not retained.
Bostock believes adding a ninth team could be a comparatively straightforward change and might be kept away from adding to the tournament’s overall footprint.
At present teams play their nearest geographical rivals home and away and each other side once. Yet he also expects an expanded fixture list to be on the agenda sooner fairly than later as investors seek to maximise value.
“Nine is definitely a greater number than eight, everyone plays one another once, so it might be done quite easily,” he said.
“But they could determine there may be a requirement for more games. I don’t think they’ll be glad with just 4 home matches.
“The normal county watcher might fear for the 27 days (the competition’s current window). It will be naive to think they won’t get more days, but I don’t think it would ever be an IPL situation of two or three months.
“There are two ways to extend the matches, more games between themselves or bring more teams in. I believe it would organically occur.”
