My first Publication Overtime November 2019 Merged PDF | Page 21

“Franchises wipe out 150 years of history. English
rugby stayed with the traditional club route, Welsh
went with franchise, who has won more European
trophies,” says Whiting.
With the introduction of new teams there comes a
lot of issues. How the teams for The Hundred have
been assembled have sparked a lot of debate.
“Counties will go to the wall and the big eight who
host The Hundred franchises will take the money
whilst the smaller counties miss out,” says Whiting.
There are 18 first-class counties in English cricket
but, with there only being eight teams in The Hundred,
it has meant that some counties have had to merge
meaning that rivalries have to be set aside.
Furthermore, the merging has caused other issues
in terms of travelling fans. For example, Somerset,
Gloucestershire and Glamorgan have merged to create
Welsh Fire. That means fans from Somerset will have
to travel 79 miles for a home game.
The official draft for the competition was carried
out in October with the head coaches for each team
signing players for their franchises within certain
price brackets.
There were a few surprises: Lancashire captain
Dane Vilas was picked in the top bracket beating,
Chris Gayle, Lasith Malinga and Kagiso Rabada to the
£125,000 haul.
“As a player who only plays T20 cricket, I was
looking forward to it when it was first announced,”
said Mills, who will feature for Southern Brave.
“I don’t think it will be that different. Obviously,
there’s a bit of debate around it but overall the
standard will be excellent.
“The Hundred emphasises the high standard of
cricket domestically in England. It combines some
of the best 90 players in England mixed with three
world-class overseas players for each side.
“The standard of cricket is so good and so high so I
think audiences will be large but it needs to properly
affordable for new audiences and family, as the
competition is in the summer holidays and is ideal for
newer fans.
“Obviously, it has an effect on the wider game, the
50 over comp is being downgraded, counties will lose
players (Sussex are losing 11 first team players).
“You can’t ignore the issues as they are valid, but I
personally don’t think you can please everyone and I
still think the competition is very much necessary.”
Gillespie added: “It’s great for the players, coaches
and spectators to have so much talent in one
tournament.”
With the draft finalised, attention will now turn to
next year to see if the competition can truly win over
not just cricket, but the rest of the sporting community.
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