The Hundred a format of cricket invented by consultants employed by the England and Wales Cricket Board was designed to be sold to global business and the sale is currently in progress.
I’m equivocal about the Hundred. The T2O format I can live with and occasionally enjoy. The Hundred is simply a tweak on it with a large amount of tedious hype. Clearly others think so as the viewing figures for Sky and BBC for 2024 show a significant decline.
The real interest here though is not the cricket- the women’s Hundred, decent, the men’s Hundred mediocre, but the interaction between an English tradition and global capital.
Lords cricket ground and the MCC that runs it epitomises tradition as much as the Tory Party and the Church of England, although of course that in 2024 is something of a caricature.
The Hundred team that plays at Lords is currently called the London Spirit. MCC members have just voted to accept the gift of a 51% stake in the team from the ECB. The remaining 49% is up for sale and the first round of bidding has just concluded.
Reports suggests bidders included:
Chelsea FC owner Ted Boehly
Sanjiv Goenka, owner of the IPL team Lucknow Super Giants
Ambani Family, owners of the IPL team Chennai Super Kings
Members of the Glazer family who still own a majority of Manchester United FC
Its likely that most if not all of the above have also bid for other Hundred teams.
its also likely that they will not be content with owning 49% but will want control of the team and the venue for their investment. We may be looking at the renaming of Lords…
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