The above is the final paragraph of a Times Editorial on the Fifth Test at the Oval which ended with a 6 run victory for India on 4th August.
The Times as one would expect of Murdoch media is generally in favour of unbridled capitalism and the hard right politics that go with it. Murdoch originally an Australian clearly has interest in cricket and has landed the current owners of Sky, Comcast, with contractual arrangements to show cricket which they clearly would prefer not to have..
The Hundred is certainly an example of unbridled capitalism. As the ECB has finally got around to admitting it was never about attracting a new audience to cricket (despite much media hyperbole). The boost it gave to women’s cricket was not of course in the ECB’s plan. Rather the idea was to franchise a part of English and Welsh cricket and attract funding. This has worked and £500m is now available to secure the short to medium term future of County Cricket.
Even so even with unbridled capitalism there is scope for flex it seems..
The Times Editorial is rightly in my view concerned about the balance between the Test cricket summer and the Hundred. Given that it is now agreed that the Hundred is not about attracting new audiences, why can’t it start a bit later in August and run into early September allowing more space for a sensibly paced Test schedule?
Still not ideal but better than the existing cricket calendar
It also means that the last few games in the County Championship are moved out to September.