MedwayModernist
Vital Squad Member
I take the point about the lack of England and international stars in the Blast, but why could they not have used the Blast in the same way they are plannning to do for the Hundred, i.e. include the England players and overseas players, and play a 3-4 week tournament during the summer holidays, with the showpiece finals day (with the semis and final) at the end - there are no plans for such a finals day in the Hundred, which is madness as it's easily the best and most colourful day in the domestic season.
My first choice would have been to play the Blast in one block as you mentioned above, and make all the centrally contracted players available. It could have been achieved, but frankly there's just too many old dinosaurs in suits in the counties and the ECB to make it impossible.
One problem the ECB always faced is that we have too many traditional counties in our setup to run a t20 franchise with them as they do in the IPL or BBL. With 8 sides, you can get an England world cup winner or two in each side, in 18 you're struggling.
One thing I really don't see, is the downside of the experiment.
The hundred doesn't replace the blast, which is still for the existing counties after all and I would expect would still be well attended, and the existence of the counties isn't under threat through this existence either. If the experiment fails then there's no real loss as far as I'm concerned.
As I understand it (I've linked a cricinfo thing on it below) the money is also supposed to be collected centrally and then paid out equally to the various counties. So whilst I'm sure Surrey are getting some cash in for the use of their stadium, the revenue from all of the Hundred goes to the ECB for redistribution (supposedly).
Btw - I've got a mate at work who's a member and surrey, and all the members hate it too apparently. Also through knowing him, I've been to plenty of Surrey t20 games on a freebie, and it's basically the same crowd every time.
https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/explainer-will-the-hundred-make-a-profit-1222261