The ECB has confirmed to the MCC Cricket Committee that they are likely to ditch six-ball overs in The Hundred tournament with bowlers instead sending down 20 deliveries, probably in sets of five balls, reported Cricinfo.
The ECB’s chief commercial officer, Sanjay Patel, who is also the managing director of the new competition, made a presentation to the MCC Cricket Committee at Lord’s this week and, while the rules of the proposed tournament remain sketchy, the committee was reassured that the new competition would still be a recognisable form of cricket.
“Basically, they’re still developing the concept,” said John Stephenson, the MCC Head of Cricket. “As custodians of the Laws of the game, what we’re concerned about is if you modify the game of cricket too much it ceases to look like cricket.
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“What we heard this morning from Sanjay was quite reassuring … they’re still developing how the final format will be.
“The current thinking is 20 five-ball overs, but I think today was part of their consultation. So they wanted to know what we felt about that.
“We threw a few questions back about that about whatever modifications there might be.”
The idea of a final ten-ball over to possibly be bowled by two bowlers has been one of the more controversial ideas mooted by the ECB. And in recent weeks there have been reports that the ECB is considering having teams of twelve or fifteen players in The Hundred.
“I think at the maximum, they’re looking at having a substitute fielder,” Stephenson said. “But I think what that’s about is performance – having the best fielders out there at the right time to field.
“But at the moment, as far as I can make out, they’ll have 11 batsmen, they won’t have ‘overs’ per se but 100 balls, 20 balls per bowler.
“Apart from that, it’ll look like a normal game of cricket.