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The Hundred Confidential Survey Reveals Counties Discontent Over Ecbs Process Impact On Other Formats

The Hundred | Confidential survey reveals counties' discontent over ECB's process, impact on other formats

A confidential survey conducted by The Telegraph Sport has painted a grim picture about the health of the long format of the game and growing discontent among counties for the perceived adverse impact of ECB's flagship tournament—The Hundred.

The responses made by counties chief executives that have not been made public have also raised objections about the overspeeding processes followed by the board and its impact on the health of the game in the country.

Only half of the counties (out of 18) have responded positively to the question of the impact of the new format on the long-form of the game as they believe the advent of The Hundred will marginalise the County Championship. Also, more worryingly, the counties believe The Hundred will sideline their cash cow — The Vitality Blast T20 tournament which has been used as a revenue booster by them over the years.

Their fear over the long-lasting impact is so huge that as less as only nine teams believe they will continue playing the four-day cricket in a decade’s time from now.

The counties came hard at ECB’s speedy process before the launch of The Hundred. Only six out of 18 teams vouched their opinion on ECB's handling of the process of the launch of The Hundred was in the category of either “good” or “very good”.

However, in an optimistic sign for the ECB, counties have given the board thumps on its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent financial downturn. Notably, ECB’s efforts to host West Indies and Pakistan last year amidst pandemic cut down the losses from the earlier estimated £300million in broadcasting revenue.

Also, the ECB paid a dividend of £1.3million to county teams for The Hundred irrespective of the postponement of the tournament in the wake of the pandemic.

The survey has come out at an important time for both the ECB and county sides as the upcoming edition of the county championship is set to start on April 08.

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IPL 2021 | Glenn Maxwell opens up on life in bio-secure bubbles, rates it as 'never-ending nightmare'

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has opened various areas of concerns for the players and administrators, and one prominent worry among all has been the mental state of players. There have been players who have opted out of tournaments citing extended time period stuck in a biosecure bubble—mode cricket boards have adopted to conduct tournaments free of Covid-19 fears. Now, one of the latest entrant of Royal Challengers Bangalore—Glenn Maxwell has highlighted the challenges of being locked under biosecure bubbles. He has rated movement from one bubble to another as a ‘never-ending nightmare’ that has never ended since the time pandemic began. “It’s very difficult. you being sheltered from people outside your bio-secure bubble and you get stuck into this never-ending nightmare where you are living the same day over and over again,” Maxwell said in a video released by RCB on their Youtube channel. Maxwell outlined the change in behaviour people undergo as they almost forget communication with people and players have to deal with such ‘massive challenge’ day in and day out. “You almost tend to forget how to have a normal conversation with the outside world. That can be very hard mentally and is a massive challenge. But it’s great to be back playing and to be able to do our jobs and entertain people. But it’s still a difficult lifestyle at the moment,” he added. Maxwell was bought by the RCB for a whopping Rs 14.25 crore in the auction earlier this year after the Kings XI Punjab had released him for his poor performances.

IPL 2021: Hardik Pandya opens up on mental health ahead of IPL opener

Dynamic India all-rounder and an integral part of the Mumbai Indians set-up in the IPL, Hardik Pandya on Wednesday decoded his thoughts on mental health and said that he has realised the importance of mental health while playing international cricket. He has credited his family for keeping in the right space and frame of mind. “When I play international cricket, mentally I realized because the kind of pressure that came into your life. Obviously, life change for us, but as an individual, you need to cope with all the things,” Hardik was seen saying in a video posted by Mumbai Indians on their official Twitter handle. “So for me I realized that mental health is also important, where my family played a big role to make sure that I am in right space,” he added. In the earlier days, hardly any emphasis was given on mental health. However ever since COVID-19 created a ruckus across the world, the focus surrounding mental health has grown considerably. The pandemic has forced the players to stay in bio-secure bubbles where life is only restricted to hotels and stadiums. It is indeed testing times for all the cricketers across the globe. The dynamic 27-year-old all-rounder will be seen donning the Mumbai Indians colours once the tournament kicks off on 9th April with the season opener to be played between Mumbai Indians and the Royal Challengers Bangalore. On the occasion of World Health Day, Hardik also spoke about the importance of physical fitness. “Just making sure that in the day, you are doing some activity which is adding to your fitness, that’s very important. And if you look after small things, it’s going to be grateful that it is going to look after your body,” he said. Hardik’s elder brother Krunal Pandya who recently made his ODI debut against England also said that he works hard for his “inner happiness and peace”. “When we work hard, we work hard for that inner happiness, that inner peace where you can sleep for eight hours, you can laugh for 4-5 hours,” said Krunal, who also played T20s for India and has been a vital part of Mumbai Indians.

If COVID-19 can happen to MI camp, nothing is safe anywhere else: Franchises' officials

The positive cases of COVID-19 have created an atmosphere of tension and stress among the franchises. After RCB, KKR and Delhi Capitals, the Mumbai Indians too have been affected. MI’s scout and wicket-keeping consultant Kiran More had tested positive for the disease earlier. Talking to Times of India, officials from other franchises have admitted that this is a cause of concern. “If this can happen to the Mumbai Indians’ camp, then nothing is safe anywhere else. They are always doubly prepared in circumstances like these. Their bio-bubble began on March 1 in Mumbai and ever since, they have been travelling inside it. Like they did in the UAE, they once again booked the entire wing of a five-star resort in Chennai this season too. If they’re worried right now trying to figure out how Kiran got infected, others are all the more worried,” representatives of two other franchises told TOI. The IPL 2021 is scheduled to begin from April 9 when RCB take on defending champions Mumbai Indians in the opening clash in Chennai. Earlier, RCB’s Devdutt Padikkal joined the camp after testing negative for COVID-19. He tested positive on March 22 and had been quarantining at home since. Apart from Padikkal, bowling all-rounder Daniel Sams has tested positive. The left-arm pacer had tested negative first when he arrived on April 3 at the team hotel but his second test has come out to be positive, according to an official statement from the franchise.

SA vs PAK: Fakhar Zaman brings up consecutive century to propel Pakistan in series decider

After a heroic century in the second ODI of the series against South Africa, Fakhar Zaman did not waste his good form one bit and brought another century in the series decider. He batted with supreme control and hit three sixes and nine fours on his way to 101 from 104 balls. He first stitched a 112-run partnership with his opening partner Imam-ul-Haq and then followed it up with another 94-run of batting together with his skipper Babar Azam. His century and able support from Azam and Imam along with a batting blitz from Hassan Ali propelled Pakistan to a huge total of 320 runs in an all-important series finale. Also, his innings of 193 runs in the last game against the same opponent helped him jump seven places on the ICC Rankings for Batsmen in ODIs. He now has secured his place at 12th spot on the list that has many champion batsmen of the format such as his skipper Babar Azam and Virat Kohli. His form has been recognised by the team management and upon their request, the national selection committee of Pakistan have added him to the T20I squads for the series against South Africa and Zimbabwe that will follow the ongoing ODI series.