'No decision made on new competition's format' say ECB amid reports of 15-a-side matches

Today’s newspaper revelations speculate on 12-a-side matches and 15-man squads, facilitating the interchanging of batsmen and bowlers between innings. However, the ECB say nothing has been formally agreed upon

^{The ECB will decide on the format of the structure later this year}

The ECB insist "no decisions have been made" with regards to the format of the new city competition following various reports of its potential structure.

The Hundred, which is due to come into existence in 2020, has been at the centre of cricketing attention in England and Wales in recent weeks, mainly due to a steady stream of media stories detailing the various ideas being floated among members of the working party tasked with designing the competition.

During the concept's short existence - it was only introduced to the public in April - a single 10-ball over to finish the innings, 20 sets of five-ball overs and the possibility of one bowler bowling two overs in a row have been touted. Today’s newspaper revelations speculate on 12-a-side matches and 15-man squads, facilitating the interchanging of batsmen and bowlers between innings.

However, the ECB say nothing has been formally agreed upon, though they do anticipate those decisions to be made by the end of this year, probably November.

"No decisions have been made on the playing conditions for the new competition, which will start in the summer of 2020," an ECB spokesperson said.

^{What final concept will fans be watching in 2020?}

"To develop the competition, there are a number of ongoing discussions, including within a high-performance group who are planning a series of pilot matches in September.

"Conversations with players, host venues and stakeholders across the game are vital to the development and inevitably lead to speculation on a range of matters.

"Ultimately, it is the board of the ECB which makes the final decisions on the format and rules for the new competition and that is expected later this year."

Connor, the former England Women's captain, is heading up the high-performance group which is developing proposals for The Hundred's format, while Trent Woodhill has recently been brought on board in a consultancy capacity.

The suggestions brought forward by the group are due to be trialled in a series of games in September, to be staged at Trent Bridge for the men and Loughborough for women.

The name 'The Hundred' is also not set in stone.

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Despite general outcry from the cricketing community about the concept, the ECB remain committed to establishing a competition which will tap a new audience for the sport.

In a recent response to the findings of The Cricketer's Big Cricket Survey, which revealed that 66 per cent of fans rate four-day cricket as their favourite element of the game, ECB chief operating officer Gordon Hollins said: "There is definitely a strong desire at ECB to build a broader and more diverse following for cricket and it’s at the heart of all our thinking around the new eight-team competition starting in 2020.

"We firmly believe this will benefit the whole game in the long-run; creating a competition which will rival the global profile of IPL or Big Bash, offer a distinctive alternative to our existing county competitions and support our wider efforts to drive up grassroots participation."

The exact identity of the new audience has yet to be established, and as yet the ECB have not shared the market research which pointed them in the direction of The Hundred.

Chairman Colin Graves said in an interview with The Cricketer earlier this year: "For the last 18 months we have been doing a lot of research on who's watching cricket, where our audiences is and what it will be in 20 years' time.

"The T20 Blast is not attracting the audience that we're looking for. It isn't attracting families to T20. Or the South Asian community. It is a static audience. It is not attacking those areas where we have got big gaps. That is what The Hundred is for. We've got to get to that young audience somehow. They want short formats, they want entertainment, they want something different."