Lancashire at "disadvantage" as single-county Hundred franchise

As the Red Rose county unveiled a landmark partnership aimed at driving the game forward at grassroots level, Daniel Gidney explained that the new 100-ball competition would be a test of the club’s resources

The status of the Manchester-based franchise in The Hundred as a single-county team has “made it harder for us,” Lancashire chief executive Daniel Gidney has revealed.

Speaking to The Cricketer as the Red Rose county unveiled a landmark partnership aimed at driving the game forward at grassroots level, Gidney explained that the new 100-ball competition would test the club’s resources.

There has been a school of thought that the outfit, set to be known as Manchester Originals, would benefit from not having to team up with a separate county side, given the selection dilemmas that are set to ensue elsewhere when the player draft comes around, as well as discussions over off-field strategies.

“It’s interesting because some people are suggesting that we’ve got some kind of advantage,” Gidney said.

Northern Superchargers, for example, will comprise of a management board featuring executives from both Yorkshire and Durham, as well as an independent member.

He added: “I would say that, in many ways, it’s a disadvantage because I don’t have marketing databases of one or two other clubs to support in terms of The Hundred.

“People think it’s easier but once you’ve got an independent head coach, who is making all cricket decisions, it means that actually the host venue – being on our own – it means that it stretches us from a resource perspective from a non-cricket side.

“I know there’s people who believe there’s some kind of strategic advantage, but what I can tell you is that I actually think it’s made it harder for us.”

Might the on-field operation be similarly affected? “Yes, is the short answer,” the club’s chief executive acknowledges.

“I think Simon Katich, our head coach, is just finalising his coaching [team]. We will probably only have one coach from our coaching team as part of that group. That is a decision for Simon as our head coach – certainly not one for us.

“At the end of the day, he will have to decide who he wants. But ultimately, if he wants more than one Lancashire coach, then that’s something that me and Paul Allott will have to deal with from a Lancashire perspective.”

^{Simon Katich was recently appointed as new head coach at Royal Challengers Bangalore}

In Katich, however, Gidney is chuffed at the appointment of his coach for the competition. The former Australia batsman won the Big Bash as captain of Perth Scorchers in 2014 and has since announced himself as one of the leading coaches on the T20 circuit, having twice won the Caribbean Premier League while in charge of Trinbago Knight Riders.

Shortly after his role in Manchester was confirmed, Katich was appointed as head coach of Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League.

“You will find very few who have got his coaching and playing pedigree,” Gidney reaffirmed of the former Lancashire overseas player. “He was just a model professional – a very bright guy, which helps.”

The Hundred’s arrival, however, comes with Lancashire enjoying previously unprecedented ticket sales in the T20 Blast. At Emirates Old Trafford, the club have broken their non-Roses ticket record three times this season – a feat almost certainly assisted by what Gidney describes as “a World Cup and Ashes boost”.

He added: “I think when I first came in 2013, we had an average of 2,000 to 3,000. This year, we have been averaging over 10,000. We broke our non-Roses record three times out of six games, peaking at over 15,000.

“To put that in perspective, in 2015 we had a T20I against New Zealand and we got 15,000 in for an international.

“So suddenly, we are starting to get Blast audiences up to where some of our international audiences were.

“It has been fantastic – 30 per cent growth on Blast this year. Blast has gone in three years from a total of 48,000 tickets sold to this year, which will be just under 100,000 tickets sold for us, which is astonishing.”

The Hundred, of course, is not replacing the T20 Blast, but rather being played alongside it. It means that the two competitions will both run through the summer of 2020. It represents a challenge for Lancashire as Emirates Old Trafford attempts to retain the record crowds of this season.

For Gidney, it means viewing the two tournaments as a singular commodity instead of separating the two.

“We want more local people to come to cricket and The Hundred is coming,” he said.

“We definitely see that as an 11-game programme – seven Blast games and four Hundred-ball games. We have to look at it like that.

“We can’t look at one competition in isolation because there is going to be a bit of a Venn Diagram, but we just have to have a holistic approach to it.”