County Championship could be played alongside The Hundred, says Ashley Giles

HUW TURBERVILL: Next summer the One-Day Cup will be played at the same time as the ECB’s new competition, but that could well change in the future

The prospect of County Championship matches being played alongside The Hundred instead of the One-Day Cup has been touted by Ashley Giles, the managing director of England men’s cricket.

Next summer the 50-over tournament will be played at the same time as the ECB’s new competition. It was felt that having the four-day competition at this time would devalue it, with 128 players at The Hundred, including 104 domestic-qualified stars. That prompted criticism that England would be neglecting List A cricket however, just one summer after becoming world champions in that format for the first time.

Giles, in an interview in this issue (page 32), has suggested that the Championship alongside The Hundred could be a better fit.

“People will say the integrity of the Championship would be in question,” said Giles, “but you could view it slightly differently: play with a points system, and have a healthy mix of senior players who are not in The Hundred, alongside some 19 and 20-years-olds.

“Have four rounds of Championship cricket at the height of summer, on good pitches that might spin. A lot of county members like seeing the young players, at outgrounds… that would be great! 

“You could then move your 50-over back to the start of the year. It definitely will be 50-over alongside The Hundred next summer, but this will be consistently reviewed.”

One advantage of the change would be that Test players would have some red-ball cricket available to prove their form and fitness – James Anderson suffered from not having that last summer when the Ashes was played.

In reply to criticism that the ECB were neglecting 50-over cricket, Giles said: “It remains really important. But we have to prioritise slightly differently over the next few years. We have two T20 World Cups [2020 in Australia, 2021 in India] ahead of the 2023 50-over World Cup [in India]. We’ll still play 50-over. 

“Can I sit here and say it’s the most important thing when it’s being playing alongside The Hundred – no, I can’t. You’d laugh at me. It’s actually a really good competition for some young guys to get exposure. Then in 2021 we might have a look at the scheduling again.”

For the full interview with Ashley Giles, pick up a copy of the November issue of The Cricketer. Out now.