The Hundred could become a global phenomenon, believes Kumar Sangakkara

JAMES COYNE: The ex-Sri Lanka captain sees no reason why the ECB's new 100-ball competition cannot be a hit on the world stage following the inaugural event in 2020

Kumar Sangakkara says 100-ball cricket could play a global role in the game.

The former Sri Lanka great, now MCC president, thinks a successful Hundred tournament in England could potentially lead to the new format being taken around the world.

Sangakkara, speaking to The Cricketer at the Sri Lankan high commission, said: "Test cricket is always going to be hard to take around the world because you need a tradition of years and years, so T20 is a great format to encourage more teams to play.

"At the same time, The Hundred that is being launched next year in England, if that works well and is delivered as well as we think it can, then that becomes a viable format to take around the world.

"There’s T10 being played now too. There are various forms trying to achieve the same objective – appeal to the current fans, but also find new fans. I think all those formats all need to coexist in harmony. Structured or unstructured, all of it becomes important."

Kumar Sangakkara started his tenure as MCC president in October

MCC have signed up as part of the London Spirit team run out of Lord’s, with head of cricket John Stephenson involved in the draft last Sunday.

Colin Graves, the ECB chairman who sits on the ICC Board, says that “at least four other countries” were looking to see how The Hundred develops.

It is interesting that the ECB has trademarked The Hundred, something they did not do when they introduced Twenty20 in 2003 – which suggests they may hope to sell the format to other interested parties.

This all comes at a time when the ICC is making its marquee 50-over tournaments smaller. The 2019 World Cup was a 10-team tournament, and reports on ESPNcricinfo suggested the ICC is also looking to introduce a new 50-over global event into the schedule from 2023. The ICC board voted through a tournament at a meeting in Dubai, though the BCCI are said to be opposed.

The new tournament sounds a lot like the old Champions Trophy, last played in 2017, though reports suggest it could be a six-team event, which would mean several Full Member and Associate nations missing out.

The Hundred will be the epicentre of the English summer in 2020

Sangakkara said that a six-team tournament would drive a better playing standard from countries like Sri Lanka, whose qualification could be endangered, though suggested the world game needed to give emerging nations more chances to play the best teams outside of major tournaments.

“It just means again they [the ICC] are trying to streamline tournaments to have the best-performing sides, to ensure the timelines fall in line with the TV networks and the TV audiences. A lot of logistical issues also going into why you get more tournaments that have fewer teams.

“The World Cup was a 10-team tournament this time. But it was a great World Cup. It actually challenges countries to keep getting better.

“It’s also important to understand that fringe countries need more exposure at international level, more exposure against bigger countries to improve their level. So there needs to be a mechanism that allows that as well.”