Richard Gould, the England and Wales Cricket Board’s chief executive, has admitted his organisation has no evidence that new fans attracted by the Hundred have gone on to attend other forms of the game. The ECB has long boasted that the tournament has attracted a different audience to existing formats.
“The Hundred is all about throwing cricket’s doors open – and it’s already delivering,” the ECB’s then chief executive, Tom Harrison, said after the first tournament in 2021. “We need to grow cricket, reach more people, and that’s exactly what the Hundred does.”