Andy Anson welcomes the prospect of private investment as sole subsidiaries of Manchester Originals
Matt Roller
Lancashire has voiced its support for the ECB’s proposals to bring private investment into the Hundred from 2025, but has hit out at the idea that the competition’s teams could play under the flag of their host countries.
The Hundred’s future has been under scrutiny in recent months, with the ECB discussing a number of potential changes to its governance structure in consultation with the 18 first-tier counties and the MCC. The most fundamental question is whether or not it should be opened to private investors.
The tournament will continue for at least five more seasons as it is part of the ECB’s broadcast deal with Sky Sports and its structure will remain unchanged in 2024. However, the ECB hopes counties will reach a consensus in the early months of the English season and that the changes can be implemented for 2025.
Lancashire is unique in being the only county associated with Manchester Originals, who play their home games at Emirates Old Trafford. All hundreds of teams belong to the ECB, but each of the other seven has at least two affiliated counties represented on their boards.
Andy Anson, chairman of Lancashire, believes the county should play a bigger role in how the Originals are run. “Since I started as chairman of Lancashire three years ago, I have felt it is in the best interests of Lancashire Cricket to have greater control over the Manchester Originals team,” he told LancsTV, the club’s in-house channels. “Ideally, with controlling equity.
“This would mean we can run the club as a commercial entity and build on the existing operations here at Emirates Old Trafford. I was also very concerned about the level of central spending at ECB relating to the Hundred: it was very high and we believe the operating model was not optimal.
“As mentioned, I can confirm that discussions have taken place between all the Tier 1 countries and the ECB regarding the transfer of controlling interest to the hundreds of groups in the host venues. As a board, we support this … we generally believe [the proposals] they are positive for Lancashire and give us greater control and financial capability.”
New Surrey chair Oli Slipper floated the possibility of the Oval Invincibles being renamed Surrey Invincibles and wearing the county’s three-wing crest, but Anson played down the idea of an equivalent scenario in Lancashire. “We see Manchester Originals as a separate team from Lancashire, and in no way a replacement for Lancashire in the different forms of cricket,” he said.
One proposal that has been discussed would involve a division of hundreds with all 18 counties represented independently, to which Anson has made clear his opposition. “We would be very concerned that a two-level hundred would prevent Lancashire from playing as the Red Rose in the month of August, and that is unacceptable to us,” he said.
“We support the transfer of a controlling shareholding in Manchester Originals to Lancashire Cricket. We would not accept any extension of the window in the program allocated to the Hundred, even if the number of teams is expanded…also, the T20 Blast needs to be absolute priority for all, and should be enhanced and not undermined in any way by these discussions and decisions.”
Earlier this week, Durham chief executive Tim Bostock said his county was “100% committed to bringing a franchise here in the North East” and described the Hundred as a “game-changing silverware” for English cricket. “We are very confident that we could attract a lot of interest,” he told PA Media.
He also hinted at the possibility of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) investing in a Hundred group in the northeast. “We’ve seen the Saudis buy Newcastle United and you don’t have to be a brain surgeon to see that they’re building a portfolio,” Bostock said.
In the case of Lancashire, Anson said the county would be “very happy” to consider investment in Manchester Originals from a third party and said any capital injection would be used to pay down the club’s debt or invest in ” Lancashire cricket infrastructure’.
Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @mroller98