Hundred tournament can save English cricket, Eoin Morgan says

Morgan in January 2018 - CC BY-SA

Former England white-ball captain Eoin Morgan has said that the Hundred tournament can save English talents by engaging them in domestic cricket.

There have been cases where players from England or other countries chose to play abroad to get more experience and financial gain.

There are 70 English cricketers participating in Australia's Big Bash in the winter. Morgan himself competed in several foreign tournaments in his career, including the Indian Premier League in the past.

“For the majority of my career, I've been a huge advocate for players going abroad and playing in big tournaments and taking on different roles,” Morgan said. “When we have such a good tournament at home now, there's no reason for that to happen in the same regard.”

Morgan said that England still had players who wanted to represent the country on the international stage. However, if England does not engage local players, then it can be "a serious issue". According to Morgan, the Hundred tournament can serve that purpose.

Hundred tournament

The Hundred is a cricket tournament managed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It involves eight men's teams and eight women's teams from several big cities in England and Wales.

Starting next week, the tournament will enter its second season. The tournament does not implement the traditional international cricket formats—Test, T20, and ODI. Instead, it implements a 100-ball format.

Morgan said that he believed there would be more innovative cricket tournaments like the Hundred in the future.

"As our tournament gets even bigger we will see that in abundance," Morgan said. "There are some tournaments in the world that are bigger than a lot of countries’ fixtures, bilateral series and anything else they play in between."

There has been a concern among the cricket community that changes in cricket rules may disrupt the sport's tradition. However, Morgan had a different opinion.

“As generations change, as sport changes, the demand for the supporter or consumer changes and it's great to see cricket changing with that," Morgan said.

Morgan also said there were benefits for local players from participating in the tournament.

“I think the one thing that strong domestic tournaments produce is your domestic heroes,” Morgan said. “You normally only experience it when you play international cricket but tournaments like the Big Bash have produced Chris Lynn.

“He is a magnificent domestic player - international cricket hasn’t worked out for him - but when he walks around Australia he’s a massive hero. People know exactly what he does and how he does it."

The veteran cricketer also pointed out the rising interest in the women's side of cricket since the Hundred last year.

“Given that we’re one of the oldest sports in the world and have so many traditions, it shows how adaptable we are, being able to engage with that new audience moving forward," he said.

“And probably the biggest benefactor of last year's tournament were the girls, the product as a whole was magnificent. They broke attendance records from game to game, the interest levels were through the roof, the standard was really good."

Morgan will participate in the tournament as the captain of London Spirit. The first match will take place on August 3.