The recently concluded Anderson-Tendulkar trophy has been compared to one of the greatest Test series in the modern era, which is the 2005 Ashes. While the taste of some tasty Test cricket was still on the taste buds among the English fans, the Hundred tournament started just 24 hours after. In the season opener London Spirit took on the Oval Invincibles. The former were soundly thrashed by the latter. The Spirits missed their key players in Ollie Pope, Jamie Smith, and Jamie Overton, who were all part of the final Test.
One of the investors in the Spirit team, Nikesh Arora, pointed out that because of the amounts that are being invested, it is important to make a better schedule so that the marquee players are available. “I just think that in future we have to make sure it’s timed in such a way that if you’re only going to have a 26-day tournament where many people invested hundreds of millions of pounds, it’s only fair that we create enough space so all the right people can play,” Arora said, speaking to The Telegraph.
“Some of the guys were required to rest until a few days after the first match which is kind of disappointing,” he said. “I understand it. I think for the future it requires better planning. I would never want a sportsperson to be extended because we want them to play well for a very long period of time. They’ve just come out of a spectacular series, made even more spectacular by the ending. I’m still smiling from it,” he added.
While the other investor in Spirit, Satyan Gajwani, said there is going to be a bit of friction between both the Test matches and the Hundred, he reassured that it is good for the game and that it will serve different audiences. “We also saw that with the IPL in its first five years. Any new format is going to have tension, and there’s going to be tension between Tests and the Hundred. But I think overall, it’s good for the game. I think it attracts different audiences. It widens the scope of fans that could be interested in cricket.”
