Andrew Strauss explains logic behind 100-ball format

The proposed 100-ball competition is an attempt to attract new fans and a ‘more casual audience’, says England director of cricket Andrew Strauss.

Former England skipper Andrew Strauss has stated that the format of the 100-ball match, which the England Cricket Board has decided to bring in since 2020, won’t be aimed at the generic cricketing crowd but a lot less ‘casual’ ones.

The England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) proposed 100-ball tournament, due to launch in 2020, will be aimed at a ‘more casual audience’, according to England’s director of cricket Andrew Strauss.(Getty Images)

Reiterating that the league aims to promote the game amongst fans who are not ‘traditional’ in nature, the former England batsman told BBC Radio Five Live’s Sportsweek programme: “What we’re trying to do is appeal to a new audience, people that aren’t traditional cricket fans. We want to make the game as simple as possible for them to understand.”

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Under what should be the shortest format of the game then, matches will consist of 15 six-ball overs and another 10-ball over. The matches will be played across seven locations in summer.

Strauss further went on to state that the T20 format still runs pretty long and must be curbed in order to incorporate new fans. “T20 has been unbelievably successful and it has established a very strong audience now. We want that audience but a different audience as well, who perhaps would like things slightly different. That’s the driver behind this idea,” he said.

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It’s yet to be seen what impact the new league would have on the existing NatWest T20 challenge, the domestic T20 tournament of England. “T20 has become a longer and longer format of the game. It is more than four hours in a lot of parts of the world,” Strauss said. “We want kids to be able to go to bed earlier and it is worth saying it is going to be on terrestrial TV. We want the more casual audience.”