The Hundred: Cricket takes the fight to football with near £1bn auction
This might seem like history repeating itself at the Home of Cricket.
A big announcement of a windfall to revitalise the sport in England.
It was 17 years ago that Allen Stanford landed at Lord’s on a helicopter accompanied by a treasure chest of dollar bills.
Allen Stanford landed at Lord’s cricket ground in his helicopter in June 2008. Pic: Reuters
They turned out to be fake and the tycoon was exposed as a fraudster and jailed.
The American was promising lucrative Twenty20 competitions – the shorter format designed to attract new audiences.
But India created a more dynamic and lucrative competition from the English invention.
So the England and Wales Cricket Board tried again with even shorter matches – each team simply batting for 100 balls.
And four years after the launch of The Hundred, the eight teams have been valued at £975m after an ECB auction.
Not bad for a competition only played for one month every year.
And the array of tech investors and Indian Premier League owners buying into The Hundred don’t even own the venues.
Players walk on to the pitch ahead of last August’s Hundred final at Lord’s. Pic: Action Images via Reuters/Matthew Childs
Lifeblood of domestic cricket
These are the grounds home to counties that have been the lifeblood of domestic cricket since 1890.
But this is now the era of franchise cricket where owners are building a network of clubs that could see the best players sent around the world to star in shorter competitions.
It is a revolution resisted by some traditionalists seeing the erosion of longer forms of the sport, up to five-day international tests.
But this is all about trying to attract new, younger audiences – and lure them from the most popular sport.
The England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive Richard Gould
‘More accessible and more fun’
“Over the last five to 10 years, cricket has grown and the variety of formats that we’ve got just makes it more accessible, more fun and creates more positive noise,” ECB chief executive Richard Gould told Sky News.
“I think it’s time for us to muscle in on football. And I think that’s one of our ambitions.
“When you look at the share of either broadcast revenue or attendees, we want to increase our market share. So certainly we’ve got football in our in our sights.”
Football investors banking on cricket success
Football wants a part too, banking on a boom.
Chelsea’s American co-owner Todd Boehly is part of the group paying £40m for 49% of the Trent Rockets.
The same deal was secured for Birmingham Phoenix by the Birmingham FC ownership, Knighthead Capital Management, which features NFL legend Tom Brady.
The winners of the men’s and women’s Hundred finals last August. Pic: Action Images via Reuters/Matthew Childs
Four of the investors also own teams in the Indian Premier League T20 competition including India’s richest family the Ambani’s who are paying £60m for 49% of the Oval Invincibles.
And Silicon Valley wants in with the CEOs of Google and Microsoft among a consortium of tech billionaires paying the most for a team – £145m for almost half of the London Spirit.
It’s a premium to play at Lord’s, the most iconic of venues.
Can The Hundred replicate ‘exciting’ IPL franchise?
Nikesh Arora, chief executive of cyber security firm Palo Alto, told Sky Sports: “IPL has turned out into an amazing franchise because at the end you’ve got to the heartstrings of people and you built a product that they’re really excited about.
“And the question is, can we replicate that collectively in the UK? Because that’s the home of cricket.
“This is the current sort of genre of cricket which is popular, so we like that idea. We like the idea that this is in a country where there’s a natural demand for cricket and aspiration for cricket.”
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And this time the ECB insists there has been full due diligence of the investors – seeing the franchises’ sell-off as a golden opportunity to safeguard the future of cricket.
The windfall will be split between the 18 county teams and the Marylebone Cricket Club, which owns Lord’s and is seen as the guardians of the laws of the sport.
Grassroots to benefit
There’s also set to be £50m for the grassroots game.
But will the jackpot be justified when The Hundred’s men’s and women’s teams only play a month a year?
And if it does boom – will the price be international tests and the domestic country competitions fading?
“It is certainly a really important opportunity for us in history, I think will judge how important it ranks,” Mr Gould said.
“But we know that we’ve got a lot of hard work ahead of us, a lot of exciting work.
“We’ve got eight new investors coming into the gate and we want to make sure that we can match and exceed their own ambitions.”
UK
Teenager living in ‘continuous pain’ after surgeon Dr Yaser Jabbar carried out ‘inappropriate’ operations
A 15-year-old boy who was operated on twice by a now unlicensed Great Ormond Street surgeon is living with “continuous” pain.
Finias Sandu has been told by an independent review the procedures he underwent on both his legs were “unacceptable” and “inappropriate” for his age.
The teenager from Essex was born with a condition that causes curved bones in his legs.
Aged seven, a reconstructive procedure was carried out on Finias’s left leg, lengthening the limb by 3.5cm.
A few years later, the same operation was carried out on his right leg which involved wearing an invasive and heavy metal frame for months.
He has now been told by independent experts these procedures should not have taken place and concerns have been raised over a lack of imaging being taken prior to the operations.
Yaser Jabbar rescinded his UK medical licence last year. Pic: LinkedIn
His doctor at London’s prestigious Great Ormond Street Hospital was former consultant orthopaedic surgeon Yaser Jabbar. Sky News has spoken to others he treated.
Mr Jabbar also did not arrange for updated scans or for relevant X-rays to be conducted ahead of the procedures.
The surgeries have been found to have caused Finias “harm” and left him in constant pain.
“The pain is there every day, every day I’m continuously in pain,” he told Sky News.
“It’s not something really sharp, although it does get to a certain point where it hurts quite a lot, but it’s always there. It just doesn’t leave, it’s a companion to me, just always there.”
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Finias’s surgery pictures
Care of over 700 patients being assessed
Mr Jabbar rescinded his UK medical licence in January last year after working at Great Ormond Street between 2017 and 2022.
The care of his 700-plus patients is being assessed, with some facing corrective surgery, among them Finias.
“Trusting somebody is hard to do, knowing what they have done to me physically and emotionally, you know, it’s just too much to comprehend for me,” he said.
“It wasn’t something just physically, like my leg pain and everything else. It was emotionally, because I put my trust in that specific doctor. My parents and I don’t really understand the more scientific terms, we just went by what he said.”
Doctors refused to treat Finias because of his surgeries
Finias and his family relocated to their native Romania soon after the reconstructive frame was removed from his right leg in the summer of 2021.
The pain worsened and they sought advice from doctors in Romania, who refused to treat Finias because of the impact of his surgeries.
Dozens of families seeking legal claims
His mother Cornelia Sandu is “furious” and feels her trust in the hospital has been shattered. They are now among dozens of families seeking legal claims.
Cyrus Plaza from Hudgell Solicitors is representing the family. He said: “In cases where it has been identified that harm was caused, we want to see Great Ormond Street Hospital agreeing to pay interim payments of compensation for the children, so that if they need therapy or treatment now, they can access it.”
Finias is accessing therapy and mental health support as he prepares for corrective surgery later in the year.
A spokesperson for Great Ormond Street Hospital told Sky News: “We are deeply sorry to Finias and his family, and all the patients and families who have been impacted.
“We want every patient and family who comes to our hospital to feel safe and cared for. We will always discuss concerns families may have and, where they submit claims, we will work to ensure the legal process can be resolved as quickly as possible.”
Finias with his mother and sister
Service not ‘safe for patients’
Sky News has attempted to contact Mr Jabbar.
An external review into the wider orthopaedic department at the hospital began in September 2022.
It was commissioned after the Royal College of Surgeons warned the hospital’s lower limb reconstruction service was not “safe for patients or adequate to meet demand”.
The investigation is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Sir Keir Starmer has said closer ties with the EU will be good for the UK’s jobs, bills and borders ahead of a summit where he could announce a deal with the bloc.
The government is set to host EU leaders in London on Monday as part of its efforts to “reset” relations post-Brexit.
A deal granting the UK access to a major EU defence fund could be on the table, according to reports – but disagreements over a youth mobility scheme and fishing rights could prove to be a stumbling block.
The prime minister has appeared to signal a youth mobility deal could be possible, telling The Times that while freedom of movement is a “red line”, youth mobility does not come under this.
His comment comes after Kaja Kallas, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, said on Friday work on a defence deal was progressing but “we’re not there yet”.
Sir Keir met European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen later that day while at a summit in Albania.
Ursula von der Leyen and Sir Keir had a brief meeting earlier this week. Pic: PA
If agreed, the deal will be the third in two weeks, following trade agreements with India and the US.
Sir Keir said: “First India, then the United States – in the last two weeks alone that’s jobs saved, faster growth and wages rising.
“More money in the pockets of British working people, achieved through striking deals not striking poses.
“Tomorrow, we take another step forward, with yet more benefits for the United Kingdom as the result of a strengthened partnership with the European Union.”
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Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said she is “worried” about what the PM might have negotiated.
Ms Badenoch – who has promised to rip up the deal with the EU if it breaches her red lines on Brexit – said: “Labour should have used this review of our EU trade deal to secure new wins for Britain, such as an EU-wide agreement on Brits using e-gates on the continent.
“Instead, it sounds like we’re giving away our fishing quotas, becoming a rule-taker from Brussels once again and getting free movement by the back door. This isn’t a reset, it’s a surrender.”
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