After Twenty20 and T10, cricket is one more step closer to introducing a new format as the England Cricket Board approved the playing conditions for its new competition at their board meeting at Lord’s on Wednesday.

The basic outline for the proposed 100-balls-a-side competition, as endorsed by the ECB, are as follows:

  • Each innings to be of 100 balls
  • Change of end after every 10 balls
  • Each bowler to deliver either five or 10 consecutive balls
  • Each bowler to send down a maximum of 20 deliveries per game

The ECB is expected to have ‘a series of meetings in January 2019’, where it will furnish further details of the competition, according to the ICC.

“The game has made huge progress this year, through collaboration, constructive debate and a volume of detailed discussion. The outcomes for all of this combined work are vital for the growth and sustainability of cricket, at all levels, in England and Wales,” said Tom Harrison, the ECB Chief Executive.

“The strategy we have created over the last 12 months will give the whole game clear priorities and allow us to deliver these together. It will guide our investment, drive our relationships, and make things happen locally and nationally.

“The Strategy, Domestic Structure, New Competition and CPA are all interlinked so it is right that we share all the details – together and in context – at the same time across the game. This will happen in the new year.”

There has been scepticism surrounding the new format. Earlier this year, when news of The Hundred first emerged, Mark Wood — England fast bowler — had suggested international players might not be interested.

“I’m not sure these big players would be necessarily open to it straight away anyway,” Wood had said. “I spoke to Bravo, who I played with at the IPL, and he wasn’t interested in the 100-ball at all.

“So if the big players already in the IPL, they can see that game’s working - the 100-ball thing, they’re unsure, who’s to say they’re going to come straight away? They might be apprehensive and then we can’t attract the big players.”