‘We are chopping off The Hundred and just using T10’- ACA’s chief executive Cassim Suliman reflects on race between two exciting cricket formats

The Hundred is a 100-ball cricket tournament which was organized by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), and began in 2021. The coveted event included eight men's and women’s teams, respectively, located in major cities across England and Wales. The first season of the tournament was held in July and August 2021.

Interestingly enough, last year, the Africa Cricket Association (ACA) said that an unnamed sponsor had approached the board to organize a similar tournament based on 'The Hundred' concept. Notably, the ECB had its rights patented for the format. However, after much back and forth between the ACA representatives and the ECB, the attempt to start in what would have been only the second tournament in the world with the 100-ball format has failed.

Consequently, in the latest development in the African cricketing scenario, the Abu Dhabi-based T Ten Sports Management have won the race for the contract in Africa. Notably, T Ten Sports also owns the rights for the T10 format. While speaking to BBC Sport Africa, ACA chief executive Cassim Suliman said that they have decided to go with the T10 format instead of the Hundred.

'We won't want to trample on anybody's toes that have the rights': Cassim Suliman

Now in the aftermath of the race between 'The Hundred' format and the 'T10 Cricket' format, ECB is seemingly in a clash with the Abu Dhabi-based format in the context of infringement of using their patented asset. Albeit, ACA chief executive made it amply clear that they just want to promote cricket without hampering their relations with any cricket fraternity including the ECB.

"I believe they (T Ten Sports) have been engaging with the ECB but something (happened)," Cassim Suliman said.

"I haven't got the clear picture, but we all resolved to go to T10. We won't want to trample on anybody's toes that have the rights. We want good relationships with all the member countries and not to have any problems. So we are chopping off The Hundred and just using T10," he added.

"The T10 will be fine. We're quite happy, quite satisfied. It's played all over. When you look at the Abu Dhabi T10, it's going to be similar to that,” he further continued.

The new T10 league might provide a good opportunity for domestic African players. However, there are plans for organizing a lucrative T20 Africa Premier League franchise competition in the coming years. The ACA chief executive said that the board is waiting for the final draft of the T10 competition from the International Cricket Council (ICC). 

"Availability is one aspect. Secondly, there's a lot of ICC events that goes with it as well. So we are waiting for the final draft (of the schedule) from the ICC. Once we get that, then we will know when and where we can have it staged,” Suliman concluded. 

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