Joe Root believes new 100-ball format can boost Test cricket
Alastair Cook says proposed tournament represents 'interesting step', while Charlotte Edwards is in favour of 100-ball concept
Tuesday 24 April 2018 16:01, UK
Joe Root believes the England and Wales Cricket Board's plans for a 100-ball competition could attract a new audience to Test cricket.
The ECB announced last week a proposal to introduce a new format - provisionally titled 'the Hundred', with 15 regular six-ball overs and one 10-ball over - and England's Test captain sees the positives.
One of the ECB's fundamental aims is to simplify the game and attract more people to cricket - and Root thinks it could help to bring newcomers to the longer formats.
"It's going to appeal to a completely new audience and I think that's great," Root told the i newspaper. "The more people and kids we can get into sport, the better.
"We've got to be very careful we don't measure it against the other formats...it's something to gather a new audience and gain interest, not a threat to other formats.
"As players, working with the ICC, we've got to make sure the other formats don't suffer but it has a place in the game and, hopefully, we'll see that over time.
"There will be people that compare it to Twenty20 and worry it might take away interest from Test cricket, but it's important to remember it will bring new people to the game.
"It might be someone who didn't know much about the game before and then goes on to watch a Test match and gets immersed in that. That's the way I'd like to look at it."
Root's predecessor as England skipper, Alastair Cook, told Sky Sports News the proposed tournament represents "an interesting step for cricket."
"If you went back to 2003 when the ECB launched Twenty20 cricket, if social media had been big then I think people would have kicked up the same fuss as they have here," said Cook during a Chance to Shine event in Tunbridge Wells on Tuesday.
"It's different, it's exciting - how it all works with the County Championship and Test matches and when it's played is still to be [decided], but it's an interesting step for cricket.
"Cricket has made huge changes since I started - T20 being one of them - so let's see how it all pans out. Whether I will be there to experience it, I don't know, but I'll certainly be watching."
The women's Kia Super League would be disbanded under the new system, with teams formed in line with the eight city-based men's sides.
Former England skipper Charlotte Edwards - who captained Souther Vipers to the inaugural title in 2016 - is in favour of that move.
"The Kia Super League has done an enormous amount for women's cricket - but I think it's the right time to change," she told Sky Sports News.
"You've seen the success of the Women's Big Bash in Australia, which is aligned with the men, and I think it will work, so I am definitely in favour of the 100-ball [tournament].
"We mustn't be scared of change - a lot of research has gone into it and hopefully it will be a good thing for the game."
