The sale of one hundred, last week he valued the eight franchises to an assault of £ 975 million.
HeUpper turn Mark 10 questions that arose from a transcendental week for English Cricket.
1. Has the Cricket of the County really left the edge of financial oblivion?
At the moment, yes. Assuming that all agreements remain on the table at the end of an eight -week consultation period between the host clubs and their investors, including the 11 counties that do not organize a hundred teams can win around £ 29 million.
The collective debt in the national game is around 200 million; Once, it was said that Northampthonshire was discarding in the bathroom, while Sussex has been reluctant to light the reflectors.
Now, the ECB believes that the means to keep themselves have given the counties. If they can't do that with £ 29m, the game is up.
The sale of one hundred was made last week, since the eight franchises were sold for a combined total of £ 975 million
For now, the sale has meant that the County Cricket has retreated from the edge of financial oblivion
The counties are happy with the sale, but what will happen if money is exhausted?
2. What happens if the money ends?
There are legitimate concerns that the gap will eventually grow between host counties and non -host.
No hosts will be well in the short term, but the expected growth of competition will benefit mainly the hosts, five of which have preserved their 51 percent participation, to take advantage of a rainy day.
The national game has been divided for a long time between those they have and those who do not have. The sale may have delayed the moment when the gap becomes an abyss.
3. If the tournament expands, as the ECB expected, what will that mean for the form of summer?
The investment scale has encouraged the notion that two teams could be added to the eight existing ones, possibly based in Chester-Le-Street and Taunton, although with Kent pushing Beckenham as a third place in London.
But August has already been sacrificed on the altar of one hundred, and the ECB admits that they still need to solve how the 2026 season will take shape. The reality is that more expansion will mean another part taken from the county schedule.
But given the payment, how many of the 18 are going to lift a bad edor? There could be some angry correspondence with the 70,000 members of the County in the coming months.
4. Will the new owners insist on a greater presence of players in England?
The most important moment of one hundred in 2024 occurred when Ben Stokes broke an hamstrings in one of its three games for the northern superchargers (total sum: four races, without WICKETS). He ruled it out of four tests, affected the balance of the side upon his return in Pakistan and contributed to his last injury, in New Zealand.
But it seems inconceivable that Rico investors in India and the United States do not press so that England's stars play a more prominent role.
After all, his greatest possibility of a return of his cash is through television rights, for which the presence of Stokes, Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer and CO will be crucial. It will be difficult to avoid more injuries and more international absences.
The new owners will love the usual clients of England as Jos Buttler (left) and Jofra Archer (right) to appear
5. Is there any hope of persuading India players to participate?
During the gestation period of the hundred, Tom Harrison, then executive director of the ECB, suggested in silence that he had heard positive noises of the BCCI.
Despite their worldwide prohibition that Indian players participate in any national T20 tournaments outside the IPL, would consider freeing them for the hundred. It was a captivating thought, but last week, Richard Gould, Harrison's successor, ruled out, despite the fact that four of the eight teams were collected by owners or co -owners from the sides of IPL.
It is unlikely that BCCI renounce their competitive advantage, but they are more than happy to have bought another part of Crick's real estate, and spread the tentacles of the IPL even more.
The head of the ECB, Richard Gould, has ruled out the possibility of Indian players that appear in the hundred
6. Will Pakistani players be squeezed by India participation?
The ECB says that this will not happen, but we will see. Pakistan players participated in the first IPL, in 2008, but have been prohibited from Mumbai's terrorist attacks later that year.
The arrival of the Super League of Pakistan has provided only partial compensation.
And it will be instructive to discover if the invincible oval, the originals of Manchester, the supercharging of the north and southern Brave, the four franchises that obtained the investment of the IPL owners, change their recruitment policy in the coming years.
Pakistan players like Shaheen Afridi (right) could be squeezed by India participation
7. How do you know the ECB that the counties will spend the money wisely?
The informative session last week in Lord's was full of the right noises. There would be 'total visibility and transparency', and the plan was to 'create sustainable business models for the 18 first class counties'.
The money, let's say the ECB, must be 'inverted', not 'spent'. This should silence, at least for now, conspiracy theories about stealthy plans to allow some of the poorest counties to break.
But the 'Raras' talk suggests at least some nervousness in the Lord's about expenses plans.
8. What has the ECB did to avoid another Fiasco by Allen Stanford?
It seems yesterday that Stanford, a Texan billionaire who turned out to be directing a giant Ponzi scheme, was landing his lord's helicopter and dazzling the costumes with a false perspi boxes.
This time, the ECB says they have made a due diligence worthy of the name, and points out that the sales process initially attracted about 100 offers, not all marking the right boxes.
Another scandal would now be disastrous. But the ECB insists that they have not been complacent.
English Crick must make sure there is no repetition of Fiasco Allen Stanford
9. Is Cricket Test in August one thing of the past?
When the 2023 ashes ended on the last day of July, the administrators promised that the trial cricket would never expel the stellar schedule of August.
However, this summer, the fifth and final proof against India will end on August 4, racing the way for the hundred to be the main show in the city.
The ECB should not assume fans of the tests. Because in a short time they will try to attract followers who never had the option of a summer vacation trip to the test.
The window for the trial cricket in August has been lost due to one hundred
10. Where would the hundred without county cryket be?
It would not exist. Despite all the euphoria and the looks of starry eyes to the CEO of Google and Microsoft, investors have essentially designated players and places that were given to them on a silver dish. How exactly are they investing?
The answer is tangible and theoretical: they are investing in the possibility of lucrative television rights and the unknown by -products of soft power.
However, without the existing infrastructure of the county game, they would not be investing at all. The English Cricket will do well to remember that in the coming years.
England deserves a respite
Everything he needed for his critics to heat up under the necklace was a live suggestion on the television of the Indian commentator Ravi Shastri that England had trained only once during his recent three -week tour of the White Ball through India. In fact, they had trained half a dozen times.
The non -training period occurred in the five -day stretch between the first and third ODI, which included two days of travel and a real Cricket game.
Now, you can argue that they should have trained in one of the other two days off, but England's inability to play is deeply rooted, and it is unlikely to be remedied for a couple more hours in the networks. And that is not the only problem.
England's Cricket players have endured such a punishing schedule that some space for breathing here and now is the only option. Even so, it was a better story to say that they had trained only once …
Indian commentator Ravi Shastri (in the photo) accused England of just training in India
His accusation was broad of the brand: England actually trained half a dozen times on the tour
Trophy Papering Champions on Odi cracks
The Champions Trophy begins tomorrow in Karachi, where Pakistan faces New Zealand, and the global nature of the tournament ensures that the interest levels will remain on the right side of the marked line 'acceptable'.
But if the growing uselessness of the bilateral series of 50 superiors was no longer clear, it was underlined by the weakened side Australia presented for the two hate in Sri Lanka that followed both tests.
For widespread indifference, the Australians lost the 20 Wickts in a total of 58.1 overs, and were fired by 165 and 107. They will quickly forget it. And so, in all likelihood, Sri Lanka.
Steve Smith's Australia was beaten by Sri Lanka in an Odi series that will be forgotten quickly
Hales moves away
Has the English Cricket seen the last of Alex Hales, who seems ready this summer to place the Major League and Caribbean Premier League Cricket before the T20 explosion and the hundred?
If so, it will become one of the best white ball openers in England, until it fell, disastrously for its international career, with Eoin Morgan.