The former England captain Andrew Strauss is in talks about buying into a Hundred franchise. The Guardian has learned that Strauss’s investment company, TTB Sport Capital, is acting as consultants on behalf of potential bidders from India, the US and the UK and could even make its own bid.
Strauss joined TTB Sport Capital last year with a brief to lead its cricket investment after two spells at the England and Wales Cricket Board, one as a director and the other in an advisory role, following his illustrious playing career. The 47-year-old is executive chairman and a shareholder in the company so would have a personal stake should it invest in one of the eight Hundred franchises.
TTB Sport’s other investments include the fast-growing racquet sport of padel, Angel City, the LA-based National Women’s Soccer League team whose shareholders include Natalie Portman, Serena Williams and Billie Jean King. The Ashes-winning captain would appear to be a shrewd hire as he is one of the most experienced and well-connected figures in English cricket.
Strauss played 100 Test matches and 127 one-day internationals for England before spending three and a half years as director of cricket, during which time he appointed the World Cup-winning coach/captain duo of Trevor Bayliss and Eoin Morgan. He has also indirectly played a pivotal role in shaping the future of the Hundred since the high-performance review into the structure of domestic cricket he conducted on behalf of the ECB two years ago did not address the controversial new competition.
Strauss made a series of recommendations including a County Championship featuring three divisions of six, and a reduction from 14 to 10 matches per season, but they were rejected by the counties.
The former Middlesex captain is close to the ECB’s TV partners Sky Sports, which owns the domestic rights until the end of the 2028 season, regularly appearing as a pundit in their coverage of England’s home Test matches.
Strauss has always been a big advocate of the Hundred. In the 21st MCC Cowdrey Lecture at Lord’s last year he praised the growth of franchise leagues for taking the sport forward and helping to “democratise” cricket.
Heather Knight (centre) celebrates after London Spirit beat Southern Brave in the opening week of this year’s Hundred. Photograph: Harry Trump/ECB/Getty Images
The ECB is planning to hand a 51% stake in each of the eight Hundred franchises to the counties and sell off the remaining share to private investors in a three-month auction starting in September.
Although there has been interest from the Indian Premier League, many of the owners are understood to be unhappy with the structure of the deal and reluctant to meet valuations of between £40m and £80m for a minority stake.
While the ECB chairman, Richard Thompson, has publicly described the Hundred as a billion-pound asset, sources involved in the sale process have disclosed privately that raising £400m from selling 49% is a more realistic target.
Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians are among the IPL franchises understood to be most frustrated by the ECB’s sales process, with Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants the most enthusiastic.
In addition to courting IPL owners the ECB is also seeking investment from the US, and would ideally like a 50/50 split of new owners. Manchester United’s Glazer family and Wrexham’s film star owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have been sounded out, while representatives of Birmingham City attended the opening games of the tournament between Oval Invincibles and Birmingham Phoenix on Tuesday.
As well as managing the sales process the ECB is exploring plans to change the competition to a T20 format from 2029, although as the Observer revealed last weekend the Hundred title and brand would remain.
Strauss and TTB Sport have declined to comment.
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