Sussex propose T10 tournament to combat financial struggles and fixture droughts

Sussex want to create a new T10 tournament for non-Hundred-hosting counties that would take place during August alongside the One-Day Cup.

There is widespread frustration among the smaller counties at the limited cricket they currently play during the height of the summer, with Sussex having just four days’ play at home during this year’s Hundred, which began on 21 July and will conclude with the final at Lord’s on 16 August. Though the county of Sussex comes under Southern Brave’s umbrella, the franchise’s home matches take place at Hampshire’s Utilita Bowl.

Ed Warner, the new Sussex chair, has come up with one potential solution to boost their revenue as well as providing more competitive action for players who do not feature in the Hundred.

“The ECB has probably been far too protective of the Hundred to get the money in,” Warner told the Guardian. “But now they need to be a little more wide-ranging in their thinking about the cricket calendar.

“I’ll be lobbying to open up the cricketing calendar with events that don’t compete directly with the Hundred, but are money-generating opportunities for us, and a chance for our players to play the game.

“Why couldn’t you have a T10 triangular competition with Kent and Essex, for example? Make it very kid-friendly, make it a day at the seaside, then go and play at Canterbury, then go and play in Chelmsford. Those are the sorts of things that I don’t think competes with the Hundred, but does compete with other entertainments in the school holidays in our local area.”

Several of Sussex’s players are featuring in this year’s competition, with James Coles being picked up by London Spirit and Jofra Archer being retained by Southern Brave. All-rounder Coles, at £390,000, was the most expensive player in March’s auction, which was the competition’s first.

Warner was speaking after the publication of a governance review at Sussex, who as revealed by the Guardian in January have been placed in special measures by the ECB for breaching financial sustainability regulations.

Sussex were docked 12 points in this season’s County Championship the following month, and further points deductions will follow if they do not reduce last year’s £1.3m losses to £1m by October and break even 12 months later.

While Warner believes that Sussex are victims of the structure of English cricket, which gives disproportionate rewards to the Test match venues and Hundred hosts, he accepts the findings of the external review conducted by consultancy Campbell Tickell, which concluded that the club’s financial plight was the result of poor management and a lack of commercial and governance expertise.

Warner, a former chair of UK Athletics, was appointed last month to address such failings and has made a start by introducing efficiency savings and cutting the player budget, with the club on course to meet the initial ECB target.

“Are we a victim of the structure of English cricket?” Warner asked. “Yes, but we can’t afford to go around feeling like victims. We have to work out smart ways to spend the money that we’ve got to be competitive, and to be in a position to beat counties that have got Test grounds and Hundred franchises.

“We’re not going to change the face of English cricket ourselves overnight. What we have to do is make this place financially secure, commercially successful and from a cricketing perspective, as exciting as we can.”