The inaugural edition of England’s controversial new competition ‘The Hundred’ has been postponed until 2021 due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chiefs announced on Thursday. ECB feels it will not possible to stage the event because of the operational challenges caused by the current social distancing directives.

The 100-ball competition, comprised of eight teams rather than the established 18 first-class counties, and designed to attract a ‘new audience’ was slated to begin from July 17 onwards.

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In a statement released by the ECB chief executive, Tom Harrison said, “The situation we find ourselves in as a country means that delivery of the Hundred will not be possible this summer. Whilst we are naturally disappointed that we won’t get to realize our ambitions this year, the Hundred will go ahead in 2021 when we are safely able to deliver everything we intended to help grow the game.

Despite the postponement of the tournament, the board has yet to solve quite a few issues regarding the same. That includes whether to pay the players who were to be involved in this year’s competition and what to do about the squads for next year. Harrison confirmed that discussions were ongoing on those aspects but that the tournaments will remain more or less in the same guise as they would have been this year.

The ECB chief explained, “We are envisaging it to be as we planned it. We have a commitment to deliver The Hundred in the way we set out to deliver it this year. We will be having discussions with players who have been selected through the draft.”

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The ECB’s statement also said playing ‘The Hundred’ behind closed doors was not an option because an event with no fans ‘directly contradicts the competition’s goal to attract a broader audience’.