England cricket chief Tom Harrison says that the newly formatted The Hundred tournament will help protect other formats of the game despite having the fear over its potential impact. The Hundred which is scheduled to begin in 2020, is a whole new tournament which consists of eight city-based franchise teams and they will play with each other. All the teams will bat for 100 balls each with overs, where normally an over consists of six deliveries but this will be of 10 balls with each bowler either will bowl five or 10 balls consecutively. Although there were a few negative comments, England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Harrison and other ECB officials backed the tournament.

“The 100 is a really good way of protecting everything that we are serious about,” Tom Harrison said on Wednesday. “It’s about protecting Test match cricket, it’s about protecting four-day Championship cricket, it’s about getting kids playing more cricket at school. This is engaging at a different level with a completely new community in this country and that is something we should embrace and celebrate.”

Tom Harrison, however, said the new tournament will certainly recreate the atmosphere of the World Cup, which England won earlier this year.

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He further added: “The Hundred is an attempt to replicate that and bring it back to our country every year without taking anything away from our precious county environment, to ensure we grow the game of cricket in this country. That is our job.

“We have seen throughout the Cricket World Cup grounds across the country packed to the rafters, 40 percent of whom were first-time buyers to cricket in this country. The vibrancy, the colours, the noise and energy is something that will live with all of us,” Tom Harrison concluded.