Surrey chairman outlines plans to carry Oval Invincibles beneath membership banner
Oval Invincibles might be rebranded with the three-feathers crest of Surrey County Cricket Club, in response to chairman Oli Slipper, who has instructed county members that the Hundred must be embraced to assist shore up the entire of English cricket, together with the County Championship.
Surrey have been notable sceptics when the Hundred was conceived in 2018, partly due to the influence its internet hosting would have on red-ball cricket on the peak of the English summer season, and in addition as a result of its existence would undermine the prevailing T20 Blast, for which the membership had lengthy attracted full homes on the Kia Oval, the biggest venue within the nation.
Now, nonetheless, Slipper says the membership hierarchy has been gained over by the Hundred’s revenue-generating potential and, in an end-of-year letter to the membership membership, says Surrey will use their share of any fairness from the ECB’s review of the tournament’s ownership model to carry Oval Invincibles beneath the membership banner, and reinforce their declare to be “the greatest club in the world”.
“For many long-standing and committed members of this club, the greatest challenge to the red-ball game is the Hundred,” Slipper wrote. “I fully understand and appreciate those concerns, but I want to assure you that, as chair, I will do nothing that will imperil the future of either this club or County Cricket.
“The actuality is the Hundred has been an enormous success each from a ticketing and TV perspective,” he added. “It can be an especially vital income stream for the sport of cricket, producing roughly 25% of the ECB’s income which funds the broader sport of cricket, and helps preserve a viable 18 county ecosystem.”
Despite the ECB’s ongoing review into the Hundred, in which various options have been tabled – including a rise to ten teams and an “open pyramid” option featuring all 18 counties in a two-division format – Slipper noted that the competition’s broadcast deal with Sky Sports is locked in until 2028 and therefore scrapping it is “not an possibility”.
Instead, he said that the desire of the ECB and its 19 shareholders to “evolve and enhance” the Hundred, including by handing ownership of the competition back to the counties and MCC, presented a “distinctive alternative” for Surrey to exert a greater influence on the direction of the sport in England and Wales.
“Whilst different counties will undoubtedly choose to promote fairness of their crew, beneath my stewardship Surrey will take a longer-term view and look to personal and function our personal crew inside this match,” Slipper wrote. “We should discover a approach of making certain the historical past, heritage and legacy of this membership is represented in every month of the English summer season.
“We are not just a venue rented out to the highest bidder, we are the greatest club in the world. We are the pacesetters in English cricket and if any club expects to play domestic cricket at The Kia Oval, they should also expect to wear the Three Feathers of Surrey.
“Therefore, it’s my ambition, that we get to a degree the place anybody who performs home cricket at this floor does so within the data that they’re standing on the shoulders of giants similar to Edrich, Hobbs, Stewart and Hollioake.”
That ambition also extends to the women’s game, with Slipper signalling the club’s intention to take full ownership of the regional side, South East Stars, so that the “Three Feathers are represented in any respect ranges of girls’s home cricket”. The club is also exploring options to build a second venue outside of Kennington, to help address the growing pitch-capacity issues at the Kia Oval.
Surrey’s men claimed a record-extending 22nd County Championship this summer, successfully defending the title they won in 2022, and Slipper promised to use their growing influence within the ECB to protect the sanctity of first-class cricket, which he described as “the top of our sport and the prize we cherish greater than another”.
“I consider that it’s our seat on the desk that may permit us to wield the facility and affect essential to not solely additional the pursuits of Surrey County Cricket Club, but additionally shield and even develop the red-ball sport on this nation,” he wrote. “The Counties will want sturdy voices within the coming years, not simply from the sidelines however from throughout the sport in any respect ranges, and I intend ours to be a number one voice.”