Australian stars likely to pull out of The Hundred

Australian superstars like David Warner, Aaron Finch, Glenn Maxwell and Jhye Richardson are likely to withdraw their names from the inaugural edition of The Hundred because of a suffocating schedule, UK’s Daily Mail reported on Saturday (May 22). This will come as a huge blow for the ECB and their ambitious event as they have already lost quite a few players because of the pandemic and international schedule. 

The Hundred is set to start from July 22 and the Australian players would have anyway missed the first few days as their white-ball tour of West Indies ends on July 25. There are now reports suggesting that the BCCI are planning to schedule the remainder of IPL 2021 in September-October and it will be followed by the T20 World Cup and the Ashes 2021. As a result, Cricket Australia will want their players to be well-rested and fit for the upcoming major events. 

There are also question marks over the participation of the top English players as there might be some changes in the scheduling of the England-India Test series. As of now, the first Test will be played from August 4 in Nottingham and the fifth and final Test will be held in Manchester from September 10. Meanwhile, The Hundred will start on July 22 and will end on August 21. 

According to a report in the Times of India, the BCCI might ask the ECB to reduce the nine-day gap between the second and third Test to four to have an extra five days in hand.