Throwing open the Hundred to foreign investment was intended to attract more elite players, boost attendances and position it as the baby brother of the gargantuan IPL. English cricket has succeeded in bringing in a lot of overseas cash: sales of stakes in the eight franchises raised more than £450 million. But it has also imported problematic foreign politics. 

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Prior to the revamped player auction, a BBC journalist, Tom Grundy, ran a story based on messages from a senior ECB official to an agent that confirmed only non-IPL-owned teams would consider signing Pakistani players. No Pakistani cricketers have been selected to play in the IPL since a Pakistani terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, attacked Mumbai in 2008. This unofficial policy has been extended to Indian-owned franchises in competitions in South Africa, the US and the UAE. 

The lock-out has had serious consequences for Pakistani players. The IPL offers by far the largest contracts in the sport, while the intermingling of the world’s best players for ten weeks every year acts as a crucible for innovation in the Twenty20 format. 

Prior to the privatisation of The Hundred........

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