Manchester Originals

Team Country: England

Team City: Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England

Founded (Year): 2019

Home Ground: Old Trafford

Coach: Simon Katich

Captain: Jos Buttler

Forms of Cricket: Twenty20

Manchester Originals: overview

Manchester Originals is a franchise team in the structure of 100-ball cricket of Great Britain and Wales, representing the city of the same name in particular and the county of Lancashire in general. The official venue is Old Trafford south of the city, capable of accommodating up to 25,000 spectators at a time (the women’s team played at Sedbergh School for a while, but then it was decided to abandon this practice). The team colors are black, gray and their combinations.

Manchester Originals: history

Manchester Originals was founded in 2019 amid ongoing controversy regarding the need to create a new franchise. The idea itself was not new: in 2017, it was brought up for discussion by the commercial director of England and Wales Cricket Board, Sanjay Patel, who suggested that a simplified The Hundred format would help attract a new audience for at least two reasons:

• Its rules are not as complicated as in the case of classic test cricket, and in many ways are understandable on a purely intuitive level;
• The reduced format will allow cricket in the future to bypass competing sports in popularity, where matches last no more than one and a half to two hours.

He was supported, in particular, by former England player Danielle Hazell, who pointed out the fact that the new format will help promote women’s cricket, as well as give local players more opportunities to practice.

One of the most controversial points of the protracted discussion was the financial issue. According to initial calculations, The Hundred should have fully recouped itself in the first seasons, bringing at least 24 million pounds of net profit. Unfortunately, the real figures turned out to be several times less, mainly due to the outbreak of the pandemic and its long-term consequences.

It also influenced the plans of the founders of Manchester Originals. At first, everything went as well as possible: for example, the club managed to avoid territorial unification with representatives of other counties (as happened, for example, with Kent and Surrey), proving that “solo playing” would benefit Lancashire, as it would help to acquire its sponsors and attract the best players.

In July of the same year, it was officially announced that Simon Katich, who previously worked with the champions of the CPL Trinbago Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore from the IPL, would become the head coach of Manchester. Glen Chapple and Mark Chilton soon joined the coaching staff.

In October, Manchester Originals held the first draft, getting the captain of the England national club in the format of limited overs Jos Buttler. Kate Cross and Sophie Ecclestone joined the women’s club; Matt Parkinson and Saqib Mahmood filled the quotas from Lancashire County.

Unfortunately, the first season of The Hundred had to be postponed for a whole year due to anti-covid restrictions. In two seasons (i.e. 2021 and 2022), the men’s and women’s clubs have achieved a total of thirteen victories. At the same time, the successes of men were more noticeable: so, if the maximum of the women’s squad is still the fifth line of the standings as of 2021, then the men fought for the trophy a year later, losing in the final to Trent Rockets with a difference of two wickets.

Manchester Originals: trophies and club records

Even though there are no trophies on the account of Manchester Originals yet, the team continues to progress and look for new ways. So, Simon Katich remains at the helm of the men’s group, while Stephen Parry trains the women. The most notable players as of 2023 are:

All up-to-date information about changes in the Manchester Originals squad, injuries of current players and the signing of new ones, as well as ticket sales, the release of fresh merchandise, and so on is regularly published on The Hundred’s main website in the corresponding section.