Ashesh defeat effect

Pietersen proposes Hundred-like red-ball tournament to ‘save’ Test cricket in Eng.

A first-class competition modelled on the Hundred can help the English Test side “return to its former glories”, reckons ex-skipper Kevin Pietersen. Pietersen, who won the Ashes in 2005, 2009, 2010- 11 and 2013, said the existing County Championship has lost its sheen and is “not fit to serve the Test team” in its current form.

“With the money elsewhere in the game, the (County) Championship in its current form is not fit to serve the Test team,” Pietersen wrote in a blog post on Betway.The 41-year-old praised the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for its professional franchise- based 100-ball cricket tournament - - The Hundred.

Kevin advised the board to come up with a similar tournament for the red-ball format, adding that the English players would benefit from rubbing shoulders with top overseas players. “They now need to introduce a similar franchise competition for red-ball cricket, whereby the best play against the best every single week.”