The Hundred sales: First-class counties to receive money from Friday

The ECB has already received applications for the names of the Superchargers and the Originals to be changed.

However, the governing body retains control of both the window in which The Hundred is played and the format of the competition, meaning it would have final say on any potential switch to 20 overs per side.

“That’s one of the things that will be discussed,” said Hundred managing director Vikram Banerjee.

“We have to look at what works in this country. T20 works elsewhere, but in this country the format has provided us with some really interesting things, especially from a broadcast perspective. I’m sure it will be discussed, but at the moment it’s the 100-ball format and that will remain for now.”

Banerjee reiterated that there are no plans to add teams to The Hundred until at least 2029, which would be the start of a new broadcast deal.

Discussions are due to begin on how players will be selected from next season. Until now The Hundred has mainly employed a draft system, but an auction could come into consideration.

Four of the eight franchises will fall under the control of owners linked to Indian Premier League (IPL) teams. Because of the political tensions between India and Pakistan, Pakistani players are not permitted to play in the IPL.

As it stands, no Pakistan players are involved in this year’s Hundred. That can be explained by a number of factors: some Pakistan players pulled out of last year’s competition, thus making themselves unattractive to franchises, Pakistan’s men are on tour in the West Indies in August and their players are not currently highly sought after in global leagues.

And ECB chief executive Richard Gould was adamant Pakistan players would not be excluded on grounds of nationality.

“I expect players from all nations to be selected for all teams,” he said. “We haven’t had any need to have any discussions at this point.

“We have got very clear anti-discrimination policies within cricket in England. If those are not adhered to, our cricket regulator will take action.”