The Hundred is worth 'much more' than £400m, says ECB President Richard Thompson

Sky a sig naled that the Bridgepoint Group had red to buy a 75% stake in the tournament for £400million, an amount which Thompson called "exaggerated".

"The Hundred has generated tremendous interest in the private equity markets," Thompson told Test Match Special.

"Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL sold for almost a billion dollars, so I would say a tournament is worth a lot more. "

The Hundred, the 100-ball tournament for eight men's and women's teams, is only two years old .

Competition and teams belong to the ECB and Thompson said he was "too early" to consider a sale.

"We have We have a long way to go before we do something," he said. "We will not sell the game short.

"The ECB must think very carefully if we were to sell four or five weeks of summer to a third. It would be a huge decision for us to make. game, with critics saying it harms county cricket and monopolizes the peak month of August.

But Thompson now admits he was converted by The Hundred's reach and impact on the women's game. He also says Bridgepoint's offer shows its worth.

"We have to take a competition like this- this very seriously," he said.

"That's a feeding frenzy around world cricket and private equity so I'm not surprised that we had an offer."

Thompson has not confirmed the value of the offer, ' he called it "unsolicited".

"It shows the interest in The Hundred and the English cricket so I also expect more unsolicited offers," he said.