sport news New ECB chair Richard Thompson cannot drop the ball when it comes to juggling ... trends now

In the press release on Saturday confirming his appointment as the ECB’s new chair, Richard Thompson chose his abstract nouns carefully.

‘Collaboration and partnership,’ he suggested, ‘will be key to our sport’s future’.

Normally, this might be dismissed as an administrative blandishment. Who, after all, doesn’t want everyone to get on?

But less than 24 hours later came an example of the kind of rift Thompson must try to heal when he assumes the role on a five-year term on September 1.

On Twitter, a Surrey fan had taken exception during a Royal London One-Day Cup game against Warwickshire to the sight of a fellow spectator wearing the light-blue hat of Oval Invincibles — the Hundred franchise based in south London.

It’s fair to say the fan, who later deleted the tweet, had conveyed his disapproval in the coarsest terms. Surrey later announced an investigation.

They will find the answer staring them in the face: the sport is more divided than ever, and Thompson — a cogent advocate of the county game during 12 successful years in the Surrey chair — must try, somehow, to piece it back together.

His in-tray will not make for easy reading. To the disgust of thousands of county loyalists, the Hundred is here to stay.

Thompson’s first task, then, will be to persuade angry traditionalists, who have felt alienated by the ECB since plans for the new competition were announced in 2018, that county cricket can co-exist alongside a form of the game that pinches its best players at the height of summer and plays on its best grounds.

The counties themselves, of course, can have no complaints, since they accepted a lucrative incentive from the ECB to get the Hundred over the line. But fans are a different matter.

And that’s why Thompson will be keeping a close eye on the contents of

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