DURHAM believe England captain Ben Stokes would “jump at the chance” to front a new Hundred team in the region, but accept they may have to wait until 2029 for the tournament to expand.

Discussions are still continuing between the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the private investment groups who have agreed to plough around £520 million of new money into the competition, with a number of areas yet to be ironed out before contracts are signed.

One of those relates to the terms for any future increase from the current eight-team structure, something Durham have long positioned themselves to benefit from.

The ECB’s director of business operations, Vikram Banerjee, has described the idea as a “no-brainer,” but some prospective co-owners are more guarded about potentially diluting their stake in future broadcast deals.

Durham chief executive Tim Bostock still believes it will happen and is optimistic about bringing the Hundred to the Riverside Ground, but accepts there may be no movement until the current rights cycle ends in 2028.

“The way the sales have gone, with the money that has been committed, the clear message is they are unlikely to expand before the end of the broadcast deal,” he said.

“I think there will be expansion and when that day comes we are ready. In terms of facilities, demographics, having an international stadium, likely investment, putting a team together, we are ready to go.

“Look at the quality of players we produce for England. We have high-profile players who may be interested in fronting up a Durham franchise... we’ve got the England captain here.

“I’m sure at some stage Ben would jump at the chance at being the face of it, definitely. All of that works. It’s all about timing, but I don’t see a better candidate than us.”

Stokes has been aligned to the Headingley-based Northern Superchargers since the Hundred launched but has played only a handful of games. He opted out of this year’s edition in a bid to manage his fitness and therefore was not retained.

Bostock believes adding a ninth team would be a relatively straightforward change and could be done without adding to the tournament’s overall footprint.

At present teams play their nearest geographical rivals home and away and every other side once. Yet he also expects an expanded fixture list to be on the agenda sooner rather than later as investors seek to maximise value.

“Nine is actually a better number than eight, everyone plays each other once, so it can be done quite easily,” he said.

“But they might decide there is a demand for more games. I don’t think they’ll be happy with just four home matches.

“The traditional county watcher might fear for the 27 days (the competition’s current window). It would be naive to think they won’t get more days, but I don’t think it will ever be an IPL situation of two or three months.

“There are two ways to increase the matches, more games between themselves or bring more teams in. I think it will organically happen.”