Phil Salt calls for extra week in The Hundred after hectic three-games-in-five-days spell
Phil Salt said he would like The Hundred to be extended by a week after Welsh Fire played three matches in five days, a run that included him striking 48 from 37 balls in a 125-run opening partnership with Matt Short for Welsh Fire against Manchester Super Giants.
Salt's second-placed Welsh Fire won at Birmingham Phoenix on Saturday afternoon, defeated Southern Brave in Cardiff on Monday evening and then lost to Manchester Super Giants on Wednesday afternoon, a sequence he described as intense. The Hundred group stage is scheduled across 23 days with teams playing eight games in that period.
"It's been a little bit hectic the last few days," Salt told BBC Sport. "Birmingham, back to Cardiff, up here. It's a lot to be honest with you in five days and managing bodies through. From a player's point of view I'd like this competition to be probably a week longer."
Organisers stage the tournament over a short window in contrast to other major T20 competitions: Indian Premier League sides each play 14 group games in a 56-day period, while last season's men's Big Bash League in Australia saw teams play 10 group games each in a 36-day window. Since its introduction in 2021, The Hundred has been cited as adding complexity to an already crowded English summer schedule, with the Professional Cricketers Association continuing to raise concerns about player welfare.
In their response to the 2026 schedule, which saw the T20 Blast reduced by two matches, PCA chief executive Daryl Mitchell said, external the unchanged County Championship season "does raise concerns with player burnout with mental and physical dangers attached to an overly intense end to the season following the conclusion of The Hundred".
Salt also pointed to the logistical strain on his squad and the overseas players he expects to use, saying: "We import the best stars in the game for this. We've got on our side [the 6ft 8in tall] Marco Jansen and Lockie Ferguson," he added. "They've done a lot of time on the bus in the last three days! A bus that's not built for lads that size. I'd like a bit more time in between to be honest with you, but I understand we're working with a pretty tight schedule already as it is. I'm not the man for the answer on the schedule, I just like to magic another week of the year somewhere!"
Welsh Fire return to action at Headingley on Sunday (14:30 BST) against Sunrisers Leeds, before playing their final group game at home to London Spirit next Wednesday.
