Sage has become the official insights partner of The Hundred and, from 2023 onwards, The Hundred Draft will also be powered by the company.
The firm, which provides accounting, financial, HR and payroll technology for small and mid-sized businesses (SMEs), looks to engage new audiences with the sport, and ‘put gender parity at its heart’.
The competition, which launched in summer 2021 across England and Wales, involves men and women cricketers playing side-by-side on the same stage – whilst offering equal prize money.
Rob Calder, Commercial Director of The Hundred, commented: “As a global leader in supporting small and mid-sized businesses with data-driven decision making, Sage is the perfect partner to power our Decision Review System this summer, and The Draft from next year.
“We look forward to working with Sage as we get ready for another huge summer for The Hundred.”
Additionally, the collaboration looks to ‘bring fans closer to The Hundred’s big decisions’, powering the Decision Review System (DRS) in broadcast and big screens inside the grounds, together with branding appearing on the umpires’ kit during the tournament.
“The Hundred is a tournament with rich data at the heart of its decision-making, from drafting players to in-game analysis,” added Cath Keers, CMO at Sage. “Fast accurate decision making powered by deep insights is how we help business flow for our customers.
“The partnership is an exciting opportunity to share the power of data with a global audience of cricket fans and communities around the UK. We’ll bring this partnership to life over the coming months and years making sure our colleagues, customers and communities all benefit with access to tickets and experiences, content and promotional opportunities.”
Furthermore, Sage will also be the presenting partner for The Hundred Draft, using in-depth analysis in a bid to drive effective player selection. The pair will launch a content series this summer to support this, focusing on the use of data and insights.
The content is said to feature the ‘key decision makers’ from this year’s draft, reviewing the big signings and demonstrating how insights determined the teams’ key selections.
Over 510,000 people attended the inaugural year of The Hundred games, with a TV audience of over 16 million, and what has been described as ‘record-breaking crowds’ for the women’s competition.
