Lucknow owners agree deal for Manchester Originals

Manchester Originals have become the second Hundred franchise to partner with an Indian Premier League team after Lancashire agreed a deal with Lucknow Super Giants.

RPSG group, owners of the Super Giants, will pay about £58m for a 49% stake in the Originals, whose total value was placed at about £116m in Monday's virtual auction.

To go with the four stakes sold last week, the sale of 49% shares in five Hundred teams comes to about £343m.

RPSG were in the running to buy stakes in both Oval Invincibles and London Spirit, only to lose out. In investing in the Originals, they are believed to have beaten off bids connected to final IPL sides Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

Lancashire chief executive Daniel Gidney had previously been open about the county's desire to partner with an IPL team.

A Lancashire statement said: "We have been very focused on securing a great partner - ideally from the IPL - and RPSG has been our preferred bidder for some time.

"We are delighted by the outcome and look forward to working together to create an exciting future. Together, we have a shared ambition to create a very special cricket team for the people of Manchester and the wider North West region."

Lucknow are a new IPL team, formed as part of the league's expansion in 2021. The RPSG group also owns Durban Super Giants in the South Africa T20 league.

Last week, Surrey negotiated a £60m price with the owners of Mumbai Indians for a 49% stake in Oval Invincibles, the county retaining the 51% share given to them by the ECB.

That was followed by three similar deals. Warwickshire agreed a 49% sale of Birmingham Phoenix to Birmingham City owners Knighthead Capital and Glamorgan sold the same stake in Welsh Fire to IT entrepreneur Sanjay Govil for £40m.

In between, a price of £145m for 49% of Lord's-based London Spirit was agreed between Marylebone Cricket Club and a Silicon Valley consortium led by Nikesh Arora. The size of that deal confounded expectations at the ECB.

All successful bidders now enter an eight-week period of exclusivity in order to complete the sales.

On Tuesday, Yorkshire will auction part or all shares in Headingley-based Northern Superchargers, before Nottinghamshire's sale of a stake in Trent Rockets.