London, Apr 22 (IANS): The England and Wales Cricket Board's (ECB) plan to host The 100 tournament this year is likely to suffer a big setback as according to media reports, it is likely to be postponed for at least an year. The inaugural edition was set to be played from July 17 to August 15 across different venues in England.

The 100-ball tournament, which the ECB expects can match the global popularity of the Indian Premier League and the Big Bash League, could add to the long list of tournaments being put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic.

More than 2.5 million people have been infected by the virus while in excess of 1.7 lakh people have lost their lives worldwide. With situation not seemingly improving in the near future, chances are that The 100 will be pushed back to 2021.

"With budgets tight, the availability of overseas players likely to be limited and the opportunity for ticket sales reduced, the ECB have decided now is not the time to attempt to launch a new competition that would place further demands on their finances," the ESPNCricinfo report stated.

The outbreak of coronavirus has shredded the entire sporting calender of the world, in an year where several multi-national events were scheduled to take place.

Big events like Olympics 2020 and Euro 2020 have been pushed back to 2021 while cricket has also suffered the brunt of the pandemic. All bilateral series have been either called off or postponed with national T20 leagues such as the IPL also being hit as it has been postponed.

The 100 becomes the latest high-profile cricket tournament whose future has been put into jeopardy by the deadly virus which has stalled the entire globe.