Welsh Fire captain Phil Salt has said he would ideally like The Hundred to be a week longer after his side played three matches in five days, describing the stretch as "a little bit hectic" (BBC Sport).

The schedule was relentless. Welsh Fire won at Birmingham Phoenix on Saturday afternoon, beat Southern Brave in Cardiff on Monday evening, then lost to Manchester Super Giants on Wednesday afternoon. Three games, five days, barely room to draw breath.

Salt told BBC Sport that managing player fitness through that stretch was "a lot" and that he would welcome more time between fixtures. He was careful to add that he understood the calendar was already tight and that he was "not the man for the answer on the schedule" (BBC Sport).

One detail from the road summed up the grind. Salt pointed out that the Welsh Fire squad includes Marco Jansen and Lockie Ferguson, both 6ft 8in tall, who spent large chunks of those five days on a bus that was not designed for anyone that size. The image of two giant fast bowlers folding themselves into cramped seats between matches tells you more about the relentlessness of the schedule than any stat sheet.

The numbers back up the sense of compression. The Hundred's group stage runs for 23 days, during which each team plays eight matches. By comparison, Indian Premier League sides play 14 group games across 56 days, and last season's men's Big Bash League in Australia gave teams 10 group games in a 36-day window. The Hundred packs more games into less time than either of its rival franchise competitions.

The tournament, introduced in 2021, has added another layer to an already crowded English cricket summer. The 2026 schedule saw the T20 Blast — the domestic 20-over competition — reduced by two matches to make room, but the County Championship, the four-day first-class competition, kept its full programme. Daryl Mitchell, chief executive of the Professional Cricketers' Association, the players' union, said the unchanged 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" (BBC Sport).

For all the scheduling complaints, Welsh Fire were sitting second in the table at the time of Salt's remarks. They were due back in action at Headingley on Sunday against Sunrisers Leeds, before their final group game at home to London Spirit the following Wednesday.

Salt's own journey to the Welsh Fire captaincy has been anything but straightforward. Born in Barbados and raised across several countries, he signed for Welsh Fire in a £450,000 move after a four-way auction battle in March, and took the captaincy ahead of the 2026 season. He had spoken positively about the squad's recruitment, naming Jordan Cox and Joe Root as signings the side had specifically targeted.

For fans, the scheduling squeeze is a double-edged thing. More matches in fewer days means more cricket to watch, but it also means players carrying niggles into games they might otherwise sit out, and less time for tactics to evolve between fixtures. Salt is not demanding an overhaul. He is asking for a little more breathing room, and he has the bus rides to prove he has a point.