Marylebone Cricket Club this week met the six bidders ready to buy a stake in the Hundred’s most prized team – London Spirit, based at Lord’s – with groups involving the owners of Manchester United and Chelsea battling against Formula 1 leaders.

Investors, including Avram Glazer, United supremo And Todd Boehly, Chelsea co-owner will fight with F1 owners Liberty as well as three IPL teams.

Meetings are taking place this week and next week between potential buyers and the host nations of the Hundred teams as the process of selling stakes in each of the eight franchises enters its second phase.

The England and Wales Cricket Board sells 49 per cent of each team and splits the profits between the recreational game (which takes 10 per cent), the 18 first-class counties and the MCC. The remaining 51 percent goes to the host country, who can keep or sell as much share as they want (80 percent of the proceeds staying with them and the rest being shared throughout the game). The ECB hopes to raise a minimum of £350m for the 49 per cent stake, it is understood.

Around fifteen investors remain in the running, the majority of them having bid on several franchises. There are reportedly around 35 offers in total at this point. Telegraph sport reported last month that the first tender (which was non-binding and therefore exploratory to some extent) had resulted in a total valuation of over £650 million for 100 per cent of the eight franchises.

While London Spirit are likely to go for the higher price, a string of investors are gathering around Cardiff-based Welsh Fire (expected to be the cheapest franchise), Leeds-based Northern Superchargers, and Trent Rockets, based in Nottingham. the belief that they offer better value.

Representatives of MCC, which owns Lord’s and therefore London Spirit, held meetings with six potential investors, after rejecting a series of first-round offers and seeing their members approve the club’s involvement in the process during a special general meeting.

The remaining six vying for the Lord are:

• Lancer Capital, of which United co-chairman Avram Glazer is chairman
• Cain International, led by Chelsea manager Jonathan Goldstein and backed by club co-owner Boehly
• Asia’s richest family, the Ambanis, owners of IPL franchise Mumbai Indians
• Owners of Chennai Super Kings
• Sanjiv Goenka, the Indian billionaire owner of the Lucknow Super Giants
• Liberty Media, which owns Formula 1 (which it bought for $8 billion in 2017) and MotoGP (which it bought for £3.6 billion this year)

Most of these groups met with other counties. Surrey holds seven meetings on the future of the Oval Invincibles, including with Lancer and the Ambanis. Surrey is also meeting with private investment firms CVC Capital Partners and Ares. Surrey appear firm in their stance that they want to retain the 51 per cent stake in the Hundred team that the ECB offers each host nation. This would likely mean they are more likely to partner with a private investment company than an IPL franchise, which would seek to control cricket.

Another county in a similar position is Warwickshire, which has close links with CVC through its chairman Mark McCafferty, a former chief executive of Premiership Rugby and an advisor to CVC. Sky News reported that McCafferty had formally declared a potential conflict of interest to the ECB and Warwickshire boards before the sale process began.

Warwickshire, like Surrey, intend to retain their 51 per cent, which risks reducing the sale price of the ECB’s 49 per cent. This raises a possible flaw in the system, where the interests of the hosts (who want the right partner for their team) are at odds with the interests of the game as a whole, which wants to maximize the sums needed.

The IPL franchises seem to revolve around Manchester Originals, Northern Superchargers, Trent Rockets and Welsh Fire. Kolkata Knight Riders, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals are all among the 15 remaining bidders, as is Capri Global, owners of UP Warriorz in the Women’s Premier League. Sanjay Govil, the American entrepreneur who owns Washington Freedom in Major League Cricket, is also believed to remain in contention.

GMR Group, co-owner of Delhi Capitals, recently acquired Hampshire and Utilita Bowl and is expected to invest further in Southern Brave.

Earlier this week, Dame Caroline Dinenage MP, chair of the interparliamentary committee on culture, media and sport, wrote to Richard Gould, director general of the ECB, asking a series of questions about the sale process, supported by Raine and Deloitte. Gould has until November 28 to answer their questions, including: “Can you clarify the steps you take to assess the suitability of potential investors: do you use a suitability and aptitude test and what criteria you use -YOU ?”