[Cricket] The Hundred

[Sarisbury Seagull]

I remember there was similar negativity when T20 cricket was introduced and look how that turned out. It is dissapointing that so many are not even willing to give it a chance and have made their minds up before a ball has even been bowled but for the rest of us with an open mind it could be an absolute treat and feast of great cricket in a fun environment. There is nothing wrong with supporting the Brave as many of us are and supporting Sussex, you can do both, they are not in direct competition with each other.

Now I'm not sure whether this one of your usual threads or you are being serious!

The T20 introduction was totally different and actually personally I was very supportive of it at the time as you could see there was a place for it in the game alongside other forms of cricket. It also embraced County cricket and provided it with a boost - it is still immensely popular at County level around the country when you look at the crowds. It also kept the basics of the sport such as 6 balls in an over.

This sham is both trying to destroy county cricket and the fundamentals of the game itself. The ECB are a disgrace.

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

I may be shot down in flames here, but as a parent of a County Cricketer who has no real interest in the game (me, not him!), I think the Hundred (and T20) is a lot more appealing to us "outsiders". I understand all the traditionalist views, but surely there is a place for the new shorter format games?

My son lives for the sport. He plays all the formats, loves all the formats - whereas I cant stand sitting around all day watching a 50 over game (dont even dare suggest I go to a multi day game ...) but the shorter format games I have enjoyed.

If you only like the traditional game formats, fine - carry on enjoying them - and just ignore the new stuff thats probably aimed more at the likes of me anyway.

PS - My son cant wait to get up to Lords on Aug 11 to watch the Hundred game he has tickets for.....maybe the cricketing youth that are coming through dont really care what format the game is, just as long as they have cricket to play, watch & enjoy - unlike a lot of the *ahem* ....older fans...who dont like change

 

[jakarta]

I may be shot down in flames here, but as a parent of a County Cricketer who has no real interest in the game (me, not him!), I think the Hundred (and T20) is a lot more appealing to us "outsiders". I understand all the traditionalist views, but surely there is a place for the new shorter format games?

My son lives for the sport. He plays all the formats, loves all the formats - whereas I cant stand sitting around all day watching a 50 over game (dont even dare suggest I go to a multi day game ...) but the shorter format games I have enjoyed.

If you only like the traditional game formats, fine - carry on enjoying them - and just ignore the new stuff thats probably aimed more at the likes of me anyway.

PS - My son cant wait to get up to Lords on Aug 11 to watch the Hundred game he has tickets for.....maybe the cricketing youth that are coming through dont really care what format the game is, just as long as they have cricket to play, watch & enjoy - unlike a lot of the *ahem* ....older fans...who dont like change

It is not 'Change' though, it is a deliberate attempt to destroy the 4 day County Game and by extension destroy the County set up.

I'm sorry you don't enjoy the 4 day game (and presumably 5 day Tests) but many, many people do.

As has been previously posted if Terrestial TV was showing T20 then there would be no need for this crap, the ECB have a lot to answer for.

 

[Berty23]

I may be shot down in flames here, but as a parent of a County Cricketer who has no real interest in the game (me, not him!), I think the Hundred (and T20) is a lot more appealing to us "outsiders". I understand all the traditionalist views, but surely there is a place for the new shorter format games?

My son lives for the sport. He plays all the formats, loves all the formats - whereas I cant stand sitting around all day watching a 50 over game (dont even dare suggest I go to a multi day game ...) but the shorter format games I have enjoyed.

If you only like the traditional game formats, fine - carry on enjoying them - and just ignore the new stuff thats probably aimed more at the likes of me anyway.

PS - My son cant wait to get up to Lords on Aug 11 to watch the Hundred game he has tickets for.....maybe the cricketing youth that are coming through dont really care what format the game is, just as long as they have cricket to play, watch & enjoy - unlike a lot of the *ahem* ....older fans...who dont like change

The issue is not the format. The issue is the way it is being done with franchises. It is threatening the fabric of the game. It is crickets equivalent to the European super league. It will make the rich richer and make it harder for the rest to survive, only it is that on steroids.

I am a Somerset fan and we have had consistently one of the best sides in the country for the last 5 years. The side usually has at least 9 players who have come through the academy. Over the last five years we have produced numerous players for England including Bess, leach, Banton, Overton, Gregory and of course buttler is one of ours.

If franchise cricket takes off then who will produce the players? If counties don’t have the resources to fund the academies then where will England players come from? I grew up in Devon and spent a bit of time at Somerset and players were from all over the south west but our local franchise is in wales.

The Ecb know the hundred will lose money for a few years so if it fails then what? Counties go bust. If it succeeds then what? People say “we don’t need 18 counties” and sides like Essex and Somerset who have dominated championship cricket will be no more.

If people thought that the football super league threatened the fabric of football then this threat to cricket is far greater. Counties are now spending the school holidays with second string sides when it should be peak cricket time. Crowds for the blast were growing every year before the pandemic and Somerset sold out every match. They could have thrown the marketing money at the blast and made it two divisions. The hundred is a power grab by the centre and I am worried about the long term consequences. Changing to 100 balls is a complete irrelevance. It is about the whole structure of cricket.

 

[Berty23]

I rmemeber the introduction of t20 and there was some wariness but comparing this to the introduction of t20 is comparing chalk with cheese. T20 used the same counties and was just a new version. This is a complete redesign of cricket and i struggle to see how smaller counties won’t be destroyed by it. Yes that includes Sussex.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

I'd much rather watch the Brighton Bashers than the Southampton Sloggers.

That is the problem for me. Nothing to do with the format of the games.

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

Fair enough chaps - thanks for explaining it in a bit more detail. Understand where you are coming from and why its such a big deal.

 

[KeegansHairPiece]

It is not 'Change' though, it is a deliberate attempt to destroy the 4 day County Game and by extension destroy the County set up.

I'm sorry you don't enjoy the 4 day game (and presumably 5 day Tests) but many, many people do.

As has been previously posted if Terrestial TV was showing T20 then there would be no need for this crap, the ECB have a lot to answer for.

The issue is not the format. The issue is the way it is being done with franchises. It is threatening the fabric of the game. It is crickets equivalent to the European super league. It will make the rich richer and make it harder for the rest to survive, only it is that on steroids.

I am a Somerset fan and we have had consistently one of the best sides in the country for the last 5 years. The side usually has at least 9 players who have come through the academy. Over the last five years we have produced numerous players for England including Bess, leach, Banton, Overton, Gregory and of course buttler is one of ours.

If franchise cricket takes off then who will produce the players? If counties don’t have the resources to fund the academies then where will England players come from? I grew up in Devon and spent a bit of time at Somerset and players were from all over the south west but our local franchise is in wales.

The Ecb know the hundred will lose money for a few years so if it fails then what? Counties go bust. If it succeeds then what? People say “we don’t need 18 counties” and sides like Essex and Somerset who have dominated championship cricket will be no more.

If people thought that the football super league threatened the fabric of football then this threat to cricket is far greater. Counties are now spending the school holidays with second string sides when it should be peak cricket time. Crowds for the blast were growing every year before the pandemic and Somerset sold out every match. They could have thrown the marketing money at the blast and made it two divisions. The hundred is a power grab by the centre and I am worried about the long term consequences. Changing to 100 balls is a complete irrelevance. It is about the whole structure of cricket.

The harsh reality is county cricket is on it's knees, quaint fondness of tradition isn't going to save it, and neither is the status quo. You can't put your fingers in your ears and pretend players aren't selling their bat or arm around the world to the highest bidders and think county cricket is just going to survive.

There is a seismic change in the game in that players are now actually forgoing international caps and honours for the riches franchise cricket affords them.

County crickets failure is it is too cumbersome to change. Too many chief execs with various committees stuck in an age old way of doing things. So the only option the ECB had was to create new teams to raise money for the game as a whole.

I'm not advocating the Hundred, but to say the Hundred is going to be be the death of the Hundred is a bit like a patient on life support and you blame the person who turns the switch off for their death.

I'm 47, we're the outgoing generation who still gets the country championship, who can still remember past days. But we're outgoing. Where's the incoming cricket fans and supporters come from? I got into cricket because test matches were on Grandstand and I'd sit and watch it then bat out in the street with mates. My kids have never really watched cricket on TV as we don't subscribe to Sky. This tournament will be on BBC, you could have kids out in the streets again? Or at least that is the thinking.

Cricket sold it's soul to Sky many moons ago, and while the riches flowed in for a while, 20 years of kids not growing up watching tests and big games on free telly is coming home to roost. They know young person participation and viewing has fallen off a cliff. The Hundred is a life ring on a rope chucked into the sea hoping domestic cricket survived the fall.

 

[Chicken Run]

Nothing in that article made me want to watch it. Patronising garbage aimed at people who do not currently watch cricket. The ECB should have put T20 on terrestrial tv if they wanted to broaden the audience even if it meant less money. The Hundred merely dilutes the appeal of the 20 and already waning 50 over games.

Totally agree


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[keaton]

The harsh reality is county cricket is on it's knees, quaint fondness of tradition isn't going to save it, and neither is the status quo. You can't put your fingers in your ears and pretend players aren't selling their bat or arm around the world to the highest bidders and think county cricket is just going to survive.

There is a seismic change in the game in that players are now actually forgoing international caps and honours for the riches franchise cricket affords them.

County crickets failure is it is too cumbersome to change. Too many chief execs with various committees stuck in an age old way of doing things. So the only option the ECB had was to create new teams to raise money for the game as a whole.

I'm not advocating the Hundred, but to say the Hundred is going to be be the death of the Hundred is a bit like a patient on life support and you blame the person who turns the switch off for their death.

I'm 47, we're the outgoing generation who still gets the country championship, who can still remember past days. But we're outgoing. Where's the incoming cricket fans and supporters come from? I got into cricket because test matches were on Grandstand and I'd sit and watch it then bat out in the street with mates. My kids have never really watched cricket on TV as we don't subscribe to Sky. This tournament will be on BBC, you could have kids out in the streets again? Or at least that is the thinking.

Cricket sold it's soul to Sky many moons ago, and while the riches flowed in for a while, 20 years of kids not growing up watching tests and big games on free telly is coming home to roost. They know young person participation and viewing has fallen off a cliff. The Hundred is a life ring on a rope chucked into the sea hoping domestic cricket survived the fall.

Is is though? The twenty 20 competition fills most grounds. The women's cup was working very well but was stopped in 2019 to legitimise the Hundred. The 4 day game has gone downhill. All of this is the ECBs fault. Instead of solving their own problems, they've just gambled all of their money on a new format

 

[keaton]

Also how can you trust the ECB to do the best thing when they've gone from July 2017 proudly announcing a new deal with Sky Sports until 2025(after almost a decade of saying this was damaging the game) to 2019 when they had gamble all of their cash reserves on a new format with no evidence this would solve any problems?

 

[KeegansHairPiece]

Is is though? The twenty 20 competition fills most grounds. The women's cup was working very well but was stopped in 2019 to legitimise the Hundred. The 4 day game has gone downhill. All of this is the ECBs fault. Instead of solving their own problems, they've just gambled all of their money on a new format

T20 is lagging behind other major tournaments in the format, and will continue to do so. County contracts, foreign player restrictions mean that while domestically crowds enjoy the spectacle, it's not actually making any meaningful profit. What does the average country ground hold for a T20 - 10k? It's not exactly going to save the country game is it.

I don't think you can blame the ECB entirely. The counties as said are cumbersome organisations ruled by self interest / survival and resistant to change. I agree with the Sky deal, however, and nothing has harmed the game more long term than losing free to air cricket. I can't believe it's taken this long to realise.

The Big Bash just pulled in 45m viewers over the course of the tournament, IPL, PSL, even the Caribbean Super League will start overtaking our T20 for popularity.

I totally respect where you're coming from, but how you're viewing this, that some T20 games fill grounds is thinking so small in where the game is financially. Like football, if you want to sell your product to a global audience, then you need the best players. 10k in a country ground is not financing the best players coming into the game, and the counties are resistant to it anyway.

 

[A1X]

I'd much rather watch the Brighton Bashers than the Southampton Sloggers.

That is the problem for me. Nothing to do with the format of the games.

I agree, and this also deals with my major problem that huge swathes of the country are excluded from this (I know it's been previously mentioned that the south west is not catered for). If you look at the major urban areas of England & Wales, the following aren't catered for;

Liverpool - 5th largest area, being asked to support a "Manchester" team, not sure how that'll go down
Tyneside - 7th largest (you're not fooling anyone by claiming Chester-le-Street counts)
Sheffield - 9th largest, asked to support Leeds
Bristol - 10th largest, the maddest as has an international cricket ground ready to go
Leicester - 11th largest
Brighton - 12th largest

By contrast, there is a team in the Durham area (doesn't even feature on a list of the top 77 in the UK). Which is just mad. These are huge audiences being excluded.

Source for size figures - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_urban_areas_in_the_United_Kingdom

 

[KeegansHairPiece]

I agree, and this also deals with my major problem that huge swathes of the country are excluded from this (I know it's been previously mentioned that the south west is not catered for). If you look at the major urban areas of England & Wales, the following aren't catered for;

Liverpool - 5th largest area, being asked to support a "Manchester" team, not sure how that'll go down
Tyneside - 7th largest (you're not fooling anyone by claiming Chester-le-Street counts)
Sheffield - 9th largest, asked to support Leeds
Bristol - 10th largest, the maddest as has an international cricket ground ready to go
Leicester - 11th largest
Brighton - 12th largest

By contrast, there is a team in the Durham area (doesn't even feature on a list of the top 77 in the UK). Which is just mad. These are huge audiences being excluded.

Source for size figures - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_urban_areas_in_the_United_Kingdom

I'm assuming the thinking is, finance a smaller tournament of teams so we can attract/afford the top players in the game to sell the product globally and build some sort of audience. If successful, then you'd assume more city teams could be added. Let's face it, it is an experiment that could fall flat on it's face.

 

[keaton]

T20 is lagging behind other major tournaments in the format, and will continue to do so. County contracts, foreign player restrictions mean that while domestically crowds enjoy the spectacle, it's not actually making any meaningful profit. What does the average country ground hold for a T20 - 10k? It's not exactly going to save the country game is it.

I don't think you can blame the ECB entirely. The counties as said are cumbersome organisations ruled by self interest / survival and resistant to change. I agree with the Sky deal, however, and nothing has harmed the game more long term than losing free to air cricket. I can't believe it's taken this long to realise.

The Big Bash just pulled in 45m viewers over the course of the tournament, IPL, PSL, even the Caribbean Super League will start overtaking our T20 for popularity.

I totally respect where you're coming from, but how you're viewing this, that some T20 games fill grounds is thinking so small in where the game is financially. Like football, if you want to sell your product to a global audience, then you need the best players. 10k in a country ground is not financing the best players coming into the game, and the counties are resistant to it anyway.

If you're likening it to football most teams in the UK are losing money with debt. Should we let the FL go semi pro and we can have a ten team tournament. Us, Palace, Crawley and Chelsea together, home games at Stamford Bridge. 30 minutes each half with 5 minutes at the end with goals counting double. If you're against this your old fashioned and don't accept change

 

[KeegansHairPiece]

If you're likening it to football most teams in the UK are losing money with debt. Should we let the FL go semi pro and we can have a ten team tournament. Us, Palace, Crawley and Chelsea together, home games at Stamford Bridge. 30 minutes each half with 5 minutes at the end with goals counting double. If you're against this your old fashioned and don't accept change

I'm not supporting The Hundred, so this isn't an argument about the format.

The Counties don't want to give up their individual cash cow that is the T20, with sold out games and beer, they're happy with that. So they're not interested in the T20 becoming something different and separate to the County game, it's just a format that each County fields a side from their squad for, same old approach to contracts and control. With that resistance, there isn't much they can do to evolve T20 to become something bigger worldwide.

I'm not arguing that The Hundred is a great idea or the solution, if you read my first post I'm saying it won't be the fault of the Hundred that the county game continues to fail, it's propped up just by T20, but it won't be saved or evolve from it.

English cricket needs a product it can sell to a global audience. T20 and the County game just cannot compete with the razzmatazz and global appeal of the other major T20 leagues. If the counties would have relinquished their hold over T20, allowed the top players to be auctioned in, or whatever else such as city based franchises young kids could get behind like football teams, then I doubt we'd have The Hundred, we'd have an English T20 Super League.

 

[Originunknown]

If you're likening it to football most teams in the UK are losing money with debt. Should we let the FL go semi pro and we can have a ten team tournament. Us, Palace, Crawley and Chelsea together, home games at Stamford Bridge. 30 minutes each half with 5 minutes at the end with goals counting double. If you're against this your old fashioned and don't accept change

This is an accurate analogy I'm afraid.

Very sad for cricket. I'm sure the quality will be high but it should be boycotted in my opinion.

 

[Sid in the Sharknado]

I'm not supporting The Hundred, so this isn't an argument about the format.

The Counties don't want to give up their individual cash cow that is the T20, with sold out games and beer, they're happy with that. So they're not interested in the T20 becoming something different and separate to the County game, it's just a format that each County fields a side from their squad for, same old approach to contracts and control. With that resistance, there isn't much they can do to evolve T20 to become something bigger worldwide.

I'm not arguing that The Hundred is a great idea or the solution, if you read my first post I'm saying it won't be the fault of the Hundred that the county game continues to fail, it's propped up just by T20, but it won't be saved or evolve from it.

English cricket needs a product it can sell to a global audience. T20 and the County game just cannot compete with the razzmatazz and global appeal of the other major T20 leagues. If the counties would have relinquished their hold over T20, allowed the top players to be auctioned in, or whatever else such as city based franchises young kids could get behind like football teams, then I doubt we'd have The Hundred, we'd have an English T20 Super League.

Given the counties overwhelmingly voted in favour of The Hundred (in exchange for large amounts of what is essentially their own money), it seems unreasonable to throw the "counties are too old fashioned and incapable of change for the good of the game" arguments at them.

Most of the counties do bring in big overseas players specifically for the T20, and the best England players will barely be available for the Hundred just as they've always been barely available for any of the domestic competitions.

There is no intrinsic reason why either the existing T20 Blast couldn't have been rejigged and better promoted in order to widen interest, or why a new competition couldn't have been based around the existing county set up.

 

[Berty23]

The harsh reality is county cricket is on it's knees, quaint fondness of tradition isn't going to save it, and neither is the status quo. You can't put your fingers in your ears and pretend players aren't selling their bat or arm around the world to the highest bidders and think county cricket is just going to survive.

There is a seismic change in the game in that players are now actually forgoing international caps and honours for the riches franchise cricket affords them.

County crickets failure is it is too cumbersome to change. Too many chief execs with various committees stuck in an age old way of doing things. So the only option the ECB had was to create new teams to raise money for the game as a whole.

I'm not advocating the Hundred, but to say the Hundred is going to be be the death of the Hundred is a bit like a patient on life support and you blame the person who turns the switch off for their death.

I'm 47, we're the outgoing generation who still gets the country championship, who can still remember past days. But we're outgoing. Where's the incoming cricket fans and supporters come from? I got into cricket because test matches were on Grandstand and I'd sit and watch it then bat out in the street with mates. My kids have never really watched cricket on TV as we don't subscribe to Sky. This tournament will be on BBC, you could have kids out in the streets again? Or at least that is the thinking.

Cricket sold it's soul to Sky many moons ago, and while the riches flowed in for a while, 20 years of kids not growing up watching tests and big games on free telly is coming home to roost. They know young person participation and viewing has fallen off a cliff. The Hundred is a life ring on a rope chucked into the sea hoping domestic cricket survived the fall.

But you have not provided a single reason this could not be the a reformed blast.

Clubs across many areas of the country have waiting lists for kids to join. Where are the new clubs going to spring up from to offer cricket to the kids?

People sneer at county cricket but isn’t it behind all the big innovations? Limited overs cricket? T20?

I wonder how many people watched cricket on the tv because it was the only sport on during the summer holiday? Now they have a squillion channels and obviously YouTube and online gaming with mates. I will be intrigued to see the viewing figures for this.

It would be good to have an explanation of why this couldn’t be done by changing t20 though. In what way are people from the south west supposed to engage with a welsh team? Which big names have not played the blast who will play the hundred?

 

[Berty23]

Given the counties overwhelmingly voted in favour of The Hundred (in exchange for large amounts of what is essentially their own money), it seems unreasonable to throw the "counties are too old fashioned and incapable of change for the good of the game" arguments at them.

Most of the counties do bring in big overseas players specifically for the T20, and the best England players will barely be available for the Hundred just as they've always been barely available for any of the domestic competitions.

There is no intrinsic reason why either the existing T20 Blast couldn't have been rejigged and better promoted in order to widen interest, or why a new competition couldn't have been based around the existing county set up.

Lots and lots of broken promises and threats made about future funding. The counties had no choice. The Ecb put them in an impossible position.