| The Hundred 09:15 - Aug 17 with 1078 views | woodbridge_blue |
There is a continual debate amongst cricket followers about he pros and cons of The Hundred, and I can see both sides of the argument.
Last night I had the privilege to be at The Oval to witness one of the greatest onslaught of hitting I have ever seen in such a short space of time.
Invincibles smashed the previous record by scoring 226 for 4 in a 100 balls, with Jordan Cox bludgeoning 86 in 29 balls.
In total there were 25 sixes in the match, another competition record.
Whatever the merits of the competition, 26,000 people were entertained as never before, lots and lots of youngsters, some enjoying their first taste of live cricket on a beautiful South London summer evening.
Seriously, what's not to like? |  | | |  |
| The Hundred on 09:32 - Aug 17 with 991 views | Steve_M |
What’s not to like? It’s dominance over every other form of cricket, that a magnificent Test series was squeezed in to the early Summer to leave August free (and the franchise-owners are now going to demand an even bigger window), that the T20 blast has been basically abandoned despite it itself providing plenty of the exciting cricket for the past two decade, they get ECB basically abandoned domestic one day cricket just as England won the World Cup. And as for the county championship…. |  |
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| The Hundred on 09:36 - Aug 17 with 950 views | bsw72 |
It’s just a mix of snobbery and change resistance as fundamentally it’s not that far from a T20 match in style of play.
What it does is slightly simplify the approach to draw in those who have grown up with the decimal system and maybe never played/watched the game to any gear extent previously.
Apart from that the underlying rules and concept of the match is no different to any other limited overs. The fact that the men and women both play in double header style is also fantastic. |  | | |
| The Hundred on 09:44 - Aug 17 with 921 views | BrandonsBlues |
I thoroughly enjoyed watching it on TV last night. Would loved to have been there. It is a shame we don't have representation closer to the East. I know the Oval represents Essex etc, but The Oval is not that close to Suffolk. | | | |
| The Hundred on 09:50 - Aug 17 with 890 views | bournemouthblue |
| The Hundred on 09:44 - Aug 17 by BrandonsBlues |
I thoroughly enjoyed watching it on TV last night. Would loved to have been there. It is a shame we don't have representation closer to the East. I know the Oval represents Essex etc, but The Oval is not that close to Suffolk. |
It's actually the Spirit that represents Essex not that you feel any real affinity to them
It's the East and the West which have been short changed particularly in that regard |  |
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| The Hundred on 09:51 - Aug 17 with 886 views | SWLondonBlue93 |
Personally I can't get into it at all, largely because I have no emotional investment in it, but I could say that about the vast majority of short-form cricket. The fact that it's on every night also has an impact, I don't feel compelled to watch it because none of it feels important. It's not for me but if others enjoy it, who am I to tell them that they are wrong? [Post edited 17 Aug 9:55]
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| The Hundred on 09:52 - Aug 17 with 890 views | Guthrum |
For me, it's a bit like a penalty shoot-out. Distilled excitement, but none of the finesse, development and see-sawing fortunes you get in the longer forms of the game. Bowlers so tied up with fielding restrictions they're reduced to trick balls and an excercise in sloggery for batsmen, everything having to be heaved for an attempted six.
A bit like punk did with rock music in the late '70s and early '80s, it (edit: including T20) has instilled a fresh energy into the older formats, those tricky balls and daring shots. It is a good thing for getting (particularly young) people interested in the modern era when so little time can be spared from all the online gibbering competing for their attention. Plus it has been the financial salvation of the game in some parts of the world where long-form cricket was dying a death.
There are both good and bad sides to it. I just don't really see why the ECB needed to reinvent T20, which already fulfilled most of the desired criteria (very short matches, spectacular hitting, razzamatazz) to create a format not directly compatible with what other places are doing. Other than it gave them new franchises to sell. [Post edited 17 Aug 9:53]
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| The Hundred on 09:54 - Aug 17 with 865 views | Zx1988 |
I see both sides of the argument, and I'm a fan.
It's fairly easy to see the longer-term plan here. The tournament so far has very much been a proof of concept for a short-format franchise league here in England, and the recent sales of shares in the sides has proved that the money men in the game have bought into it.
Once the current contract period ends (I think it's obliged to remain as The Hundred until 2029 or so?) I fully expect it to be converted into a standard T20 franchise league - BriT20 or suchlike.
In a way, being early adopters of T20 has somewhat worked to the disadvantage of the ECB. The format of The Blast may have worked at the time, but you'd never go anywhere near that sort of format if you were forming a new T20 competition today. | |
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| The Hundred on 09:56 - Aug 17 with 860 views | azuremerlangus |
Watched it last night - kicking myself I didn’t get organised and get some tickets for it.
Anyway, certainly a further evolvement from T20 - and its simplistic format and style appear to be geared for the U.S market perhaps? It reminded me of Baseball from the feel of the TV coverage.
I prefer test cricket TBH but there is nothing not to like in this format. |  |
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| The Hundred on 09:57 - Aug 17 with 857 views | Ryorry |
| The Hundred on 09:36 - Aug 17 by bsw72 |
It’s just a mix of snobbery and change resistance as fundamentally it’s not that far from a T20 match in style of play.
What it does is slightly simplify the approach to draw in those who have grown up with the decimal system and maybe never played/watched the game to any gear extent previously.
Apart from that the underlying rules and concept of the match is no different to any other limited overs. The fact that the men and women both play in double header style is also fantastic. |
That’s just wrong - the whole horrendous blaring noise of it - sorry, that’s apparently called ‘music’ by some - the garishness of the lighting, advertising and colours, like some sort of superficial USA parade, make it about as similar to cricket as NFL football is imho. In fact I actually find NFL a pleasanter and less unbearably grating watch. |  |
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| The Hundred on 10:10 - Aug 17 with 801 views | bsw72 |
| The Hundred on 09:57 - Aug 17 by Ryorry |
That’s just wrong - the whole horrendous blaring noise of it - sorry, that’s apparently called ‘music’ by some - the garishness of the lighting, advertising and colours, like some sort of superficial USA parade, make it about as similar to cricket as NFL football is imho. In fact I actually find NFL a pleasanter and less unbearably grating watch. |
The underlying rules are close to most limited overs you just don’t like the marketing and presentation.
I take it you haven’t been to an IPL match. Pretty similar.
Doesn’t make me wrong though, just a preference. | | | |
| The Hundred on 11:30 - Aug 17 with 638 views | Ryorry |
| The Hundred on 10:10 - Aug 17 by bsw72 |
The underlying rules are close to most limited overs you just don’t like the marketing and presentation.
I take it you haven’t been to an IPL match. Pretty similar.
Doesn’t make me wrong though, just a preference. |
“It’s just a mix of snobbery and change resistance as fundamentally it’s not that far from a T20 match in style of play.”
That’s what’s wrong. | |
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| The Hundred on 11:35 - Aug 17 with 621 views | itfc48 |
| The Hundred on 09:54 - Aug 17 by Zx1988 |
I see both sides of the argument, and I'm a fan.
It's fairly easy to see the longer-term plan here. The tournament so far has very much been a proof of concept for a short-format franchise league here in England, and the recent sales of shares in the sides has proved that the money men in the game have bought into it.
Once the current contract period ends (I think it's obliged to remain as The Hundred until 2029 or so?) I fully expect it to be converted into a standard T20 franchise league - BriT20 or suchlike.
In a way, being early adopters of T20 has somewhat worked to the disadvantage of the ECB. The format of The Blast may have worked at the time, but you'd never go anywhere near that sort of format if you were forming a new T20 competition today. |
There are rumours it could revert to a T20 as soon as next year if the broadcasters are on board. The new owners franchise owners very keen to scrap the format. | | | |
| The Hundred on 11:36 - Aug 17 with 610 views | Ryorry |
| The Hundred on 11:35 - Aug 17 by itfc48 |
There are rumours it could revert to a T20 as soon as next year if the broadcasters are on board. The new owners franchise owners very keen to scrap the format. |
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| The Hundred on 11:52 - Aug 17 with 562 views | Keno |
It's a cricketing cul de sac thats been squeezed into an already full calendar, hence the test match series get condensed and last test match of the summer is in early August
There is nothing with the 100 they couldn't have done with T20 that would have meant it would have linked in with the worldwide T20 competitions to give a truly global event.
and actually those are my thoughts, some bloke called Shane Warne said that before it started |  |
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| The Hundred on 18:49 - Aug 17 with 421 views | Zx1988 |
Last night's score feels a bit of an outlier in the broader context of this year's competition.
I don't know if it's deliberate, or a result of the much drier weather we've had this year, but the pitches seem a lot more balanced, and it seems an awful lot harder to break the 130 mark.
Much more interesting, in my eyes, than the 'who can score the highest 200+ score' format that the IPL has become. | |
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| The Hundred on 19:37 - Aug 17 with 317 views | Radlett_blue |
| The Hundred on 11:52 - Aug 17 by Keno |
It's a cricketing cul de sac thats been squeezed into an already full calendar, hence the test match series get condensed and last test match of the summer is in early August
There is nothing with the 100 they couldn't have done with T20 that would have meant it would have linked in with the worldwide T20 competitions to give a truly global event.
and actually those are my thoughts, some bloke called Shane Warne said that before it started |
The logical solution was to re-shape the Blast, but that would have still involved marginalising some of the weaker counties & turkeys don't vote for Christmas. One big reason for the 100 format was that 20/20 is, like most cricket, taking far too long & they have tired to impose penalties for dawdling fielding sides.
The whole cricket fixture list is a mess, governed by the fact that England have to play a certain number of fixtures to fulfil their contract with Sky, plus having the 100 (which has created a saleable asset, whereby the proceeds can be properly reinvested in the game) AND the 20/20 Blast. County cricket is massively loss making, but it is needed to produce England players. It needs reform - I would go down to 10 or so First Class counties, which also solves the 100/Blast issue. |  |
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| The Hundred on 19:45 - Aug 17 with 292 views | Zx1988 |
| The Hundred on 19:37 - Aug 17 by Radlett_blue |
The logical solution was to re-shape the Blast, but that would have still involved marginalising some of the weaker counties & turkeys don't vote for Christmas. One big reason for the 100 format was that 20/20 is, like most cricket, taking far too long & they have tired to impose penalties for dawdling fielding sides.
The whole cricket fixture list is a mess, governed by the fact that England have to play a certain number of fixtures to fulfil their contract with Sky, plus having the 100 (which has created a saleable asset, whereby the proceeds can be properly reinvested in the game) AND the 20/20 Blast. County cricket is massively loss making, but it is needed to produce England players. It needs reform - I would go down to 10 or so First Class counties, which also solves the 100/Blast issue. |
That's it. The Blast just doesn't work as a modern tournament - May to September is far too long to maintain the participation of the world's best players.
Something quick and punchy like The Hundred (or whatever it will morph into) is short enough to keep the attention, as well as occupying a specific slot in terms of getting hold of the overseas talent. | |
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| The Hundred on 19:47 - Aug 17 with 273 views | Churchman |
Love cricket. Always have. Playing it (mostly badly!) and watching it. All forms. I go to cricket with a few chums around the country four or five times a season - Scarborough to see Yorkshire Surrey the other week, Lords in a couple of weeks time, hopefully. It’s great.
My chums though are really sniffy about the Hundred, including the Lords (and other counties) member. I get a lot of stick over my like of it. Why not try different forms? The game at the Oval was astonishing the other day and must have been a sight to see.
The killer argument for me was some while back. A mate took his son to see the Hundred at Lords. He was not particularly interested in cricket. He absolutely loved it. The colour, the speed of it, the hitting the fact that he got autographs and pics (they got there early) and a chat. A 10 year old now likes cricket.
Anything that brings people in is good. Watching the Edgbaston game with a glass of wine. What’s not to like? |  | | |
| The Hundred on 19:51 - Aug 17 with 260 views | Zx1988 |
| The Hundred on 19:47 - Aug 17 by Churchman |
Love cricket. Always have. Playing it (mostly badly!) and watching it. All forms. I go to cricket with a few chums around the country four or five times a season - Scarborough to see Yorkshire Surrey the other week, Lords in a couple of weeks time, hopefully. It’s great.
My chums though are really sniffy about the Hundred, including the Lords (and other counties) member. I get a lot of stick over my like of it. Why not try different forms? The game at the Oval was astonishing the other day and must have been a sight to see.
The killer argument for me was some while back. A mate took his son to see the Hundred at Lords. He was not particularly interested in cricket. He absolutely loved it. The colour, the speed of it, the hitting the fact that he got autographs and pics (they got there early) and a chat. A 10 year old now likes cricket.
Anything that brings people in is good. Watching the Edgbaston game with a glass of wine. What’s not to like? |
That's it.
I took the now wife to watch The Hundred at Lord's on an earlyish date. She'd never watched cricket before, and didn't know/care much about it.
The Hundred was very much her gateway drug into becoming a proper cricket badger, a big fan of all formats of the game, and she also now plays for a local women's team. We even ended up honeymooning in Antigua, to coincide with a recent England visit to the West Indies.
I can't imagine I'd have had similar success taking her to a County Championship game as her first introduction to cricket!
The number of kids at games is fantastic to see, and it's been a huge boon to the women's game as well. [Post edited 17 Aug 19:54]
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| The Hundred on 21:27 - Aug 17 with 130 views | mellowblue |
| The Hundred on 11:52 - Aug 17 by Keno |
It's a cricketing cul de sac thats been squeezed into an already full calendar, hence the test match series get condensed and last test match of the summer is in early August
There is nothing with the 100 they couldn't have done with T20 that would have meant it would have linked in with the worldwide T20 competitions to give a truly global event.
and actually those are my thoughts, some bloke called Shane Warne said that before it started |
I think the 100 concept was just to differentiate from the existing T20 county run competition. I expect the long term plan was always to give it it's own identity , jazz it up to the max and invite the Indians on board, who of course will rebrand the teams to mirror other ownership models and then change back to T20. Northern Superchargers who I vaguely follow will become MI Northern Superchargers etc. At least selling the rights has safeguarded county cricket and therefore test cricket . Being a Yorkshire I am paying more attention to the 50 over Metro One Day Cup which is available on Youtube. Much more civilised than the T20 on steroids hundred competition. I still begrudge how the ECB could effectively sell August away from traditional long form cricket. | | | |
| The Hundred on 21:49 - Aug 17 with 81 views | jontysnut |
| The Hundred on 21:27 - Aug 17 by mellowblue |
I think the 100 concept was just to differentiate from the existing T20 county run competition. I expect the long term plan was always to give it it's own identity , jazz it up to the max and invite the Indians on board, who of course will rebrand the teams to mirror other ownership models and then change back to T20. Northern Superchargers who I vaguely follow will become MI Northern Superchargers etc. At least selling the rights has safeguarded county cricket and therefore test cricket . Being a Yorkshire I am paying more attention to the 50 over Metro One Day Cup which is available on Youtube. Much more civilised than the T20 on steroids hundred competition. I still begrudge how the ECB could effectively sell August away from traditional long form cricket. |
I like county cricket but watching it in a near empty Headingley can be dispiriting. They should take it round the outgrounds where possible - Joe Root wants Yorkshire to play in South Yorkshire. Having said that Scarborough were charging £33 which is ridiculous. |  | | |
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