The Hundred

First topic message reminder :

England's World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan, West Indies batsman Chris Gayle and Australia's Steve Smith have made themselves available for The Hundred player draft on 20 October.

The inaugural 100-ball competition, which is comprised of eight city-based teams, takes place next summer from 17 July-16 August.

Other big names to have stated their interest include Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan, Australia opener David Warner and former Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi.

England's contracted Test players such as Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer are not on the list because they will be part of an initial draft for England's red-ball cricketers on Thursday.

In that mini draft, teams will select up to three players, with the Leeds-based side, for instance, having to choose between Root, Stokes and Jonny Bairstow as their first pick.

They will also have the opportunity to select local icons. The eight teams will be based in London (two teams), Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Nottingham, Cardiff and Southampton.

The main draft will be held later this month and among the other international cricketers to have made themselves available for the competition are Shakib Al Hasan, Moeen Ali, Babar Azam, Tom Curran, Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis, Aaron Finch, Lasith Malinga, Kieron Pollard, Kagiso Rabada, Jason Roy, Mitchell Starc and Kane Williamson.

Players are able to set a reserve price for their services, with each team having two spaces in their squad in each of the following pay brackets: £125,000, £100,000, £75,000, £60,000, £50,000, £40,000 and £30,000.

Taken from the BBC Sport draft. I know that there isn't a lot of fans of it on here...but the actual cricket itself and standard of it will be quite high I think. Certainly is attracting some big names

JDizzle wrote:7.4K is definitely not incredibly poor for a women’s domestic cricket game. Even if a lot were given away. The Kia Women’s Super League finals day in 2019 had a touch over 3000.

In its own right, it's not disappointing.

But it is disappointing when the game in question is the headline launch event of a national competition which has been aggressively marketed by the ECB for around 12 months, where 7k tickets have been given away for gratis, and the expectations are that at least 10k show up.

The ECB is already set to lose a lot of money from the overall administration of this competition - poor ticket sales throughout could drive a further nail into the Hundred. We'll see how things go for the rest of the tournament.

One thing that slightly puzzles me is the next women's game is on Friday at 15:00 and this seems to be a running theme for the weekday women games. Seems odd timing for a game that is supposed to be family-orientated. And also on Saturdays one men's fixture and one women's fixture are happening simultaneously. Strange scheduling.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Bit of a shame that due to Covid and subsequent international fixture clashes there have been some pull outs from overseas players both in the women's and mens game...but particularly in the men's, it will give a good platform to some of these fringe England white ball players to show their skills again, and guys who have gone well in the Blast to face a step up in player.
A good showcase for someone like a Tymal Mills to make a case for England selection, for example.

For the women's in particular losing the Aussie stars is massive.

Ellyse Perry, Meg Lanning and Alyssa Healy are big names in the big Aussie market. Perry in particular is a superstar you can market an event around. Big losses.

I quite enjoyed that first game. The graphics definitely need some tweaking but there's potential there I think.

I've been saying for years that the domestic game needs something radical to save it's financial slide. Whilst there are many things in the execution, particularly the marketing of The Hundred that I'd criticise it is at least finally an attempt to deal with those financial issues. For the sake of the game I really hope it works in the medium to long term.

Confess I did not set the alarm for this  ; and the cat failed to wake me up so have had to make do with a half hour highlight package today. Unfortunately that doesn't really give much idea of the tactics used or ebb and flow of the game so to me it just looked like any random t20. (Except for some increase in light and sound razzamatazz) Will have to defer judgement until I actually get to watch one in full live.

Agree with some comments that the graphics were hard to take in - though perhaps that was partly due to my not watching it unfold in real time.

The standard was mixed : the blue team might have won if they could catch , I think. The stumping was a ripper though ! But I don't see any real issue with opening with a women's game : the whole idea is to bring in a new audience , no ? And this presumably served to whet the public appetite for the men taking centre stage in 24 hours. In any case the players were clearly enjoying the whole thing and the modest crowd made plenty of noise so I think from a marketing viewpoint it was a decent start.

I do not think I will be an avid hundred watcher but have no problem with its existence as long as it doesn't have too adverse an effect on the more traditional forms of the game. Whether or to what degree that will happen is something we will see in time  ( and in the present covid-afflicted situation that might not be apparent until later rather than sooner.) Will be a juggling act , I think , between financial interests and fixing a balanced programme for a cricket season. Pray for smart administrators...

Watched some of the first match on TV.

Standard was a lot higher than I thought it would be, although the fielding was poor and the women found it difficult to make twos out of some of the near-boundary hits.

Overall the standard of women's cricket has improved dramatically in recent years. But as with nearly all women's sport, it's never going to get the crowds and the attention men's cricket gets as it's simply not as good.

Excellent bowling by the Originals spinners to keep the Invincibles to 145 - feels 20-30 short to me

Crowd is into this now. Good atmosphere

Swear the only time Brathwaite has done anything good is that t20 final

Originals a bit short in this chase, only really had one partnership go anywhere

Pretty comfortable win for a side that looked a lot stronger on paper. Need to get rid of the time-outs - that game took 2hrs 45 minutes, which actually makes it slower than an average T20 blast game (I think).

Another dismal attendance number too.

Enjoying the Hundred, the crowds and the presentation (graphics and Vaughan/Tuffers aside)

Surely if the ECB allowed the T20 to be shown on terrestrial TV then the positive reviews from none cricket fans would have been just as good.

Thats the real winner, cricket on free TV, when will the ECB catch on to that idea!!!!!

Right, I'm going to say it. For the shortest form cricket I think this is a better format than T20. Fewer changes of ends, and the tactical variation of possibly having the same bowler bowl 2 (almost) overs consecutively I actually like. The first to speed up the game, the second to make bowling change decisions less formulaic. The timeout needs binning though as mentioned by others already.

It is of course too close to T20 though. I'm thinking we step back in time and T15 is the original innovation. Give or take that's what this is, and to me that length of game more hits the sweetspot of what people want to see from this sort of cricket.

I really don't see a place for both in the longer term, either this takes over, or reverts to being a franchise T20. I think the latter is more likely with how established T20 now is

Fingers crossed that Dom Sibley plays tonight.

Depressing thing about The Hundred is that if it is a success it could spell the end of some of the 18 first-class counties. But if it fails it could....bankrupt those same counties.

For county cricket lovers it appears a lose-lose situation.

That conclusion would probably mean that the status quo wasn't sustainable either?

Having 18 first class counties hasn't been sustainable for a long time now, the talent is too thinly spread. Somehow reducing it to 12 and having two groups of six would be the best option I can think of.

Sadly agree with this. It will annoy some diehards, but I don't see what will ever be gained from the likes of Derbyshire continuing to exist in the professional structure. I can appreciate why The Hundred would rile supporters of bigger counties, but also it does seem like a step towards fewer teams of a higher overall quality. Just looking at the game last night, both teams had a high quality lineup

I think ultimately that's why we have the hundred. Contracting counties was never going to be popular but we start with this tournament instead

The ECB are paying each of the counties £1.3m for this competition, so I don't think the counties will do too badly out of this. It's a dividend if you're being generous

That said I agree the current structure isn't workable. Around 6-12 professional teams is probably the way forward. And I imagine those professional teams will be rebranded from a 'county' name (deemed unfashionable) to a 'city' name at all levels (first-class, 50 over, 20 overs etc.) at some point in the future.

Can't support the idea of fewer counties simply because some aren't as good financially or performance-wise as the others.

That's why we have two divisions, with the better players gravitating towards the better teams.

We should be grateful we have as many first-class teams as we do rather than trying to reduce their number.

Do we really want huge-area franchises with fans having no particular allegiance?

TightHEAD wrote:Surely if the ECB allowed the T20 to be shown on terrestrial TV then the positive reviews from none cricket fans would have been just as good.

Thats the real winner, cricket on free TV, when will the ECB catch on to that idea!!!!!  

The sad truth there is that terrestrial TV weren't really interested in showing cricket.

Following the success of the 2005 Ashes Channel 4 bid I believe £19m a year for 6 Test matches, whilst Sky bid about £55m a year to show all England cricket. C4 countered with a bid of £13m to show 4 Tests at the end of the summer once the football season had ended.

In my opinion it's plainly clear they just weren't interested but put in a notional bid as due to the success of that '05 Ashes series they wanted to be able to say, "ah well we tried, boo big evil Sky Sports".

It's a sad indictment of where English crickets finances went but without the Sky money over the last 16 years they'd be stuffed. It's a tight rope to walk. TV revenue is vital for financial viability but access for young kids is vital for the games future. Realistically English cricket probably needs terrestrial for it's reach and subscription for the cash. If The Hundred can offer that in the short term then it could be a step in the right direction.

Duty281 wrote:Fingers crossed that Dom Sibley plays tonight.

Sibley's not playing. Cancel The Hundred.

Missing out there. Could have anchored the innings with 4no, and bowls some useful legspin as well!

Excellent to see young Chris Benjamin given a chance and repaying that with that knock at the end - a few good stories like him scattered about this competition

Rocket start for the uh Rockets

Braves about 20-30 runs short and Malan/Short got home at a canter

Great game tonight. more of those pls

Bairstow captaining Welsh Fire (?) and suffering the first slow over-rate penalty of the competition (I think), meaning he had to have one fewer fielder outside the circle. Good innovation, but the games overall are still taking longer than a T20 blast game. Crowds, too, remain disappointing and it's clear that the desired new audience (women and children) are still being outnumbered by the undesired audience (p!ssed-up-fancy-dress-wearing-let's-all-have-a-singsong-merchants). I also think it rather silly that the ECB didn't put this whole competition on the BBC.

Surprised to see that there's no 'super-over' style tiebreak and that a tie is just a tie in the group games. Would have thought that far too old-fashioned for the brave new world.

Agree with VTR's above comment that there's room for one of T20 Blast/The Hundred on the domestic calendar, not both, and I think the ECB need to decide. Because T20 is played internationally the ECB should bin the Hundred, stick with the Blast, and stop being bitter that they didn't have the foresight to 'patent' T20 before they exported it to the world and fell miles behind the IPL and Big Bash.

Qais Ahmad performance of the tournament so far? Conceding 13 runs and taking four wickets on what was clearly a flat pitch is some going.

Harry Brook looks a player. Could do with adding a bit more bulk/power I think, but looks a special talent.

Hope the ECB have a rethink and allow Bairstow to play the whole 100. He’s arguably the best white ball batsman in the world, why would they take him out to carry the drinks when they’ve invested so much in this competition.

Soul Requiem wrote:Qais Ahmad performance of the tournament so far? Conceding 13 runs and taking four wickets on what was clearly a flat pitch is some going.

He was superb. Hope we seem him bowl his bouncer this tournament! Completely bamboozled Brook with his quicker one.

Alice Capsey looks a heck of a talent

Didn't realise this Capsey is only 16. Looked very good.

Impressed with some of the women's fielding. Some very good catches taken at Lord's today.

The combination of big boundaries and a slow wicket…not what’s needed for women’s cricket/franchise cricket. Not a very entertaining affair this one between Manchester and Birmingham

Men’s Birmingham Phoenix look really quite poor to me

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Men’s Birmingham Phoenix look really quite poor to me

It's been a real disappointment for me that as I tipped them to a few people as dark horses pre tournament.

Not quite the depth or star power of some but they have some very dangerous players, experience and I felt they might keep their team together for more of the tournament than some others who will lose internationals. Add in Vettori as coach.

I expected all rounders to be key in balancing sides in the new format so the combination of Mo, Livingstone and Benny Howell seemed tasty.

Finn Allen is a very exciting player. I've long been convinced (and mentioned it one here incessantly) that in a different era I reckon Daniel Bell-Drummond would be a mainstay of the England one day side. Miles Hammond has also been effective for that well oiled Gloucestershire one day outfit.

Then in the bowlers I was hoping for the T20 specialism of Brown, pace and T20 experience from Milne, experience and guile from Tahir, the usual onsistency in the middle overs from 'fast spinner' Howell. Backed by Mo and Livingstone.

My concern when tipping them was mainly the keepers in Cooke and Benjamin, which is ironic with Benjamin being one of their few good stories!

I think Pat Brown's absence is hitting them keenly. They were already spin (and 'fast spin' hybrid stuff in Howell) heavy but Brown and Milne would have given them two quality seam options and a gun death bowler in Brown. It's a big loss for an already lean seam bowling unit.

Was at the game yesterday. Was a good day in general - helped by the glorious weather. The teams do noticeably race through the balls which does help the speed of play.

It does seem ridiculous that the 12th man has to run on after every set of five to take the bowlers cap though!

The pitch was a disgrace really. Think there was only 1 or 2 sixes all day across both games? That’s not a fair contest between bat and ball, when it should be slanted towards the batting side given what the ECB are trying to achieve.

Trying to find my post from a few years ago tipping Matt Carter to have a good T20 season! Very effective bowler in the shorter forms with his unique tools. Superchargers should have promoted Brook up to 3 though with all the off spinners bowling.

I have been watching a lot of this, and I have to say I am hooked. It is fab. I much prefer this to drab 5 day slogs ending up in a draw.

This is massive for the sport, and a long time needed. I have enjoyed every match. Long may it continue.

LordDowlais wrote:I have been watching a lot of this, and I have to say I am hooked. It is fab. I much prefer this to drab 5 day slogs ending up in a draw.

This is massive for the sport, and a long time needed. I have enjoyed every match. Long may it continue.

Do you like T20 as well?

This doesn't seem to be going as planned; pitches are far too slow and spin is dominating. Seeing Dilly do his thing is great for cricketing fans but not sure it's going to lure in too many new fans.

Another great game. Hales hanging in

An exciting finish in the end but not the ideal pitch once again.

Hales with a bit of a statement performance against two England bowlers in Stokes and Willey. Willey was way off after being trusted with the death overs.

Rashid Khan is just a very special cricketer.

What a fantastic finish and atmosphere!
Some questionable captaincy by Stokes, not bowling full allocation of spin on that wicket was mental…and David Willey (yikes)

125 of the 194 balls were spin?

What a brilliant concept this has been so far. Superb, reinvigorating the sport in the country and in the mainstream.

Duty281 wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:I have been watching a lot of this, and I have to say I am hooked. It is fab. I much prefer this to drab 5 day slogs ending up in a draw.

This is massive for the sport, and a long time needed. I have enjoyed every match. Long may it continue.

Do you like T20 as well?

Yes I enjoy that, the teams are traditional.

This new format, with the new teams, and the drafts, it's just epic, I am loving it.

For me it's the future of cricket. A lot of other niche sports should take note. Also, putting games on the BBC is a masterstroke.

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:What a brilliant concept this has been so far. Superb, reinvigorating the sport in the country and in the mainstream.

Yes, it's been a massive success.

Been great fun so far. Having cricket back in front of sky's paywall is paying off.

Also doing a ton for women's cricket

king_carlos wrote:An exciting finish in the end but not the ideal pitch once again.

Hales with a bit of a statement performance against two England bowlers in Stokes and Willey. Willey was way off after being trusted with the death overs.

Rashid Khan is just a very special cricketer.

It was almost an anchor-like innings from Hales, kept it together until the end. One to forget for Willey and Stokes. Still love seeing Rashid Khan bowl in T20/Hundred stuff, he remains one of the world's best.