The Hundred

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Tue Oct 01, 2019 7:53 pm

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

by Duty281 Mon Jul 26, 2021 10:56 pm

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

I wouldn't go that far. Viewing figures and crowds have been down on what has been expected, the ECB is losing millions from this, there's little sign it's attracting a new audience, and it isn't doing anything for cricket that T20 hasn't done.

by king_carlos Mon Jul 26, 2021 10:58 pm

GSC wrote:Also doing a ton for women's cricket

It's huge for women's cricket. The club I play for in Edinburgh has a really strong women's section with a couple of league teams plus a development side for women of all ages just taking up the game. The buzz this has created is fantastic to see. From junior girls, through mothers taking up the game for the first time in their fifites, right through to the 4 Scotland women's players at the club. This kind of exposure and opportunity will breed aspiration for young girls watching the game.

It's a massive boost for women's cricket which has already been going through a boom. The quality of these games is incomparable to a lot of international women's cricket just 4 or 5 years ago.

I just hope that the Aussie women's players can be involved in the Hundred next year. The likes of Ellyse Perry, Meg Lanning and Alyssa Healy are stars.

by JDizzle Mon Jul 26, 2021 11:04 pm

Duty281 wrote:
Dolphin Ziggler wrote:What a brilliant concept this has been so far. Superb, reinvigorating the sport in the country and in the mainstream.

I wouldn't go that far. Viewing figures and crowds have been down on what has been expected, the ECB is losing millions from this, there's little sign it's attracting a new audience, and it isn't doing anything for cricket that T20 hasn't done.

Apart from get an 8 team competition. Something T20 never managed to do.

by LordDowlais Mon Jul 26, 2021 11:08 pm

Duty281 wrote:
Dolphin Ziggler wrote:What a brilliant concept this has been so far. Superb, reinvigorating the sport in the country and in the mainstream.

I wouldn't go that far. Viewing figures and crowds have been down on what has been expected, the ECB is losing millions from this, there's little sign it's attracting a new audience, and it isn't doing anything for cricket that T20 hasn't done.

I'm a new audience. I used to follow Glamorgan in the 1 dayers and the T20, but I havent missed a game of the 100 yet, I am also watching the women.

by Duty281 Mon Jul 26, 2021 11:12 pm

JDizzle wrote:
Duty281 wrote:
Dolphin Ziggler wrote:What a brilliant concept this has been so far. Superb, reinvigorating the sport in the country and in the mainstream.

I wouldn't go that far. Viewing figures and crowds have been down on what has been expected, the ECB is losing millions from this, there's little sign it's attracting a new audience, and it isn't doing anything for cricket that T20 hasn't done.

Apart from get an 8 team competition. Something T20 never managed to do.

The IPL and Big Bash are 8-team competitions. Unless you're referring to domestic matters, in which case there is no reason why the ECB can't slim down the Blast to a 8-team tournament if such an innovation is merited.

by king_carlos Mon Jul 26, 2021 11:13 pm

Duty281 wrote:
Dolphin Ziggler wrote:What a brilliant concept this has been so far. Superb, reinvigorating the sport in the country and in the mainstream.

I wouldn't go that far. Viewing figures and crowds have been down on what has been expected, the ECB is losing millions from this, there's little sign it's attracting a new audience, and it isn't doing anything for cricket that T20 hasn't done.

I'm not meaning this to be confrontational, genuinely just curious, but are there any actual figures/evidence about to show that it isn't attracting a new audience either? I'd presumed that's something that would be difficult to tell until much further down the line.

At this point all the feedback I've heard from the 'new audience' side of attracting mums and kids is entirely anecdotal from those at the games. In that regard I've heard that the vibe at certain games has been very different to many blast games (i.e. less paralytic twenty somethings dressed as Spongebob but more kids) and feedback from other games that the crowd has felt very similar to Blast games (i.e. plenty of Spongebobs).

At the minute I feel there have been many positives from the launch but the big negative remains that it's yet more competition for the limited period of prime cricketing real estate in the short British summer.

by JDizzle Mon Jul 26, 2021 11:15 pm

Duty281 wrote:
JDizzle wrote:
Duty281 wrote:
Dolphin Ziggler wrote:What a brilliant concept this has been so far. Superb, reinvigorating the sport in the country and in the mainstream.

I wouldn't go that far. Viewing figures and crowds have been down on what has been expected, the ECB is losing millions from this, there's little sign it's attracting a new audience, and it isn't doing anything for cricket that T20 hasn't done.

Apart from get an 8 team competition. Something T20 never managed to do.

The IPL and Big Bash are 8-team competitions. Unless you're referring to domestic matters, in which case there is no reason why the ECB can't slim down the Blast to a 8-team tournament if such an innovation is merited.

It’s taken a big pay off to each county to get them to agree to another tournament whilst letting them carry on with the Blast. If the ECB could have done an 8 team city T20 tournament they would have done it imo.

by Duty281 Mon Jul 26, 2021 11:22 pm

JDizzle wrote:
Duty281 wrote:
JDizzle wrote:
Duty281 wrote:
Dolphin Ziggler wrote:What a brilliant concept this has been so far. Superb, reinvigorating the sport in the country and in the mainstream.

I wouldn't go that far. Viewing figures and crowds have been down on what has been expected, the ECB is losing millions from this, there's little sign it's attracting a new audience, and it isn't doing anything for cricket that T20 hasn't done.

Apart from get an 8 team competition. Something T20 never managed to do.

The IPL and Big Bash are 8-team competitions. Unless you're referring to domestic matters, in which case there is no reason why the ECB can't slim down the Blast to a 8-team tournament if such an innovation is merited.

It’s taken a big pay off to each county to get them to agree to another tournament whilst letting them carry on with the Blast. If the ECB could have done an 8 team city T20 tournament they would have done it imo.

They could divide the T20 Blast into separate divisions if they wanted and have an 8-team competition that way with the traditional counties, and a lower division for second-tier T20 counties. But there's no real need because the T20 Blast is working wonderfully well in terms of crowd numbers and viewing figures (if they got a few games on FTA that would be a boost).

by Duty281 Mon Jul 26, 2021 11:30 pm

king_carlos wrote:
Duty281 wrote:
Dolphin Ziggler wrote:What a brilliant concept this has been so far. Superb, reinvigorating the sport in the country and in the mainstream.

I wouldn't go that far. Viewing figures and crowds have been down on what has been expected, the ECB is losing millions from this, there's little sign it's attracting a new audience, and it isn't doing anything for cricket that T20 hasn't done.

I'm not meaning this to be confrontational, genuinely just curious, but are there any actual figures/evidence about to show that it isn't attracting a new audience either? I'd presumed that's something that would be difficult to tell until much further down the line.

At this point all the feedback I've heard from the 'new audience' side of attracting mums and kids is entirely anecdotal from those at the games. In that regard I've heard that the vibe at certain games has been very different to many blast games (i.e. less paralytic twenty somethings dressed as Spongebob but more kids) and feedback from other games that the crowd has felt very similar to Blast games (i.e. plenty of Spongebobs).

At the minute I feel there have been many positives from the launch but the big negative remains that it's yet more competition for the limited period of prime cricketing real estate in the short British summer.

We'll wait for the full picture to be revealed in God's good time, but for now the crowds seem to be dominated by the usual sorts that you get at T20 Blast games. Ticket sales are apparently lower than expected for women/children groups, but then again they are lower than expected across the board. Just to add this is true of the men's Hundred games, it seems more family-orientated for the women's.

I agree with the negative in the last sentence and the ECB need to choose one of the Hundred/T20 going forward for future domestic seasons. They can't have both and weaken English 50-over cricket in the process.

by Duty281 Mon Jul 26, 2021 11:32 pm

LordDowlais wrote:
Duty281 wrote:
Dolphin Ziggler wrote:What a brilliant concept this has been so far. Superb, reinvigorating the sport in the country and in the mainstream.

I wouldn't go that far. Viewing figures and crowds have been down on what has been expected, the ECB is losing millions from this, there's little sign it's attracting a new audience, and it isn't doing anything for cricket that T20 hasn't done.

I'm a new audience. I used to follow Glamorgan in the 1 dayers and the T20, but I havent missed a game of the 100 yet, I am also watching the women.

I agree it appears to be doing quite a bit for women's cricket.

by JDizzle Mon Jul 26, 2021 11:36 pm

Would require the counties to vote for it again. Which wouldn’t be certain. Plus you would have the same problem of 100s of games, a large proportion of which wouldn’t be televised. As the fella from Sky said, far easier to tell a story to a new group of fans with every game on TV and not 140 off of them.

Chris Gayle made 151 off 62 balls vs Kent in 2015. And it wasn’t televised due to their being too many games. Paul Greengrass has directed the highlights on YouTube though. That just coiuldn’t be allowed to carry on.

by king_carlos Mon Jul 26, 2021 11:56 pm

I've heard mixed reports on the make up of crowds. Some games supposedly similar to the Blast but others with a younger and more family vibe. At this point it seems entirely anecdotal though in other words.

I've certainly had friends and colleagues who previously showed no interest in cricket whether T20 or longer form tell me as the resident cricket nerd they are following games and really enjoying them which is terrific to hear.

The main reason many 'traditional' cricket fans seem to dislike the Hundred is that it was created to be something new and shiny. The reason that people I've spoken to who previously had zero interest in cricket have been drawn to the Hundred seems to be because it's new and shiny. Feels a bit catch-22. Hopefully it can boost interest in the game longer term as that would only be a good thing.

by VTR Tue Jul 27, 2021 11:18 am

The free to air games in the school holidays is definitely a big thing. I don't think I'd have got into cricket without Test matches being on BBC during the summer. Didn't play it at school or anything. Why I persisted as a fan given this was the 90s is another matter!

As has been said by others though, an 8 team T20 could have serve the same purpose. The fewer teams does concentrate the quality that is there, and without Covid we'd see that even more so. Put another way, I've been to plenty of T20 Blast games over the years, and whilst usually finding them entertaining, the quality of some of the players is definitely questionable

by Duty281 Tue Jul 27, 2021 2:52 pm

JDizzle wrote:Would require the counties to vote for it again. Which wouldn’t be certain. Plus you would have the same problem of 100s of games, a large proportion of which wouldn’t be televised. As the fella from Sky said, far easier to tell a story to a new group of fans with every game on TV and not 140 off of them.

Chris Gayle made 151 off 62 balls vs Kent in 2015. And it wasn’t televised due to their being too many games. Paul Greengrass has directed the highlights on YouTube though. That just coiuldn’t be allowed to carry on.

I'm not too sure about that argument. Firstly, numerous competitions in sport have games that aren't televised because there's so many of them. The Premier League football, for instance, has numerous games not televised in the UK in its 380-game season, but it has little issue with attracting new fans. Secondly, most of the men's hundred is on Sky. New fans may watch the limited offering on the BBC, not have Sky Sports, and then this new group of fans will miss out.

The counties would also vote for anything if the ECB put, say, £1.3 million in their coffers.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Tue Jul 27, 2021 4:18 pm

I think the more apt, and worthwhile comparison (than randomly comparing coverage to the PL) would be comparing the T20 blast coverage to literally every other T20 competition in major cricketing nations (and now the ECB with the Hundred too)...who have gone yeah, we'll broadcast every game (in our own country, and quite often overseas too) in a condensed time period - rather than the Blast's lets broadcast only 25% of games over a 3-4 month span approach and the rest may or may not be streamed on a county cricket Youtube channel with one camera shoddily failing to follow the ball

by JDizzle Tue Jul 27, 2021 5:50 pm

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:I think the more apt, and worthwhile comparison (than randomly comparing coverage to the PL) would be comparing the T20 blast coverage to literally every other T20 competition in major cricketing nations (and now the ECB with the Hundred too)...who have gone yeah, we'll broadcast every game (in our own country, and quite often overseas too) in a condensed time period - rather than the Blast's lets broadcast only 25% of games over a 3-4 month span approach and the rest may or may not be streamed on a county cricket Youtube channel with one camera shoddily failing to follow the ball

Yeah, pretty much this. Don’t think there is any comparison between the juggernaut that is the PL and any cricket tournament - whether that be the Blast or the Hundred. The original BBL (not the bloated devoid of quality thing it is now) should be the template.

by king_carlos Tue Jul 27, 2021 7:48 pm

JDizzle wrote:
Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:I think the more apt, and worthwhile comparison (than randomly comparing coverage to the PL) would be comparing the T20 blast coverage to literally every other T20 competition in major cricketing nations (and now the ECB with the Hundred too)...who have gone yeah, we'll broadcast every game (in our own country, and quite often overseas too) in a condensed time period - rather than the Blast's lets broadcast only 25% of games over a 3-4 month span approach and the rest may or may not be streamed on a county cricket Youtube channel with one camera shoddily failing to follow the ball

Yeah, pretty much this. Don’t think there is any comparison between the juggernaut that is the PL and any cricket tournament - whether that be the Blast or the Hundred. The original BBL (not the bloated devoid of quality thing it is now) should be the template.

The BBL really has slid back in terms of cricket quality. I'd definitely say that the CPL and PSL have overtaken it as vying to be the second best T20 league behind the IPL when talking solely about the quality of T20 cricket going on.

Saying this sometimes brings guffaws given Bangladesh's struggles as an international side but the BPL also has some really strong squads and some cracking cricket going on in it.

IPL - 8 teams
CPL - 6 teams
PSL - 6 teams
BPL - 7 teams (formerly 8)
BBL - 8 teams
Blast - 18 teams

The issue causing the inconsistencies in quality of cricket in the Blast has been clear for a fair while if we're honest!

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Tue Jul 27, 2021 8:09 pm

God KP is a woeful commentator

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Tue Jul 27, 2021 8:33 pm

Will never understand John Simpson playing those ODIs ahead of Ben Duckett a few weeks back - proper random madness

by king_carlos Tue Jul 27, 2021 9:07 pm

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Will never understand John Simpson playing those ODIs ahead of Ben Duckett a few weeks back - proper random madness

I've said a few times that I really feel for Duckett being thrown to the wolves playing all his Tests on the subcontinent then discarded as he was after struggling in alien conditions. I rate him above several batsman who have been tried since.

Simpson is the second strange emergency wicket keeper choice for England this summer. First Bracey with the gloves, batting 7 ahead of someone such as Ben Brown who is the much better gloveman. Then Simpson in the ODIs.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Tue Jul 27, 2021 10:34 pm

Welsh Fire should 100% be keeping Jimmy Neesham over the vastly overrated Lungi Ngidi

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Thu Jul 29, 2021 9:43 pm

Your boy Carter is having a stormer JDizzle

by GSC Thu Jul 29, 2021 10:11 pm

Top 3 of the rockets taking turns to fire so far. Another close game though, crowds seem to be into this

by JDizzle Fri Jul 30, 2021 3:45 pm

I see the Rajasthan Royals owners have bought a majority share in the CPL team in Barbados today. That makes three CPL teams now - along with Trinidad and St Lucia - owned by the same people as IPL franchises. You have to presume that is the ECBs end goal.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Fri Jul 30, 2021 9:59 pm

Devon Conway in the midst of a total shocker here

by Duty281 Sat Jul 31, 2021 9:16 pm

These pitches are baffling. I thought the ECB would want an orgy of six-hitting; instead the new audience is being treated to Lynn getting 45 off 41 on a slow, gripping pitch with appreciable turn.

Tom Curran falters at the death again as he continues in his quest to become Jade Dernbach. John Simpson monsters a six to end it.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Sat Jul 31, 2021 9:37 pm

Tom Curran sucks

by LordDowlais Sun Aug 01, 2021 1:50 pm

Boys, I am still hooked on this, it is a hoot. I am loving it.

Who'd ave thunked cricket could be so entertaining.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Sun Aug 01, 2021 9:44 pm

Everytime I hear KP and Swann commentate I gain more and more respect for how on earth Andrew Strauss put up with both

by JDizzle Sun Aug 01, 2021 9:46 pm

Tymal Mills is the best death bowler in England not named Jofra?

by Duty281 Sun Aug 01, 2021 9:55 pm

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Everytime I hear KP and Swann commentate I gain more and more respect for how on earth Andrew Strauss put up with both

Difficult to imagine how insufferable it would have been to put up with Swann's 'antics' during the course of a long tour in India or Australia.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Sun Aug 01, 2021 10:38 pm

JDizzle wrote:Tymal Mills is the best death bowler in England not named Jofra?

A definite outsider contender for the t20i squad for the WC - should be in ahead of Tom Curran

by king_carlos Mon Aug 02, 2021 2:47 am

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:
JDizzle wrote:Tymal Mills is the best death bowler in England not named Jofra?

A definite outsider contender for the t20i squad for the WC - should be in ahead of Tom Curran

Left arm angle and pace. Two things that Morgan likes. Add in his death bowling and Mills is definitely a contender if he can just stay fit.

In a strange way I think that spell to Gayle in his prime with the 93.3mph yorker that bowled him and the £1.4m IPL deal in 2017 which followed almost set Mills back in cricketing terms. He was expected to be a superstar in the IPL on par with where Archer or Bumrah are now. If he delivered anything below that level it was destined to be a long fall. Tough expectation to live up to especially for a pace bowler with injury issues.

I reckon that Garton being in the squad earlier this summer was an attempt to look at something similar but that squad getting covid and having to isolate put paid to that. Garton can bat as well which will count in his favour moving forward. He's another that just needs to stay fit as he's very talented.

by king_carlos Mon Aug 02, 2021 2:57 am

Also, what a cricketer Quinton de Kock is. The guy is just an absolutely spectacular wicketkeeper batsman.

by eirebilly Mon Aug 02, 2021 11:23 am

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:God KP is a woeful commentator

He is actually a very good pundit, probably the best but as a commentator he is god awful. He has to be paid by the word...

by eirebilly Mon Aug 02, 2021 11:25 am

As much as i really like Morgan, more often than not he gets himself out to silly mistakes these days and his wicket seems to lead to collapse's.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Tue Aug 03, 2021 12:19 am

Fairly routine win for Oval tonight, Welsh Fire look poor sans their main stars

by king_carlos Tue Aug 03, 2021 12:47 am

Narine is having a pretty good Hundred so far. Since the issues with his action, losing his offie and effectively replacing it with a knuckle ball his effectiveness has dropped but he's doing well so far.

It was great seeing Sarah Taylor doing well in the womens game earlier. She's such a brilliant cricketer. It's great that she's made a comeback to professional cricket but it would be wonderful if she could add to her England caps as well.

by JDizzle Wed Aug 04, 2021 10:15 pm

Tom Curran to bowl 15 of the last 40 balls has started predictably badly.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Wed Aug 04, 2021 10:44 pm

Chris Benjamin is having himself quite the few weeks!

by alfie Thu Aug 05, 2021 7:24 am

Have attempted to watch this a couple of times. Somehow just can't get interested though...

Am not a great fan of whack it cricket except for Internationals anyway : but something about this overhyped artificial format with lashings of unnecessary lights and sound effects just turns me off. Find the graphics messy and distracting.

Guess I'm not the target audience anyway Smile

by **Pal Joey** Thu Aug 05, 2021 10:07 am

alfie wrote:Have attempted to watch this a couple of times. Somehow just can't get interested though...

Am not a great fan of whack it cricket except for Internationals anyway : but something about this overhyped artificial format with lashings of unnecessary lights and sound effects just turns me off. Find the graphics messy and distracting.

Guess I'm not the target audience anyway

I'm the same, alfie. Lime green and pink* is not for me and I guess my brain is still trying to process the scoring information on the side of the screen. I'm more of horizontal along the bottom type of viewer when it comes to processing information. Just can't get into it.

*although both of my BBL teams wear exactly those colours!

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Sun Aug 08, 2021 8:43 pm

Cricket is being stupid again

by **Pal Joey** Mon Aug 09, 2021 7:17 am

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Cricket is being stupid again

Why? What's happened now?

Don't tell me it got reduced to Sixty-Five! Laugh

by sirfredperry Mon Aug 09, 2021 10:49 am

I guess the next step is to introduce a new game called Six and Out. Each team bats for just one over of six balls.

After a while critics will call for a reduction in the size of the innings on the grounds that the over starts excitingly and finishes excitingly but the whole thing gets a bit boring for balls three and four.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Mon Aug 09, 2021 11:56 am

Pal Joey wrote:
Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Cricket is being stupid again

Why? What's happened now?

Don't tell me it got reduced to Sixty-Five!

Over officious umpires making the crowd sit there for four hours (no rain, the players were literally warming up on the outfield) and saying play was too dangerous to start because of the outfield...
Get the game on! (whatever format!)

by Duty281 Thu Jul 14, 2022 10:59 pm

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/62050292

The Hundred will be around until at least 2028. But it may be locked away on Sky unless the BBC do some canny renegotiating.

by VTR Wed Aug 03, 2022 10:43 am

This starts today, I know this isn't exactly a popular competition on here (!). I would say though the team lineups after last year's covid affected first year are looking strong. So the idea of fewer teams to concentrate the quality seems to be working out. We could debate endlessly why this isn't just T20, but I can actually see this being a level above the Blast and creating quite a bit of interest

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Wed Aug 03, 2022 12:08 pm

Looking forward to the competition - fancy the Birmingham Phoenix to win, and have leaped aboard JDizzle's Dan Mouseley bandwagon and had a little flutter on him as top run scorer in the tourney at a big price (a punt!)

Intrigued to see how some of the experiments with scheduling the womens game as the late one in the double header goes - hoping well!

by Duty281 Wed Aug 03, 2022 1:02 pm

The Hundred is a disgrace and is hurting English cricket. The 50-over domestic competition, an established international format that is second only to tests, and which England are actually world champions in, has been relegated to a second XI competition, which will have huge ramifications for England's ODI team if the Hundred continues until 2028; meanwhile first-class cricket will not be played in the entire month of August, further damaging the fragile four-day game which is integral to the fortunes of the test team. It also means that if England want to play, say, Brook in the second test v South Africa, he won't have had the opportunity to play FC cricket for nearly a full month in the lead-up to the test.

Both of these things are happening because of the Hundred. I watched a bit of it last year with curiosity. I won't be watching this year because of the severe harm it is doing to English cricket from both a financial and playing standpoint.

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