Cricket

[Typhoon]

Yesterday was the one-day matches between the County Championship teams and those on what I used to recall being called the "Minor Counties" and two of the top teams suffered defeat:-

Cornwall beat Somerset by 5 wickets

Wales Minor Counties beat Glamorgan by 3 wickets

Somerset seemed rather bereft of first teamers, Glamorgan less so.

What I found interesting about the Minor Counties teams was how few names I knew. Normally I recognise quite a few who never quite made it in first class cricket, or had retired from the first class game. It could be I've missed them. Also some are, on occasion, augmented by professionals (often from abroad) at clubs; guess there are very, very few this year.

 

[ainsworth74]

Are we all ready for the Hundred tonight? Big clash against Oval Invincibles and the Manchester Originals!

 

[DarloRich]

Are we all ready for the Hundred tonight? Big clash against Oval Invincibles and the Manchester Originals!

live on BBC2?

 

[ainsworth74]

live on BBC2?

Of course!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

The T20 series against Pakistan has set up the Hundred competition in just the right way.

 

[SteveM70]

The T20 series against Pakistan has set up the Hundred competition in just the right way.

By highlighting that t20 is absolutely fine as the shortest format competition, and doesn’t need a contrived competitor?

 

[birchesgreen]

Its amusing hearing some of the criticism about the 100 is almost word for word the same as the stuff said about T20 when its started. That didn't turn out too badly.

The key thing about the 100 is the games being shown on FTA TV.

 

[SteveM70]

The key thing about the 100 is the games being shown on FTA TV.

Some of them, not all of them

And so could t20 if BBC or ITV bid for the rights or a share of the rights

 

[birchesgreen]

Some of them, not all of them

And so could t20 if BBC or ITV bid for the rights or a share of the rights

Some is a lot more than none.

 

[DarloRich]

By highlighting that t20 is absolutely fine as the shortest format competition, and doesn’t need a contrived competitor?

The key difference is that English T20 is hidden before a paywall and has a tiny audience. The Hundred is on BBC tv and is open to everyone. The stated idea is to attract a new audience to cricket and if we are honest we need that

I consume my cricket via the radio. That doesn't win you a new audience. I listen to the game like that because when I started watching and playing cricket it was on TV. Kids now don't have access to cricket unless your dad pays for Sky. It is nice to see live cricket on council tele because some is better than none.

 

[SteveM70]

The key difference is that English T20 is hidden before a paywall and has a tiny audience

Aren’t you conflating two things here? Increasing free to air TV coverage doesn’t require a new format of the sport, does it?

 

[birchesgreen]

FTA coverage indeed doesn't require a new format, however it does require a FTA channel wanting to show it. Only one domestic T20 game was ever shown FTA, C4 in the first year.

Maybe the BBC wanted a different format?

Anyway i enjoyed last night's game. Just not sure of the graphics on the side of the screen.

 

[DarloRich]

Aren’t you conflating two things here? Increasing free to air TV coverage doesn’t require a new format of the sport, does it?

No - but the T20 is tied up under contract for some time.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Did anyone watch the first Women's Hundred match on the television last night? There were many families with children in the ground, so it looks like catering for some of the youngsters as well as their parents. The result was only decided in the last over.

 

[DarloRich]

Did anyone watch the first Women's Hundred match on the television last night? There were many families with children in the ground, so it looks like catering for some of the youngsters as well as their parents. The result was only decided in the last over.

I enjoyed it - I thought it was a good, close match. The winning team fought back from losing several early wickets that I felt had sunk them. There were sixes, wickets, dropped catches. It was fun.

I felt the TV coverage had a difficult line to tread: welcoming in new viewers and explaining the game to them while also not teaching granny to suck eggs! I am not sure they quite got it right but gave a good effort. If anything I expected more explanation of what is a baffling game to many. The graphics were a bit psychedelic for me but not a big issue.

it was good to see kids and families in the ground. One of the criticisms of 20/20 is that it has become a rowdy beer fest

 

[roversfan2001]

I watched a bit of the game last night. Took a bit of time to get to grips with the new format but it was good. Apparently most of last night's crowd were on complimentary tickets as they just couldn't shift them, tonight's has 'sold out' so it'll be interesting to watch it with a full crowd.

The graphics definitely need improvement, they're very garish.

I'm not convinced we need another format to compete with T20, and it does concern me that only one will prevail, and it won't be the one hidden behind a Sky paywall...

 

[306024]

I enjoyed it - I thought it was a good, close match. The winning team fought back from losing several early wickets that I felt had sunk them. There were sixes, wickets, dropped catches. It was fun.

I felt the TV coverage had a difficult line to tread: welcoming in new viewers and explaining the game to them while also not teaching granny to suck eggs! I am not sure they quite got it right but gave a good effort. If anything I expected more explanation of what is a baffling game to many. The graphics were a bit psychedelic for me but not a big issue.

it was good to see kids and families in the ground. One of the criticisms of 20/20 is that it has become a rowdy beer fest

Agree with all of that. Watched the whole game and enjoyed it a lot. Others may disagree but women’s cricket has improved no end and deserves this recognition.

Very pleasing to see all the young families enjoying the game too. And for us more mature students watching it on TV means you are spared much of the music although watching anything live is better.

Yes explaining cover point and third man is never going to be easy, but you have to start somewhere and perhaps a bit more of a ‘new kids guide’ would be helpful. I don’t mind being taught how to suck an egg (never tried it!).

 

[DarloRich]

Yes explaining cover point and third man is never going to be easy, but you have to start somewhere and perhaps a bit more of a ‘new kids guide’ would be helpful.

I would be happy if they did more explanation - they tried with different bowling styles but the fielding positions are a mystery to many!

 

[Geezertronic]

I saw the last couple of overs, caught me off guard when the bowler changed with 5 balls remaining (I need to do some research on how many balls bowlers get). But was it me or did one of the commentary team sound like Gary Neville?

 

[SurreyCommuter]

My main gripe is this is how our test cricketers are going to be preparing for the series against India. Slightly ironic that in the last series with India (albeit in India) it seemed that no-one was able to stay in for a hundred balls!

Pre Covid I regularly went to the Oval once or twice a year for T20s and were typically sold out and if not 90% full. There did seem to be a decent mix of families and people out for an evening on the lash so to me 'The Hundred' seems a bit like an answer to a question that no-one's asking. Being cynical you could say that it's because the ECB don't have enough power over the T20 Blast and so by starting something new they can have full control and don't have to worry much about the counties! How likely is it though that the organisers of the Big Bash or the IPL are going to see this and realise that they've been getting it wrong all along! Yesterday the BBC TV time slot was 6pm to 9.30pm which is plenty sufficient time for a T20 game so the whole thing seems a bit contrived and gimmicky. All T20 did was take the 50 over format and chop if off at the knees to make a format that a large number of amateur clubs probably used already. I don't blame the players or the counties much as if the ECB turned up at my front door with a Ford Transit full of money to plug it then I probably would too!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

The first Men's Hundred last night to my mind had shades of the IPL with teams having players from differing areas. Saquib Mahmood was playing on the other side to his normal Lancashire team mates. There seemed a good attendance despite the match being televised live on BBC2. I don't know if it was my television screen, but only part of the information columns on the left and right side of my TV screen could be seen. One thing that also occurred was an inter-over chat was being broadcast and they missed a ball being bowled and a wicket fell!!!

 

[birchesgreen]

They had a few technical gremlins last night.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Perhaps when players become accustomed to the new Hundred format, we might see higher scores being made. Even last night, the losing side only lost by a margin of nine runs and there were quite a number of their shots that the fielding side stopped going for four and only one or two runs were scored. Comment was made, rightly so, that the Manchester team seemed to select high scoring players on the first five positions and had a very long tail. I was pleased to have a chance to see Braithwaite (from Barbados?) in action, as it reminded me of Clive Lloyd, but even he played and missed a few times and only used the long handle when it was too late.

 

[Bald Rick]

I don't know if it was my television screen, but only part of the information columns on the left and right side of my TV screen could be seen.

Mine was fine, so suspect it was your screen.

One thing that also occurred was an inter-over chat was being broadcast and they missed a ball being bowled and a wicket fell!!!

That was annoying. Akin to that time ITV went to the adverts in the last laps of a Grand Prix race.

Brathwaite is indeed from Barbados.

I watched the match. It felt somewhat manufactured to me (not the result!) A number of commentators and a couple of players in the post match said it was the loudest they had ever heard the Oval. It didn’t seem that loud to me - I’ve been there for Surrey games when it was louder (accepting that the TV may not have conveyed the noise as well as being there).

I spent most of the last 40 balls of Manchester’s innings trying to convert the runs required / balls left into a run rate per (6 ball) over, as that’s the currency I understand!

If it brings a new audience to the game, brilliant, but I can’t help feel that a better marketed T20 could have done the job just as well.

 

[roversfan2001]

Mine was fine, so suspect it was your screen.

Based on Twitter reports after the women's game, the graphics were fine on the Sky feed, but were cut off on the BBC feed. You'd have thought they'd have got it sorted for last night but apparently not.

If it brings a new audience to the game, brilliant, but I can’t help feel that a better marketed T20 could have done the job just as well.

Agreed.

 

[Bald Rick]

You'd have thought they'd have got it sorted for last night but apparently not.

As I said - the graphics were fine for me on BBC2.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Based on Twitter reports after the women's game, the graphics were fine on the Sky feed, but were cut off on the BBC feed. You'd have thought they'd have got it sorted for last night but apparently not.


Agreed.

That explains matters for me as I use the BBC feed.

 

[dosxuk]

Both Sky and BBC are broadcasting the exact same graphics. The problem will be in the way your TV is configured. That said, the graphics are very close to the edges of the screen. There is supposed to be a "safe-area" with no important information around the entire edge and I'm not sure the new graphics are entirely within that.

The graphic design / layout / branding is by the ECB and they have said it won't be changing for this season, despite the criticism.

Edit:

Just dug out the "Technical Specification for the Delivery of Live Television Programmes" for the BBC (it's the same document used by the BBC / ITV / Channel 4 / Channel 5 / Sky / BT Sport / STV / TG4 - available from the BBC's website) and then overlaid a screengrab of the graphics being used. All text should be inside the red dotted border and it isn't - therefore some people will have issues seeing the whole graphics.

 

[ainsworth74]

Watched (or at least had on in the background) both games so far and yeah it's not been dreadful to be sure. It is after all still cricket and cricket is good! But I do keep coming back to the thought that there's nothing about this competition that seems to require it to be a new format rather than a revamped T20 competition (which I'm led to believe the BBC actually signed on for before it ended up being the Hundred). The explanations are great, there's some very silly but enjoyable little pre-shot pieces in the build up (last night had Finn catching various types of fruit on the outfield at Lords) though I do think the graphics are horrific. I actually quite like the information given in the centre graphic but good lord can we maybe have them slightly less garish and taking up less of the screen!?!

All in all I find myself just a bit "meh". It feels like a big gamble by the ECB especially as I'm of the impression that this competition isn't actually going to make money and they've had to distort the County season even more to fit it in which I think will have serious implications for the England side in the future. For instance the 50-over competition has been totally sidelined so how are England going to go next time out at a World Cup? Will a scratch team of the sort we put together to beat a strong Pakistan side be a thing we can achieve in a few years?

But I guess we'll see. It still feels like they could have achieved a great many of the same effects by either launching a new T20 competition or by simply having some hard nosed conversations with Sky regarding getting Blast games (you know that competition which has regularly been selling out even the largest Test match grounds, no complimentary tickets required!) onto free to air. Sky are obviously in it for the money they can make but they're also not totally daft and would know that if they continue to be a part of strangling the game into a niche sport that eventually that will hit the bottom line.

But we are where we are!

 

[Typhoon]

All in all I find myself just a bit "meh". It feels like a big gamble by the ECB especially as I'm of the impression that this competition isn't actually going to make money and they've had to distort the County season even more to fit it in which I think will have serious implications for the England side in the future. For instance the 50-over competition has been totally sidelined so how are England going to go next time out at a World Cup? Will a scratch team of the sort we put together to beat a strong Pakistan side be a thing we can achieve in a few years?

Like you I am concerned about timetabling. On 4th August it is the first day of the Test Match vs India, there are two 'Hundred' games (one men's, one women's) and two One Day Cup games (and why would Royal London want to sponsor these in the future, goodness knows). By the time the test players and the Hundred players are taken out, some counties are going to have little more than an enhanced second XI. As a Kent supporter we have lost 7 to the Hundred (I'm not expecting any for the tests) and appear to be playing a joint team with Scotland, Even in the Hundred, there were players who I assumed were based overseas only to find they had turned out a few times for a county. Hardly household names. Some serious planning needs to go on, if we cut the 4 day game back much more we will have fewer and fewer players who can build an innings or bowl a long spell. Even in the Women's game, I don't think they have got it totally right - the only county games I can find are T20, but they play (and currently win) test matches.

I also struggle with knowing who to support - we have players turning out for four men's Hundred teams and four women's Hundred teams (not the same four of course).

Maybe I should change my user name to 'GrumpierOldMan'?