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Cricket

DarloRich

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but I can’t help feel that a better marketed T20 could have done the job just as well.

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.
But there are issues with the T20 as far as the ECB are concerned:
  • It is county based not franchised
  • Players are contracted by the county for thier purposes not drafted or bid for
  • The counties control the money spent on contracts as part of thier standard budgeting
  • It is tied up with a Sky broadcast contract
  • It involves too many teams of variable quality
I also suspect they have research telling them that the new audience they want to attract doesn't have any understanding of or attachment to the counties. I suspect the issue is that T20 elsewhere has gone franchise whereas the blast was developed as a county competition.

I am not sure I agree with it all but I can see where they are coming from.
 
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gswindale

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I watched a bit of the men's game from the Oval, but had to turn it off due to the graphics. In my mind, it was reminiscent of a late 80s computer game due to the choice of colours and the size of the text.

Seems odd that they've gone for big & bold graphics when pretty much every other TV sport seems to be able to convey the information with much smaller text etc allowing us to see the action.
 

roversfan2001

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Really enjoyed both games today. Still not as good as T20 but cricket is cricket. It was a bit strange seeing Finn Allen and Liam Livingstone play for a team that wasn’t Lancashire, will be even stranger when it’s at Old Trafford on Sunday.
 

birchesgreen

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Really good to see some young players putting in great performances and making names for themselves. That will be one of the key things for the Hundred's success i think.
 

Pakenhamtrain

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The ECB are basically trying to recreate the Big Bash, that is not necessarily a bad thing of course.
From what I've seen it's basically the big bash. Just minus 20 balls a side.

But there are issues with the T20 as far as the ECB are concerned:
  • It is county based not franchised
  • Players are contracted by the county for thier purposes not drafted or bid for
  • The counties control the money spent on contracts as part of thier standard budgeting
  • It is tied up with a Sky broadcast contract
  • It involves too many teams of variable quality
I also suspect they have research telling them that the new audience they want to attract doesn't have any understanding of or attachment to the counties. I suspect the issue is that T20 elsewhere has gone franchise whereas the blast was developed as a county competition.

I am not sure I agree with it all but I can see where they are coming from.
The BBL down here started out as the Twenty20 Big Bash with the states. It was changed over to the city franchises.
What really kicked the BBL off was putting the games on free to air. Channel 10 did a fantastic job.
 

SeanG

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My take on the Hundred is that it over complicates cricket for the newcomer (and after all it the marketing is designed to tempt newcomers).

My wife watched the 2019 world cup final and I explained cricket to her. With the free to air matches on the BBC last year and this year she has just got her head around overs etc. And now the number of balls in an over has changed - she ain't half confused
 

SteveM70

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Great interview by YJB the other day. “It helps if you tell yourself it’s 20 balls less than a T20”. Genius at work
 

ainsworth74

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My take on the Hundred is that it over complicates cricket for the newcomer (and after all it the marketing is designed to tempt newcomers).

I must admit the thing I keep coming back to is what does this format achieve that T20 doesn't? Let's put aside all the other issues with the shape of the season, the dilution of the 50-over competition, etc. What does this 100 ball a-side format actually achieve that a T20 competition couldn't? We've already mentioned the Big Bash which I think we would all agree has been a very successful franchise based competition and ticks basically all the boxes that the ECB want to. I've read somewhere or other that the BBC were signed up for the Hundred when they thought it was going to be a T20 competition. Removing 20 balls from the innings and having 5 ball overs (or sets or whatever) does very very little other than just add another format to a sport which already has three different formats.
 

Geezertronic

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I must admit the thing I keep coming back to is what does this format achieve that T20 doesn't? Let's put aside all the other issues with the shape of the season, the dilution of the 50-over competition, etc. What does this 100 ball a-side format actually achieve that a T20 competition couldn't? We've already mentioned the Big Bash which I think we would all agree has been a very successful franchise based competition and ticks basically all the boxes that the ECB want to. I've read somewhere or other that the BBC were signed up for the Hundred when they thought it was going to be a T20 competition. Removing 20 balls from the innings and having 5 ball overs (or sets or whatever) does very very little other than just add another format to a sport which already has three different formats.

If T20 had kept to the process of time allocation (i.e. complete the overs by a certain time otherwise incur a penalty) then that would be one of the things I would prefer. The Hundred does that, and it puts the pressure on the fielding side to stop faffing around with field settings after every ball towards the end of the Innings otherwise they lose a boundary fielder to the inner circle.

Also with the reduction of 20 balls per side (40 per match) it does allow sufficient time for two matches to be played at the same ground on the same day (Womans and Mens) without the possibility of it taking too long - particularly it should also help promote the Womens game more to a newer audience. I always felt that the T20 Semi 1 - Semi 2 - Final day was too long plus fitting four teams worth of supporters into a stadium for two teams of supporters to have the possibility to leave after the Semis was counterproductive.
 

birchesgreen

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The 100 does have some nice innovations, i like new batters always being on strike for example, though no reason why these couldn't have been within a T20 framework.

They need to get over calling the 5 ball sets overs, its not like cricket hasn't has non-6-ball overs before.
 

ainsworth74

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Nothing - but T20 in this country isn't, currently, exploitable in relation to franchises, player auctions and council TV access .
Yeah the Blast is stuck behind Sky's paywall but I don't believe Sky have monopoly rights to the format! Hence why the BBC signed up to it when it was a T20 competition. I doubt they'd sign up to something they wouldn't be able to broadcast. You can surely broadcast a completion on exactly the same basis as the Hundred that's a T20. That's what puzzles me at this point.
If T20 had kept to the process of time allocation (i.e. complete the overs by a certain time otherwise incur a penalty) then that would be one of the things I would prefer. The Hundred does that, and it puts the pressure on the fielding side to stop faffing around with field settings after every ball towards the end of the Innings otherwise they lose a boundary fielder to the inner circle.

Also with the reduction of 20 balls per side (40 per match) it does allow sufficient time for two matches to be played at the same ground on the same day (Womans and Mens) without the possibility of it taking too long - particularly it should also help promote the Womens game more to a newer audience. I always felt that the T20 Semi 1 - Semi 2 - Final day was too long plus fitting four teams worth of supporters into a stadium for two teams of supporters to have the possibility to leave after the Semis was counterproductive.
Yeah the administrators have been ridiculously lax on slow over rates for a while now. Aren't we down to some crackers like 12 or 13 overs an hour in Tests? Though it seems odd to just give up and knock balls out of the match rather than get to grips with the issue properly!

I will grant you though that it's great that the women's game is getting more exposure and a proper professional tournament. Though the issue of double headers is surely solved by pushing back the start of the women's game to maybe 2pm?

I've always enjoyed finals day but on the TV. You're right it must be an incredibly long day at the ground. Plus there's an element of disadvantage for the team that wins the 1st semi as they've got get themselves going again after a lengthy break unlike the team which wins the 2nd semi.

But, again, these are potential issues with the format of the Blast not with T20 itself...
 

306024

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I will grant you though that it's great that the women's game is getting more exposure and a proper professional tournament.
Agree completely. That’s exactly the point Lydia Greenway made on TV before today’s Old Trafford wash out.
 

Bald Rick

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If T20 had kept to the process of time allocation (i.e. complete the overs by a certain time otherwise incur a penalty) then that would be one of the things I would prefer.

They have. There was a very prominent cut off time displayed at the last T20 I went to (2 weeks ago). The home side only just beat it.
 

ainsworth74

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Agree completely. That’s exactly the point Lydia Greenway made on TV before today’s Old Trafford wash out.
Having them as double headers is a great idea and it's what got me into womens cricket! Got tickets for an England v Australia mens T20I and they had the England v Australia women playing a T20I before the men. It was basically thrown in as a freebie.

But it was every bit as enjoyable as the men's game. In some ways better as there was a bit more nous and thinking rather than just power hitting (though there was some of that too!).

Hopefully the Hundred will have a similar effect on many other people!
 

Busaholic

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Having them as double headers is a great idea and it's what got me into womens cricket! Got tickets for an England v Australia mens T20I and they had the England v Australia women playing a T20I before the men. It was basically thrown in as a freebie.

But it was every bit as enjoyable as the men's game. In some ways better as there was a bit more nous and thinking rather than just power hitting (though there was some of that too!).

Hopefully the Hundred will have a similar effect on many other people!
It's the only aspect of the Hundred that is genuinely innovative imo, and to be commended. Otherwise, the differences are only gimmickry. In the meantime the 50 over county competition is being waged between counties denuded not only of their 'stars' but stalwarts too. Sorry, but no twenty over or hundred ball match is ever going to compare with the rollercoaster produced for the World Cup final in 2019, and players need to play regular 50 over cricket so that such spectacles are possible.
 

Typhoon

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I will grant you though that it's great that the women's game is getting more exposure and a proper professional tournament
... in the UK. (I guess that is what you meant.)

The Women's Big Bash started over 5 years ago, it is a shame that it has taken us some time to catch up. There has been the Kia Super League and the Rachel Heyhoe Flint Trophy was introduced last year, for which all players were paid (how much? No idea, I guess not that much unless you were an overseas player) but nothing like the publicity of the Big Bash.

What has pleased me is the impressive performance of some of the younger players. In particular, those from India where more women role models can do nothing but good. Shefali Verma, who is 17, had impressed in the multi format tournament against England that finished recently both for her youth and her approach but it has been the likes of Jemima Rodrigues (20) and Smriti Madhana (25) who have played the match winning innings. I'm also interested that Mandhana has already played for teams in the Kia Super League, Rachel Hayhoe Flint Trophy, Women's Big Bash (2) as well as in the women's domestic tournament in India so women must be able to make a living out of playing cricket.
 

Geezertronic

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Another fantastic afternoon & evening in the Hundred yesterday, it's growing on me more and more.

Superb knocks in the Womens game from Laura Wolvaardt for the Superchargers and her South African compatriot Lizelle Lee for the Originals which saw the Originals win. Then in the Mens game, the Originals had what can be described politely as an absolute mare in the field allowing the Superchargers to hit the games first 200 score with a superb knock from John Simpson
 

kje7812

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Root 180 not out after day 3, nice...
While day one was definitely India's, England have fought back fairly well. Hopefully they can stop India getting away tomorrow.
 

DelW

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I thought all those no-balls against the tail enders were a bit suspect to be honest.
I did wonder if he was deliberately bowling no-balls in order to prolong the likelihood of injuring JA. If that were judged to be the case, I think the umpires should have the power to instruct the bowling captain to take the offending bowler out of the attack for the rest of the innings.
 

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