The competition has been around for 3 years now, but I have just had a bit of a Hundred bonanza, attending 3 games in three days. Sunday was the first genuinely thrilling game I have attended.
I am not ‘anti’ The Hundred. I have been to games each year, and I ‘get’ the idea. Mistakes were made, but overall the presentation is slick, and my son loves it. To be fair, my son just loves cricket – and at the end of the day, The Hundred is just that – cricket. But The Hundred has a particular appeal to him – he likes the razmataz. Despite all the special effects, the cricket has often not been that exciting. Both men’s and women’s fixtures have been played on tired pitches in the midst of very busy grounds, running at capacity. This weekend was different. Once we got past the rained off Saturday, I have attended four very good games (two double headers).
On Sunday we went down to The Oval to see the Invincibles take on Welsh Fire. Invincibles looked a bit complacement and after a dire start with the bat the women were not able to extinguish a rampant Fire. In any form of professional cricket a score of 80 will rarely win, but Marizanne Kapp provided her own flames – she is such a feisty and determined cricketer that the game was still in the balance until near the end. If some of the games I have seen had been a bit slow, I was always able to see the benefits of the Women’s Competition. I always kept an eye on the superstars like Charlotte Edwards and Sarah Taylor, but, truth be told, until 3 years ago I would have struggled to think of seven women for my Fantasy Team outside of the Internationals. That was my fault perhaps – but now my problem is narrowing it down to seven. Undoubtedly that is progress. That progress was even more evident at Old Trafford on Monday where Fi Morris took 5 wickets – the first woman to do so in the competition. What an amazing opportunity for Morris to bowl in tandem with Sophie Ecclestone, who herself took 4 wickets.
When it comes to the Men’s Game, I did not think that such progress was needed as was needed in the Women’s Game. Perhaps that impacted my viewing experience – perhaps the men’s games were under more pressure to be exciting. On Sunday, the Men’s game was exciting, with the end result a thrilling tie that kept my son and I interested to the end – we almost missed our train at Euston. A tie is always exiting – unless you are New Zealand perhaps – but the true excitement came from the fact that, again, the London based franchise would have expected an easy stroll based on the Welsh Fire performances in Years 1 and 2. Has Mike Hussey has provided an extra level of determination or has he permitted freedom to perform? Or both? He certainly was a fantastic competitor on the field. Oval Invincibles were architects of their own downfall, until Tom Curran came along – and its good to see Tom getting some limelight again – perhaps an opportunity he would not have had but for this tournament. Back in Manchester on Sunday we saw a good game, not especially close but nothing was certain until Tom Hartley managed to hang on to a Liam Livingstone skier – the ball went up miles.
Whilst the weekend’s experience was largely very positive – we even saw some good cricket on Saturday, it was far from perfect. The Hundred is more flexible than the Test Matches, but it is still the case that the Women generally go first and, as a result, have lost more games to the weather, which is not a good look. As is the case with all cricket, the standard of fielding is incredble, but a lot of rather basic catches are dropped as well – it sometime feels like the basics get neglected in the face of the spectacular. This applies even more to the basics of One Day batting – on both days, run chases were made more difficult than they needed to be by a constant desire to play big shots and hit the sixes, when ones and twos might have been more productive. This also applied to the Manchester Originals Men when setting a target – it was very clear that it was not an easy pitch for big shots, yet they kept swinging the bat.
Away from the actual batting, bowling and fielding, a couple of other things must be said. The standard of Umpiring is a concern – this was also the case during The Ashes where a lot of poor decisions were made. This weekend, the concerns related to the Third Umpire and a lack of consistency. To my eye, Jos Buttler should never have been given Run Out (though neither should he be arguing with the on field umpire). Conversely, Tom Curran was clearly Run Out on the last ball at The Oval but escaped with a Not Out and an extra run, creating the tie. These things can always be argued up and down in different directions – but frankly, if Curran was In, Buttler was In too. When the pictures are up on the screen, it undermines the game and leaves it open to questions of integrity – certainly it might have been a different experience for the South London locals if the Fire had won by 1 Run.
Secondly, I can segway into Spectator Experience. I think part of the problem with the Umpiring comes from a desire to be quick – and we do need quicker decision making. However, it means that sometimes we hear Third Umpires talking before the corresponding replays get onto the big screen which is a bit confusing, and often pointless when you have to wait for Ball Tracking anyway. The point here is about knowing what is going on – and despite massively loud music, often the announcements are not easy to hear – certainly in The Oval Pavillion. And finally, it is annoying for spectators to be told all the time to sit down – often by quite rude Surrey members – when stewards and camera staff wonder around in front of fans all the time. Generally, unless its in front of the sightboard at the relevant end, the distraction is minor, and we need everyone to be relaxed and made to feel welcome.
So, then, what about The Hundred? For all the positives, its hard to escape from the fact that English Cricket has created a bit of a mess. Introducing the tournament has created a lot of damage, and personally, I think the Investment of the Hundred could have been applied to the T20 Blast. If the Women’s Game was not quite ready for 18 counties then it could have been based around the pre-existing Women’s Franchises – but it probably is now ready for 18 counties. The problem is that removing the competition would, now, also be rather damaging.
The endgame, of course, will be results – and that will apply whether or not the Counties approve, irrespective of any residual damage. If the tournament is able to attract some top level players and if it is able to offer returns on investment, the tournament will survive. It will not compete with the IPL, of course, neither should it try to, but I am certain England can accomodate a successful major tournament.
Can we have The Hundred and the T20 Blast? I have certainly seen more exciting T20 games than Hundred games. But it will be money and player power that wins. If both tournaments attract the players and enough money, they will survive. Its up to the counties to make sure it does – they have lots of advantages for sure – after all, The Hundred is not played anywhere else. Counties will need to satisfy both men and women players though. As for the quality of the game? Both tournaments can improve, and must do so. It is going to be survival of the fittest, rather than what the ECB decides.
Cricketed 