The Hundred & the ‘new normal’ of cricket
The postponement of The Hundred, the new 100 ball cricket contest between 8 city based teams (men’s and women’s teams) that had attracted some terrestrial coverage from the BBC, has been announced.
It wont now start until 2021. I don’t think anyone pro or anti is likely to complain much. There are significant logistical problems with trying to run the 100 this year not least that its designed to attract crowds which in future (post-lockdown) circumstances this year are unlikely either to be allowed or want to come anyway.
I’m a fan of longer form cricket having watched it and listened to coverage of it on Test Match Special since the 1960s. I sometimes enjoy 50 and 20 over games but they are often too one-sided to reflect a true battle between bat and ball.
Of course The Hundred has its fans. Here is Michael Vaughan writing in the Telegraph recently:
After international cricket the Hundred is the most important aspect of the game – already it’s got £40 million from TV without anyone even seeing it. It’s a revenue stream to the game that will grow and when you come to negotiate the next round of deals in a few years then the Hundred will be worth a lot more than this time round – look at how rights for the Big Bash in Australia grew after it became established.
I’ve come to regard the Big Bash as almost unwatchable in recent seasons. It goes on forever, the composition of teams shifts perpetually as the series goes on and it seems to be more about six hitting than anything else.
It’s a spectacle certainly, but as sport I’m less sure.
The Hundred is seen as a brand, as a product which will bring money into a game that is struggling financially.
But if the world is to change after COVID-19, and it should, why assume that will continue. Why not look at ways of funding the bedrock of the game, County Cricket, that assumes playing sport of this kind is not primarily about turning a profit, but a public good. Something that many who will now find themselves working from home more can engage with in a social setting.
The Hundred belongs to the thinking of the pre-COVID-19 world. At the least its time to have a think about how relevant it will really be for the new normal.
Agree with your comments about the Big Bash, and they apply even more to the IPL. The whole point of T20 was to provide quick fire entertainment, and in excess of four hours (standard for an IPL fixture certainly) for 40 overs of cricket is not remotely quick fire.
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