Did The Hundred only happen on TV
The late Jean Baudrillard argued that the first Gulf War only happened on TV. It didn’t of course but the point was the way it was seen was a media construct.
The Hundred can be seen in a similar way.
I watched, at least some of, many of the women’s and men’s games. The standard of cricket seemed better than in 2022 and at the same time there seemed little difference to T20 formats. Of course its true that Hundred games do mostly keep to time (and TV schedules) rather than the four hour epics the IPL sometimes manages.
There have been record crowds for women’s games in big stadiums which is a major plus. Crowds in general have looked quite mixed though probably not so different to T20 games.
Aside from Sky and BBC who have contracts to broadcast the matches publicity and coverage has been minimal. Looking at the Observer and the Sunday Times there was no coverage at all of Finals day. It does suggest a limited impact.
Jos Buttler interviewed by Atherton in The Times noted that the value of The Hundred was to give new and younger players big match experience. He noted that the IPL had done the same and the result was numbers of new Indian Test players. He seemed to suggest that the Hundred’s future was more likely to be as a T20 franchise competition.
If so the key role of the women’s game needs to be fully factored in.
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