also he suggests that the rules of cricket might be too complicated. this coming from the chief executive of the national cricket board.
There is a point that the game is too complicated for many casual observers.
However, introducing a new format that even established cricket fans don't understand isn't going to help that.
I think the real difficulty is not that cricket is complicated (it really isn't), it's that you can't watch it casually. A one day match is 100 overs, that's a looooong day. A test match is 5 loooong days. T20 is done and dusted in 3+ hours but even then most people won't sit still that long. Cricket fans will watch cricket, but we're a dying breed. Hardly any schools play it any more, so kids aren't coming in to the game in any real numbers so participants, fans are not being replenished. Cricket needs to find new fans. They're not going to do it the old fashioned way through grass roots participation or terrestrial TV coverage while the ECB is dependent on Sky money. This circus version of cricket is the path of least resistance, pandering to non-cricket audiences with a dumbed down product for people who don't 'get' cricket but might watch some spectacle of a frantic, panic stations corruption of the game.
Personally, I think if they're going to go this route they haven't gone far enough. To slot easily into terrestrial TV schedules and have plenty of scoring it needs to be 9 a side and 10 overs.
I think The Hundred is a great idea but I would suggest a few modifications.
1) Rename it The Zero 2) Change the rules so that each side bowls no deliveries to each other with a maximum of no overs per bowler 3) Assemble the greatest cricketers from around the world to compete 4) Start each game with a coin toss. Award one run for winning the toss. 5) Players to wear fancy dress. Umpires to award runs to the players wearing the wackiest kit 6) Ramp up the market to target babies and circus entertainers - a new market 7) Ensure non-stop entertainment from start to finish
I genuinely don't understand what it is hoping to achieve
T20 was a genuine game changer and is perfect. Crowds are decent and prices are sensible.
Something happens every ball and games can turn in am over, 1 day cricket holds no interest for me, 100 overs is more than you'd get in a test match and I don't think the pace is enough to draw crowds so T20 suits me fine, I can finish work and be in Canterbury, parked up and in the ground for a drink prior to the first ball and be home in a sensible time during the week. Anything that involves taking days off these days has a lot of pressure to appeal to first time spectators who know what cricket is but are not even casual fans
It's going to be pure unadulterated cack.....it's getting to the stage where another sport entirely is being marketed. ..a very sad anodyne tasteless half baked fast food style version of what is a beautiful sport ...it literally isn't cricket..it's something else ...it may bring in a new audience but the old audience won t watch it ..
I think I think they lost something when the Sunday 40 overs matches got shifted all over the week, then abolished.
a perfect way of spending a Sunday afternoon, and not an early start either so quite relaxed
The JPL was great, as you say removing it from the uniformed 2pm-6.40pm slot started the rot along with coloured clothing and fielding restrictions. I really don't think any of the post-Packer innovations have made the one day game anymore attractive. The Gillette Cup (Nat West Trophy) and ICC World Cup were great at 60 overs with the only restriction being 12 over max for bowlers. Power plays and fielding restrictions have done nothing but make the game predictable.
I think I think they lost something when the Sunday 40 overs matches got shifted all over the week, then abolished.
a perfect way of spending a Sunday afternoon, and not an early start either so quite relaxed
My wife hates cricket with all her might because of the JPL because her Dad used to make her sit and watch it every Sunday afternoon throughout the course of the summer.
There's something quite karma like about the way that cricket can come back and gain its revenge in the most beautiful of ways - by producing her a son that is not only sporty but who simply loves playing/training/breathing cricket, thus ruining not just her Sunday afternoons but also all day Saturdays and very often her Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays etc etc too.
The three main spokespeople for The Hundred, supported by the ECB, - Tom Harrison, formerly Andrew Strauss and England bowler Stuart Broad - have all given thoroughly different assessments and then further contradicted themselves in exactly who the main target groups are for the Hundred, and how it will benefit all formats of the current game, domestically and internationally.
We're not told cricket fans will love it and it is already a success with them, less than 12 months after being very pre-historically told that it's aimed at "mums and kids". Anyone who's a county first-class member will tell you already that plenty of "mums" (women) already attend and understand the other formats of the game, some, shock horror, better than men. If this format is being true in it's genuine stance (and it's not) that it was initially drawn up to bring a wider and younger audience to the game by "simplifying and exciting further the T20 format" then that's b*****s because the rules set-up has them including powerplays and the same fielding restrictions used in 50-over cricket so if it really is a simple man's T20, it's not is it?
What I believe it is, is two fronts;
a) the ECB getting jealous over India, the Caribbean and et al's success with independent T20 tournaments from a format they created. So they've now decided they want to reconquer that part of the game with a newer format, and as usual the ECB, like with their domestic scheduling, have over-complicated it because they can't help themselves.
b) they want to use this to not-so subtely move in the direction of city-based franchise teams in T20 and combination counties in a reduced one-division county set-up, ideas I thoroughly hate. The domestic game is frequently the point of scorn whenever England struggle, rarely getting the praise the other way. There are several problems with the domestic game, not least of all the insane scheduling and jumping back and forth between formats, the earlier starts that is not conducive to weather (you could play CC cricket in this country in October the past 5 years, can you f**k play it in April!), then there's the state of pitches where counties have been drilled to produce slower pitches, weighed in favour of tosses and spinners because they need to develop there, and faster bowlers are negated. Then counties are too greatly subsidised by T20, a lack of commercial investment in FC cricket and they go and sign Rashid Khans so it doesn't matter anyway, and then England leave a leading wicket-taker like Jack Leach out of their test team and the whole thing looks pointless.
I have been slagging off the all singing, all dancing, super groovy Hundred .. however, I confess to being intrigued and will watch the first game .. the men's version that is, sorry ladies
I'm looking forward to it. Was not convinced at first, but think it's going to be great. Just a shame it's been delayed by a year so it clashes with the England team Playing India in the tests meaning the team line ups have gone a bit on the wonk from the original line ups. I enjoyed watching the women playing India recently too so am planning to watch tonight's game.
Despite thinking the whole thing is a load of old shit, I think I will watch it, because it’s live cricket on tv. I wish The President was still with us so that he could witness my climbdown.
Total boycott from me. The ECB have put everything on what is already a hugely expensive mistake. The whole idea was a joke from the start; the fact that it is actually happening shows the contempt that the ECB have for the game and for those that support it.
It will draw huge crowds and the biggest-ever TV ratings for domestic cricket. Some people will refuse to enjoy it and will miss out. Some people will become converted to cricket for life. Future England players will be in the crowds and inspired. Former England players will be divided.
I'm just looking forward to the shots and giggles, and not giving a toss who wins.
The biggest change to current forms of cricket is each 100-ball innings is essentially split into 20 five-ball overs.
All five balls must be delivered by the same bowler but a captain can choose to continue with the same bowler for 10 consecutive balls.
After a set of five balls the umpire will hold up a white card to signal the end of each over, but players will only change ends after every 10 balls - not at the end of each over.
I don't see the point in the competition if i'm honest. But watching some of the best in the world whack it isn't gonna be bad. Got tickets for tomorrow and then going down to Southampton next Friday to watch the Southern Brave.
Comments
However, introducing a new format that even established cricket fans don't understand isn't going to help that.
Personally, I think if they're going to go this route they haven't gone far enough. To slot easily into terrestrial TV schedules and have plenty of scoring it needs to be 9 a side and 10 overs.
as if anybody else matters
1) Rename it The Zero
2) Change the rules so that each side bowls no deliveries to each other with a maximum of no overs per bowler
3) Assemble the greatest cricketers from around the world to compete
4) Start each game with a coin toss. Award one run for winning the toss.
5) Players to wear fancy dress. Umpires to award runs to the players wearing the wackiest kit
6) Ramp up the market to target babies and circus entertainers - a new market
7) Ensure non-stop entertainment from start to finish
T20 was a genuine game changer and is perfect. Crowds are decent and prices are sensible.
Something happens every ball and games can turn in am over, 1 day cricket holds no interest for me, 100 overs is more than you'd get in a test match and I don't think the pace is enough to draw crowds so T20 suits me fine, I can finish work and be in Canterbury, parked up and in the ground for a drink prior to the first ball and be home in a sensible time during the week. Anything that involves taking days off these days has a lot of pressure to appeal to first time spectators who know what cricket is but are not even casual fans
a perfect way of spending a Sunday afternoon, and not an early start either so quite relaxed
There's something quite karma like about the way that cricket can come back and gain its revenge in the most beautiful of ways - by producing her a son that is not only sporty but who simply loves playing/training/breathing cricket, thus ruining not just her Sunday afternoons but also all day Saturdays and very often her Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays etc etc too.
Life can be so cruel sometimes!
We're not told cricket fans will love it and it is already a success with them, less than 12 months after being very pre-historically told that it's aimed at "mums and kids". Anyone who's a county first-class member will tell you already that plenty of "mums" (women) already attend and understand the other formats of the game, some, shock horror, better than men. If this format is being true in it's genuine stance (and it's not) that it was initially drawn up to bring a wider and younger audience to the game by "simplifying and exciting further the T20 format" then that's b*****s because the rules set-up has them including powerplays and the same fielding restrictions used in 50-over cricket so if it really is a simple man's T20, it's not is it?
What I believe it is, is two fronts;
a) the ECB getting jealous over India, the Caribbean and et al's success with independent T20 tournaments from a format they created. So they've now decided they want to reconquer that part of the game with a newer format, and as usual the ECB, like with their domestic scheduling, have over-complicated it because they can't help themselves.
b) they want to use this to not-so subtely move in the direction of city-based franchise teams in T20 and combination counties in a reduced one-division county set-up, ideas I thoroughly hate. The domestic game is frequently the point of scorn whenever England struggle, rarely getting the praise the other way. There are several problems with the domestic game, not least of all the insane scheduling and jumping back and forth between formats, the earlier starts that is not conducive to weather (you could play CC cricket in this country in October the past 5 years, can you f**k play it in April!), then there's the state of pitches where counties have been drilled to produce slower pitches, weighed in favour of tosses and spinners because they need to develop there, and faster bowlers are negated. Then counties are too greatly subsidised by T20, a lack of commercial investment in FC cricket and they go and sign Rashid Khans so it doesn't matter anyway, and then England leave a leading wicket-taker like Jack Leach out of their test team and the whole thing looks pointless.
Just a shame it's been delayed by a year so it clashes with the England team Playing India in the tests meaning the team line ups have gone a bit on the wonk from the original line ups.
I enjoyed watching the women playing India recently too so am planning to watch tonight's game.
What a massive pile of shite.
I'm just looking forward to the shots and giggles, and not giving a toss who wins.
Also I hope it is a major flop and we can go back to proper cricket
or 5 ball overs