One of the attractions (not for me but I assume others) of The Hundred is that the shorter you make a game the greater the chance of a close finish. This forgets the fact that a one-sided game is dull (IMHO).
Just watching a bit of the skips v the chips. Skips doing ok. Apart from the first game when this "competition" came about haven't seen another match so I forgot how awful the scoreboard on the screen is.
Am surprised that the people running golf haven’t looked at televising crazy golf as a way to get more people into watching the sport. The same concept is being applied to cricket with the crap that is the hundred……
Am surprised that the people running golf haven’t looked at televising crazy golf as a way to get more people into watching the sport. The same concept is being applied to cricket with the crap that is the hundred……
Oval invincibles Spencer Johnson 20 balls 3 wickets for 1 run
Crazy thing is he could not have taken the wickets and probably still have been the best player, only conceding one run from a 5th of the balls in a whole innings is mad.
ECB data says 580,000 tickets were sold for the tournament (more than the first two years), with around 300,000 people in early enough for the women’s games. The women’s final had an attendance of 21,636, a record for women’s cricket in the UK. Indeed, record ground attendances of well over 10,000 have been daily occurrences for women’s matches. The target demographic is being tapped: 30 per cent of ticket-holders were women, 23 per cent were kids, and 41 per cent families.
It is not for everyone — and, of course, it never will be — but as Oval Invincibles provided the final flourish to the third season of the Hundred, here was a spectacle that, you suspect, administrators had in their mind’s eye when devising the competition. On a late summer’s evening, Lord’s was sold out; even the pavilion was crowded. The spectators were notably younger than the hordes who take their seats here for Test cricket, with a striking number draped in the green of Oval Invincibles. Twenty-one thousand fans had already been in place to see Southern Brave clinch the women’s tournament; men’s and women’s double-headers were not in the original plans for the Hundred before Covid-19, even for the final, but have proved to be the most successful feature of the competition. For many at Lord’s, you sensed that the Hundred, after three seasons, was moving from curious novelty to accepted part of the English season.
The Hundred 2023: Best season shows it might be on to something
BBC Most moderate fans can see the benefits. The yet-to-be answered question is whether the value outweighs the losses, set against the backdrop of the fact no one seems to be suggesting a better alternative.
From a television perspective, the average number of viewers per men's game is up eight per cent to 400,000, while the women's average viewers per match on Sky Sports has grown 20 per cent to 132,000.
Sam Curran is the latest high-profile England player to believe the Hundred is growing its fan base and becoming an accepted part of the English summer....
The Hundred cannot be branded as the best versus the best of the global cricketing elite. There is a genuine issue with attracting — or not attracting — the biggest overseas stars and this problem is only set to get worse.
In the men’s competition, the quality of foreign players is low-rent at best. None of the Australian Ashes stars stayed on after the conclusion of the series in July and both Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Marsh pulled out on the eve of the tournament, as did the Afghanistan spin bowler Rashid Khan, arguably the biggest-name overseas player on the roster.
There are no Indian players in the men’s tournament and nor are there likely to be at any point. The Indian board, the BCCI, continues to resist giving its players No Objection Certificates to play in domestic tournaments in other countries. In the future, it is likely to do so only for franchise tournaments that have links to IPL franchises, such as the SA20 in South Africa, the UAE-based ILT20, and Major League Cricket (MLC) in the United States.
It is the latter, which took place for the first time this summer just before the Hundred in July, that poses the biggest threat to the ECB’s competition. As MLC expands in future years, so there is likely to be a direct schedule clash with the Hundred, but the American competition has access to much greater financial resources, with backing from Microsoft and the IPL franchise owners. To attract the biggest names, the Hundred would need to considerably up the value of its top contracts (presently £125,000). There is one big problem with that — the tournament isn’t making any money, and nor is it likely to.
There is a stated aim to try to lower the gap between the men’s and women’s salaries too — the top women’s contract is £35,000 — but it will be difficult to do that while increasing the money on offer on the men’s side to compete with other tournaments. One option for the ECB would be to try to attract private capital, but that would involve selling off either the tournament in its entirety or the individual teams, as is the case in the IPL, for example.
The more choice players are given, the more likely they are to gravitate towards the tournaments offering the most valuable contracts. When deciding on their workloads and periods of rest, they are more likely to skip the less lucrative competitions, such as the Hundred.
For the tournament’s critics, the quality of the cricket has never been the issue, rather the effect it has on the rest of the English cricketing landscape by squeezing county cricket out of the height of summer and devaluing the T20 Blast and One-Day Cup. The fact that the Hundred was given its own window this summer meant the final Test of the English season ended on July 31 and there was no international cricket at all in August — something that did not go down well with seasoned cricket fans.
Meanwhile England cricket (the proper cricket season) resumed tonight with the crowd having to wear coats and wooly hats.
I'm off to the day/night ODI at Lord's in a couple of weeks and will presumably be taking wooly hat & gloves, all thanks to The Hundred.
Let's hope this doesn't spread to football, where the season closes down in December so we can have a month of the South London Invincibles v The Northern Superchargers.
ECB data says 580,000 tickets were sold for the tournament (more than the first two years), with around 300,000 people in early enough for the women’s games. The women’s final had an attendance of 21,636, a record for women’s cricket in the UK. Indeed, record ground attendances of well over 10,000 have been daily occurrences for women’s matches. The target demographic is being tapped: 30 per cent of ticket-holders were women, 23 per cent were kids, and 41 per cent families.
it's still cr@p though. Tickets will include freebies. What the stars say doesn't equal what they think
Think whatever happens with the Hundred the MLC may cause real issues with the English season. IMO it would seem to be sensible to have a Global Calendar to prevent overlaps between tournaments worldwide. If players are only after the money, the flogging their wares in the CC may not be as attractive as a few weeks on the West Coast of the US earning better money.
The Daily Telegraph says it’s a success - must be true!
Sounds like a desperate attempt to convince people to me………..
Why would The Telegraph (and BBC and Sky and so forth) be desperate to convince people?
Four of six totally OTT quotes were from one paper and the Sky & BBC comments hardly qualify as ringing and enthusiastic endorsements.
Personally I think it being oversold because it’s been total a financial disaster, has failed across the board and is widely and justly reviled by the overwhelming majority of cricket fans.
The Daily Telegraph says it’s a success - must be true!
Sounds like a desperate attempt to convince people to me………..
Why would The Telegraph (and BBC and Sky and so forth) be desperate to convince people?
Four of six totally OTT quotes were from one paper and the Sky & BBC comments hardly qualify as ringing and enthusiastic endorsements.
Personally I think it being oversold because it’s been total a financial disaster, has failed across the board and is widely and justly reviled by the overwhelming majority of cricket fans.
Without getting into the same arguments, the final was a pretty disappointing affair really, if you're trying to create a spectacle to rival the big T20 competitions. All that effort to create a short franchise tournament so that the best overseas players could feature, and most of the ones who had played had left already.
Jimmy Neesham is a fine white ball player, but has played for several counties in the T20 Blast previously, while both sides had Irish players in them.
There were still good players on display of course, but that's because English counties these days produce lots of good T20 players.
Comments
Crazy thing is he could not have taken the wickets and probably still have been the best player, only conceding one run from a 5th of the balls in a whole innings is mad.
he bowls to the left...
The Hundred has been a roaring success this year
The TelegraphECB data says 580,000 tickets were sold for the tournament (more than the first two years), with around 300,000 people in early enough for the women’s games. The women’s final had an attendance of 21,636, a record for women’s cricket in the UK. Indeed, record ground attendances of well over 10,000 have been daily occurrences for women’s matches. The target demographic is being tapped: 30 per cent of ticket-holders were women, 23 per cent were kids, and 41 per cent families.
The Hundred can save county cricket – the ECB must not rip it up
The TelegraphIt’s time to accept much-maligned competition is a success and, rather than undermine it, use its popularity to guarantee the sport’s future.
Oval Invincibles were crowned champions but the real winner was the Hundred
The TelegraphThe Hundred 2023: Best season shows it might be on to something
BBCMost moderate fans can see the benefits. The yet-to-be answered question is whether the value outweighs the losses, set against the backdrop of the fact no one seems to be suggesting a better alternative.
The Hundred shatters attendance records and increases TV viewing figures across men's and women's competition
SkyFrom a television perspective, the average number of viewers per men's game is up eight per cent to 400,000, while the women's average viewers per match on Sky Sports has grown 20 per cent to 132,000.
Sam Curran: English cricket needs to accept the Hundred
Sam Curran is the latest high-profile England player to believe the Hundred is growing its fan base and becoming an accepted part of the English summer....
In the men’s competition, the quality of foreign players is low-rent at best. None of the Australian Ashes stars stayed on after the conclusion of the series in July and both Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Marsh pulled out on the eve of the tournament, as did the Afghanistan spin bowler Rashid Khan, arguably the biggest-name overseas player on the roster.
There are no Indian players in the men’s tournament and nor are there likely to be at any point. The Indian board, the BCCI, continues to resist giving its players No Objection Certificates to play in domestic tournaments in other countries. In the future, it is likely to do so only for franchise tournaments that have links to IPL franchises, such as the SA20 in South Africa, the UAE-based ILT20, and Major League Cricket (MLC) in the United States.
It is the latter, which took place for the first time this summer just before the Hundred in July, that poses the biggest threat to the ECB’s competition. As MLC expands in future years, so there is likely to be a direct schedule clash with the Hundred, but the American competition has access to much greater financial resources, with backing from Microsoft and the IPL franchise owners. To attract the biggest names, the Hundred would need to considerably up the value of its top contracts (presently £125,000). There is one big problem with that — the tournament isn’t making any money, and nor is it likely to.
The tournament made a loss of £9 million in its first two years, which amounted to £37.1 million after factoring in staging costs and the £24.7 million paid to counties and the MCC by the ECB in return for supporting the competition. While it is not unusual for such competitions not to make money initially (the Big Bash in Australia ran at a loss for its first five years), with a broadcasting deal with Sky locked in until 2028, there is limited scope for additional TV revenue. Raising ticket revenue will not be possible without raising the prices (and they won’t want to do that) and the sponsorship market is incredibly difficult at present.
There is a stated aim to try to lower the gap between the men’s and women’s salaries too — the top women’s contract is £35,000 — but it will be difficult to do that while increasing the money on offer on the men’s side to compete with other tournaments. One option for the ECB would be to try to attract private capital, but that would involve selling off either the tournament in its entirety or the individual teams, as is the case in the IPL, for example.
The more choice players are given, the more likely they are to gravitate towards the tournaments offering the most valuable contracts. When deciding on their workloads and periods of rest, they are more likely to skip the less lucrative competitions, such as the Hundred.
For the tournament’s critics, the quality of the cricket has never been the issue, rather the effect it has on the rest of the English cricketing landscape by squeezing county cricket out of the height of summer and devaluing the T20 Blast and One-Day Cup. The fact that the Hundred was given its own window this summer meant the final Test of the English season ended on July 31 and there was no international cricket at all in August — something that did not go down well with seasoned cricket fans.
Presumably this figure includes those that were freebies ?
Is The Telegraph the only paper to become orgasmic over said competition ?
And are we surprised by one of the "stars" of the winning team praising its merits ?
SO many questions !
Meanwhile England cricket (the proper cricket season) resumed tonight with the crowd having to wear coats and wooly hats.
I'm off to the day/night ODI at Lord's in a couple of weeks and will presumably be taking wooly hat & gloves, all thanks to The Hundred.
Let's hope this doesn't spread to football, where the season closes down in December so we can have a month of the South London Invincibles v The Northern Superchargers.
Sounds like a desperate attempt to convince people to me………..
Is Prime Hydration or the other energy drinks actually any good? Or their 'popularity just 'hype' and no substance or longevity?
Personally I think it being oversold because it’s been total a financial disaster, has failed across the board and is widely and justly reviled by the overwhelming majority of cricket fans.
Jimmy Neesham is a fine white ball player, but has played for several counties in the T20 Blast previously, while both sides had Irish players in them.
There were still good players on display of course, but that's because English counties these days produce lots of good T20 players.