The England and Wales Cricket board will sell stakes in the eight Hundred teams later this year and says the competition “will play a vital role in the future of our sport”.
An agreement between the ECB and the 18 first-class counties has been reached over the distribution of funds from the sales, set to be worth hundreds of millions.
Remember The Strauss Review? The one rejected by the Counties. Well look at who is heavily involved in buying into The Hundred!
The former England captain Andrew Strauss is in talks about buying into a Hundred franchise. Strauss’s investment company, TTB Sport Capital, is acting as a consultant on behalf of potential bidders from India, the US and the UK and could even make its own bid.
Strauss joined TTB Sport Capital last year with a brief to lead its cricket investment after two spells at the England and Wales Cricket Board, one as a director and the other in an advisory role, following his illustrious playing career. The 47-year-old is executive chairman and a shareholder in the company so would have a personal stake should it invest in one of the eight Hundred franchises.
Just checked the scores so far in the Hundred. The three opening games have seen teams batting first scoring 86, 138 and 89. Needless to say, the teams chasing won all three matches. The three games have lasted 157 balls (26.1 overs in old money), 189 balls (31.3 overs) and 150 balls (30 overs). Where are all the world class players that were promised for each and every game that would elevate it above the Blast?
Every mens game has been utter shit and one sided so far Sold out at the Oval looked empty at Old Trafford , quite busy as The Bowl
And a distinct lack of big overseas names as well, the ones who were meant to be attracted to the UK for the Hundred but not the Blast...
There's no one really in terms of Overseas that you wouldn't get in a standard year in the Blast. Clashing and not being able to financially compete with Major League Cricket has meant the big names have all gone there.
Just checked the scores so far in the Hundred. The three opening games have seen teams batting first scoring 86, 138 and 89. Needless to say, the teams chasing won all three matches. The three games have lasted 157 balls (26.1 overs in old money), 189 balls (31.3 overs) and 150 balls (30 overs). Where are all the world class players that were promised for each and every game that would elevate it above the Blast?
The Oval wicket was very lively with some excellent fast bowling from both teams. It wasn't looking good for the Invincibles until Sam Billings hit two 4s and one six in 5 balls. Mohammad Amir is a World class player making a one off appearance for the Invincibles and had figures of 2-7.
We're travelling down to Cardiff for the Invincibles game against Welsh Fire on Sunday. I'm looking forward to it, but my 9 year old is super excited and if it helps him get into cricket and it's something I can enjoy with him the beyond the Addicks I'm all for the Hundred.
Went to the game at the Oval with the kids who loved it, want to go again, and are now interested in cricket, but that's a bad thing according to some on here
My youngest went with Mrs , another mum and a few of his mates (who wouldn’t have seen live pro cricket before ) they enjoyed it they hung around waiting for autographs after but the players were eating a meal so they only got a couple of autographs from earlier on , the prized Sam Curran one and didn’t know who the other player was !
£20 for adult and £5 for kids good value
not for me but crack on
Don’t know why they didn’t jazz up the t20 Blast , although maybe cos that’s Indian owned as a concept and this Hundred is separately owned
I deliberately hadn’t revived this thread because, well, I know I’m in the minority.
I've watched every game so far and have loved it.
I really, really love Tammy Beaumont I do.
Anyway, carry on.
I'm a fan also and was looking forward to some after work cricket on the box. But all the games on this week have been absolute shockers tbh and if that were your first exposure to cricket you probably wouldn't come back.
Went to the game at the Oval with the kids who loved it, want to go again, and are now interested in cricket, but that's a bad thing according to some on here
As someone who has volunteered, on behalf of the game for almost 50 years, be it captaining, coaching, running fund raising events, sat on committees, colts secretary, scoring, umpiring etc etc and turned down every single penny for doing those things, I can assure you that I am very much with one for kids enjoying and becoming involved in cricket. They are the future. What I object to is certain people at the ECB who have now sailed off into the sunset with their millions inventing a competition that was only ever going to alienate its hardcore of support.
They could have re-vamped the Blast, negotiated for it to be shown on terrestrial TV and spent all the money that they did on The Hundred in doing that. Those same kids would still have become interested in the game without county championship matches being consigned to the whole of April, May and September and the 50 over competition becoming no more than a 2nd XI comp. These people are driven by money but without the volunteers the game is dead.
Went to the game at the Oval with the kids who loved it, want to go again, and are now interested in cricket, but that's a bad thing according to some on here
As someone who has volunteered, on behalf of the game for almost 50 years, be it captaining, coaching, running fund raising events, sat on committees, colts secretary, scoring, umpiring etc etc and turned down every single penny for doing those things, I can assure you that I am very much with one for kids enjoying and becoming involved in cricket. They are the future. What I object to is certain people at the ECB who have now sailed off into the sunset with their millions inventing a competition that was only ever going to alienate its hardcore of support.
They could have re-vamped the Blast, negotiated for it to be shown on terrestrial TV and spent all the money that they did on The Hundred in doing that. Those same kids would still have become interested in the game without county championship matches being consigned to the whole of April, May and September and the 50 over competition becoming no more than a 2nd XI comp. These people are driven by money but without the volunteers the game is dead.
The most Yes, but, answer you could ever write, and what I fully expected for someone who just has a bee in their bonnet over the concept
I'm interested enough to know what's happening and watched some of it on BBC, but the games they've shown so far have turned into, what I'd consider, no contests. I'd be disappointed if I'd attended one of those as I'd have expected better (more competitive) Incredibly naive batting from the teams batting first throwing wickets away.
My youngest went with Mrs , another mum and a few of his mates (who wouldn’t have seen live pro cricket before ) they enjoyed it they hung around waiting for autographs after but the players were eating a meal so they only got a couple of autographs from earlier on , the prized Sam Curran one and didn’t know who the other player was !
£20 for adult and £5 for kids good value
not for me but crack on
Don’t know why they didn’t jazz up the t20 Blast , although maybe cos that’s Indian owned as a concept and this Hundred is separately owned
The T20 format isn't owned by anyone, indeed we were the ones who created the modern T20 game with the Blast.
The problem with the Hundred is that it's added a second short form competition to the calendar, affecting other forms of cricket adversely ,and shunting the Blast out of the spotlight. And rather than 18 genuine teams competing, 8 artificial franchises have been created. So many of the same players as the Blast, but playing at different grounds.
Lancashire's Luke Wells for example was playing at Old Trafford last night, but for the away team, as he's playing for the Welsh in the Hundred.
Went to the game at the Oval with the kids who loved it, want to go again, and are now interested in cricket, but that's a bad thing according to some on here
As someone who has volunteered, on behalf of the game for almost 50 years, be it captaining, coaching, running fund raising events, sat on committees, colts secretary, scoring, umpiring etc etc and turned down every single penny for doing those things, I can assure you that I am very much with one for kids enjoying and becoming involved in cricket. They are the future. What I object to is certain people at the ECB who have now sailed off into the sunset with their millions inventing a competition that was only ever going to alienate its hardcore of support.
They could have re-vamped the Blast, negotiated for it to be shown on terrestrial TV and spent all the money that they did on The Hundred in doing that. Those same kids would still have become interested in the game without county championship matches being consigned to the whole of April, May and September and the 50 over competition becoming no more than a 2nd XI comp. These people are driven by money but without the volunteers the game is dead.
The most Yes, but, answer you could ever write, and what I fully expected for someone who just has a bee in their bonnet over the concept
Went to the game at the Oval with the kids who loved it, want to go again, and are now interested in cricket, but that's a bad thing according to some on here
As someone who has volunteered, on behalf of the game for almost 50 years, be it captaining, coaching, running fund raising events, sat on committees, colts secretary, scoring, umpiring etc etc and turned down every single penny for doing those things, I can assure you that I am very much with one for kids enjoying and becoming involved in cricket. They are the future. What I object to is certain people at the ECB who have now sailed off into the sunset with their millions inventing a competition that was only ever going to alienate its hardcore of support.
They could have re-vamped the Blast, negotiated for it to be shown on terrestrial TV and spent all the money that they did on The Hundred in doing that. Those same kids would still have become interested in the game without county championship matches being consigned to the whole of April, May and September and the 50 over competition becoming no more than a 2nd XI comp. These people are driven by money but without the volunteers the game is dead.
The most Yes, but, answer you could ever write, and what I fully expected for someone who just has a bee in their bonnet over the concept
What does this mean? It makes no sense.
Perfect sense, it's a proper, yes great you enjoy it, BUT PLEASE THINK OF PEOPLE LIKE ME, type post. Sod the kids, worry about the members of effectively insolvent businesses instead
Went to the game at the Oval with the kids who loved it, want to go again, and are now interested in cricket, but that's a bad thing according to some on here
As someone who has volunteered, on behalf of the game for almost 50 years, be it captaining, coaching, running fund raising events, sat on committees, colts secretary, scoring, umpiring etc etc and turned down every single penny for doing those things, I can assure you that I am very much with one for kids enjoying and becoming involved in cricket. They are the future. What I object to is certain people at the ECB who have now sailed off into the sunset with their millions inventing a competition that was only ever going to alienate its hardcore of support.
They could have re-vamped the Blast, negotiated for it to be shown on terrestrial TV and spent all the money that they did on The Hundred in doing that. Those same kids would still have become interested in the game without county championship matches being consigned to the whole of April, May and September and the 50 over competition becoming no more than a 2nd XI comp. These people are driven by money but without the volunteers the game is dead.
The most Yes, but, answer you could ever write, and what I fully expected for someone who just has a bee in their bonnet over the concept
What does this mean? It makes no sense.
Perfect sense, it's a proper, yes great you enjoy it, BUT PLEASE THINK OF PEOPLE LIKE ME, type post. Sod the kids, worry about the members of effectively insolvent businesses instead
Not a single person has at any stage said, or even insinuated, "Sod the kids". In fact the very opposite is true. It has been pointed out repeated that moving from an 18 team competition played across 30+ venues is intrinsincly less accessible to kids across the whole country than a competition with far fewer games played across just 8 venues.
Yes, its fantastic that the 100 is available on free to air TV, but once again, those arguing against the 100 are saying it would have been far cheaper to just make the blast available free to air.
Add to that the inevitable loss of a lot of these kids who when they find out that every other form of cricket works differently to the 100 they've been exposed to and learnt, and they now have to relearn a load of rules. Kids aren't exactly known for their long attention span and a sizable minority will simply ditch it in favour of the next fad off the rank than spend the time learning the various differences between 100 and T20, let alone T20 and 50 over and Test cricket.
If bringing in new fans is the sole aim, then making the route to loving the game more complex is crazy, and alienating existing fans at the same time is doubly stupid.
Went to the game at the Oval with the kids who loved it, want to go again, and are now interested in cricket, but that's a bad thing according to some on here
As someone who has volunteered, on behalf of the game for almost 50 years, be it captaining, coaching, running fund raising events, sat on committees, colts secretary, scoring, umpiring etc etc and turned down every single penny for doing those things, I can assure you that I am very much with one for kids enjoying and becoming involved in cricket. They are the future. What I object to is certain people at the ECB who have now sailed off into the sunset with their millions inventing a competition that was only ever going to alienate its hardcore of support.
They could have re-vamped the Blast, negotiated for it to be shown on terrestrial TV and spent all the money that they did on The Hundred in doing that. Those same kids would still have become interested in the game without county championship matches being consigned to the whole of April, May and September and the 50 over competition becoming no more than a 2nd XI comp. These people are driven by money but without the volunteers the game is dead.
The most Yes, but, answer you could ever write, and what I fully expected for someone who just has a bee in their bonnet over the concept
What does this mean? It makes no sense.
Perfect sense, it's a proper, yes great you enjoy it, BUT PLEASE THINK OF PEOPLE LIKE ME, type post. Sod the kids, worry about the members of effectively insolvent businesses instead
The kids can and do watch all types of cricket and it is fantastic that they do. What makes the Hundred so different from the Blast? The only reason they can't watch the Blast, a county championship game or even an Ashes Test, as was the case last year for the first time, during the school holidays is because of the Hundred being scheduled during that period. We even have the ludicrous situation where the final stages of the Blast have to be held in September for that reason - and without some of the overseas players that got those counties there.
But as the kids are the agreed priority because they are the future of the game, what is the pathway for them to The Hundred if the counties are allowed to go bust? The counties are the lifeblood of the game for the very reason that they provide that and I can't for the life of me find any age group sides for the eight franchises. So, if the kids want to play international red or white ball cricket, what is that pathway given that we've done away with the counties? Or is it just important to retain the 8 counties that are attached to the Hundred franchises? In which case, good luck if a 14 year old that lives hundreds of miles away from one because they won't be making any evening training sessions. So much for the ECB and inclusivity, eh?
Finally, who was the bloke at the ECB who insisted that county age group sides played more white ball and a lot less red ball cricket (because that is what the ECB can do and will withhold funding to the counties if they don't)? Who was the ECB Director of England cricket who endlessly promoted the Hundred? Who was the person that then led a review of English cricket that was rejected by the counties? And who is the owner of an investment company, TTB Sport Capital, who is looking to buy one of the franchises? They are all Andrew Strauss. It's almost as if he planned it all.
Went to the game at the Oval with the kids who loved it, want to go again, and are now interested in cricket, but that's a bad thing according to some on here
As someone who has volunteered, on behalf of the game for almost 50 years, be it captaining, coaching, running fund raising events, sat on committees, colts secretary, scoring, umpiring etc etc and turned down every single penny for doing those things, I can assure you that I am very much with one for kids enjoying and becoming involved in cricket. They are the future. What I object to is certain people at the ECB who have now sailed off into the sunset with their millions inventing a competition that was only ever going to alienate its hardcore of support.
They could have re-vamped the Blast, negotiated for it to be shown on terrestrial TV and spent all the money that they did on The Hundred in doing that. Those same kids would still have become interested in the game without county championship matches being consigned to the whole of April, May and September and the 50 over competition becoming no more than a 2nd XI comp. These people are driven by money but without the volunteers the game is dead.
The most Yes, but, answer you could ever write, and what I fully expected for someone who just has a bee in their bonnet over the concept
I'm watching the test and the hundred and loving both.
And I'm watching the Test and the 50 over comp and loving them both
And writing on The Hundred thread... 😉
And the Kent thread. And the England thread. And any number of other threads. It's the gift of multi-tasking afforded to only some people so I'm told. And I don't have to watch the Hundred to comment on the damage it has done to the game as a whole.
I'm watching the test and the hundred and loving both.
And I'm watching the Test and the 50 over comp and loving them both
And writing on The Hundred thread... 😉
And the Kent thread. And the England thread. And any number of other threads. It's the gift of multi-tasking afforded to only some people so I'm told. And I don't have to watch the Hundred to comment on the damage it has done to the game as a whole.
Comments
The England and Wales Cricket board will sell stakes in the eight Hundred teams later this year and says the competition “will play a vital role in the future of our sport”.
An agreement between the ECB and the 18 first-class counties has been reached over the distribution of funds from the sales, set to be worth hundreds of millions.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/c511k00x3mlo
The former England captain Andrew Strauss is in talks about buying into a Hundred franchise. Strauss’s investment company, TTB Sport Capital, is acting as a consultant on behalf of potential bidders from India, the US and the UK and could even make its own bid.
Strauss joined TTB Sport Capital last year with a brief to lead its cricket investment after two spells at the England and Wales Cricket Board, one as a director and the other in an advisory role, following his illustrious playing career. The 47-year-old is executive chairman and a shareholder in the company so would have a personal stake should it invest in one of the eight Hundred franchises.
Sold out at the Oval looked empty at Old Trafford , quite busy as The Bowl
I've watched every game so far and have loved it.
I really, really love Tammy Beaumont I do.
Anyway, carry on.
There's no one really in terms of Overseas that you wouldn't get in a standard year in the Blast. Clashing and not being able to financially compete with Major League Cricket has meant the big names have all gone there.
they hung around waiting for autographs after but the players were eating a meal so they only got a couple of autographs from earlier on , the prized Sam Curran one and didn’t know who the other player was !
£20 for adult and £5 for kids good value
not for me but crack on
Don’t know why they didn’t jazz up the t20 Blast , although maybe cos that’s Indian owned as a concept and this Hundred is separately owned
Fingers crossed the quality improves ASAP!
They could have re-vamped the Blast, negotiated for it to be shown on terrestrial TV and spent all the money that they did on The Hundred in doing that. Those same kids would still have become interested in the game without county championship matches being consigned to the whole of April, May and September and the 50 over competition becoming no more than a 2nd XI comp. These people are driven by money but without the volunteers the game is dead.
The problem with the Hundred is that it's added a second short form competition to the calendar, affecting other forms of cricket adversely ,and shunting the Blast out of the spotlight. And rather than 18 genuine teams competing, 8 artificial franchises have been created. So many of the same players as the Blast, but playing at different grounds.
Lancashire's Luke Wells for example was playing at Old Trafford last night, but for the away team, as he's playing for the Welsh in the Hundred.
Yes, its fantastic that the 100 is available on free to air TV, but once again, those arguing against the 100 are saying it would have been far cheaper to just make the blast available free to air.
Add to that the inevitable loss of a lot of these kids who when they find out that every other form of cricket works differently to the 100 they've been exposed to and learnt, and they now have to relearn a load of rules. Kids aren't exactly known for their long attention span and a sizable minority will simply ditch it in favour of the next fad off the rank than spend the time learning the various differences between 100 and T20, let alone T20 and 50 over and Test cricket.
If bringing in new fans is the sole aim, then making the route to loving the game more complex is crazy, and alienating existing fans at the same time is doubly stupid.
Plus, this is all based on the argument that we need to grow that game at all costs. What is the aim here? Cricket is already second most watched global sport, how much further can it possibly expand?
https://bestdiplomats.org/most-popular-sports-in-the-world/#:~:text=Soccer is the most popular,transcend cultural and linguistic barriers.
The kids can and do watch all types of cricket and it is fantastic that they do. What makes the Hundred so different from the Blast? The only reason they can't watch the Blast, a county championship game or even an Ashes Test, as was the case last year for the first time, during the school holidays is because of the Hundred being scheduled during that period. We even have the ludicrous situation where the final stages of the Blast have to be held in September for that reason - and without some of the overseas players that got those counties there.
But as the kids are the agreed priority because they are the future of the game, what is the pathway for them to The Hundred if the counties are allowed to go bust? The counties are the lifeblood of the game for the very reason that they provide that and I can't for the life of me find any age group sides for the eight franchises. So, if the kids want to play international red or white ball cricket, what is that pathway given that we've done away with the counties? Or is it just important to retain the 8 counties that are attached to the Hundred franchises? In which case, good luck if a 14 year old that lives hundreds of miles away from one because they won't be making any evening training sessions. So much for the ECB and inclusivity, eh?
Finally, who was the bloke at the ECB who insisted that county age group sides played more white ball and a lot less red ball cricket (because that is what the ECB can do and will withhold funding to the counties if they don't)? Who was the ECB Director of England cricket who endlessly promoted the Hundred? Who was the person that then led a review of English cricket that was rejected by the counties? And who is the owner of an investment company, TTB Sport Capital, who is looking to buy one of the franchises? They are all Andrew Strauss. It's almost as if he planned it all.
And I'm watching the Test and the 50 over comp and loving them both