Source: Tom Shaw for the ECB

The Hundred – What do you think?

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I was interested to see how the game would develop and what the reaction would be from seasoned cricket fans and also new spectators.

Overall it would seem that the positive comments outweigh the negative.

The game started slowly and to begin with was a little overwhelmed by the razzmatazz, the horrible graphics that take up too much of the screen and the sometimes painful interviews with small children in the crowd (never work with children!).

Players now enter the field via a special entrance – more like a boxing event than cricket and a white card is wafted around by the umpire when 5 balls have been bowled – the latter a very strange addition.

The opening game, a stand alone women’s fixture Oval Invincibles v Manchester Originals felt in the beginning as if they were trying to contrive a bigger spectacle, and manufacture excitement about the event rather than focus on the cricket.

Eventually though, in my opinion, the cricket won the contest, Oval Invincibles fought back to win an exciting game, and Mady Villiers hitting Sophie Ecclestone for a six in Ecclestone’s last bowling spell was a sight to behold.

The good thing is that more people will get to see the incredible talent in the women’s game from the grace of Harmanpreet Kaur to the fast hands of wicket keeper Ellie Threlkeld, the power of Lizelle Lee and the bowling of Sophie Ecclestone to name but a few of the players on show last evening.

The aim is obviously to encourage younger players to take up the bat – I hope it works. I have been encouraged to see, at just about every cricket match played this year so far, a great age mixture in the crowd, particularly youngsters and last evening was no exception.

It will be interesting to see how the competition develops but I do hope they do something about the graphics.

What do you think?

One Comments

  1. *As seen on GB-TV, a well-known politician asked former England cricketer Monty Panesar in the cold light of day: ”Why are they messing about with cricket?” Without hesitation, Monty said it was to ‘expand the game’ and ‘attract a new audience’. *Asked about ‘cricket with fireworks’, Monty emphasised the quality of cricket was important, adding that it was a surprise to hit ‘highest record (numbers of viewers) watching the women’s game on TV’ (and Youtube) *In summary, yes, more people are watching, but it’s too early to say whether (on the strength of one match to date) more youngsters will take up the bat *For postscript, Monty twice appeared on TV’s University Challenge for Loughboro’ alongside Naomi Dattani. On that occasion, Naomi boldly announced she was playing in ‘The Hundred.’ Expect see Naomi playing her first match later today!

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