The Hundred

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Tue 01 Oct 2019, 6:53 pm

First topic message reminder :

England's World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan, West Indies batsman Chris Gayle and Australia's Steve Smith have made themselves available for The Hundred player draft on 20 October.

The inaugural 100-ball competition, which is comprised of eight city-based teams, takes place next summer from 17 July-16 August.

Other big names to have stated their interest include Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan, Australia opener David Warner and former Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi.

England's contracted Test players such as Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer are not on the list because they will be part of an initial draft for England's red-ball cricketers on Thursday.

In that mini draft, teams will select up to three players, with the Leeds-based side, for instance, having to choose between Root, Stokes and Jonny Bairstow as their first pick.

They will also have the opportunity to select local icons. The eight teams will be based in London (two teams), Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Nottingham, Cardiff and Southampton.

The main draft will be held later this month and among the other international cricketers to have made themselves available for the competition are Shakib Al Hasan, Moeen Ali, Babar Azam, Tom Curran, Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis, Aaron Finch, Lasith Malinga, Kieron Pollard, Kagiso Rabada, Jason Roy, Mitchell Starc and Kane Williamson.

Players are able to set a reserve price for their services, with each team having two spaces in their squad in each of the following pay brackets: £125,000, £100,000, £75,000, £60,000, £50,000, £40,000 and £30,000.

Taken from the BBC Sport draft. I know that there isn't a lot of fans of it on here...but the actual cricket itself and standard of it will be quite high I think. Certainly is attracting some big names

by Marky Mon 21 Oct 2019, 9:50 am

I've fully taken on my role as a Southern Brave supporter (as a Sussex fan, I had a choice of Hampshire or Surrey, but followed Jofra), the draft went pretty well for them. I didn't expect everybody to pass on Chris Gayle, purely for the star power.

by **Afro** Mon 21 Oct 2019, 9:53 am

My "local" franchise, Welsh Fire(feels like it needs an !) have quite an old squad.

by **LondonTiger** Mon 21 Oct 2019, 10:54 am

Marky wrote:I've fully taken on my role as a Southern Brave supporter (as a Sussex fan, I had a choice of Hampshire or Surrey, but followed Jofra), the draft went pretty well for them. I didn't expect everybody to pass on Chris Gayle, purely for the star power.

With small squads, £125k on a player purely for star power could have been deemed a bit rich.

In the first section (only one Gayle was eligible for) Birmingham, London & Oval had just one pick and went for Livingstone (interesting), Maxwell & Narine.

Other picks at £125k were: Rashid Khan, D'Arcy Short, Andre Russell, David Warner, Aaron Finch, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Mitchell Star, Steve Smith, Imran Tahir & Dane Vilas (another interesting one).

Malinga and Rabada also missed out at the £125k stage, in part due to teams generally looking for a mystery spinner or explosive batting (Noting that with short straight boundaries Welsh Fire opted for Starc's pace).

by Marky Mon 21 Oct 2019, 10:58 am

LondonTiger wrote:
Marky wrote:I've fully taken on my role as a Southern Brave supporter (as a Sussex fan, I had a choice of Hampshire or Surrey, but followed Jofra), the draft went pretty well for them. I didn't expect everybody to pass on Chris Gayle, purely for the star power.

With small squads, £125k on a player purely for star power could have been deemed a bit rich.

Agreed, although he's still good enough at the short form of the game as an opener, with the occasional bit of spin. I think when there will be so much emphasis on being able to field as well, it probably explains his absence. Warner was a great pick up.

by **Afro** Mon 21 Oct 2019, 11:11 am

The one thing I'm pleased with Welsh Fire is that we seem to have good options for captain. I'm guessing it would be ten Doeschate.

In a format of only 100 balls, making good decisions is going to be important.

by Marky Mon 21 Oct 2019, 12:00 pm

I look forward to the "last two left derby" Afro Laugh

Two London sides, two Northern sides, two Midlands sides...

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Mon 21 Oct 2019, 12:03 pm

Afro wrote:The one thing I'm pleased with Welsh Fire is that we seem to have good options for captain. I'm guessing it would be ten Doeschate.

In a format of only 100 balls, making good decisions is going to be important.

Welsh Fire have a good looking XI to me Afro - as do the Northern Superchargers and Birmingham Phoenix.

Manchester I am not enthused by...Dane Vilas for 125k was the worst pick of the draft by some margin

by **Afro** Mon 21 Oct 2019, 12:10 pm

Marky wrote:I look forward to the "last two left derby" Afro

Two London sides, two Northern sides, two Midlands sides...

The backwaters derby. I've started eating more Hula Hoops to show my support already

by **Afro** Mon 21 Oct 2019, 12:12 pm

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:
Afro wrote:The one thing I'm pleased with Welsh Fire is that we seem to have good options for captain. I'm guessing it would be ten Doeschate.

In a format of only 100 balls, making good decisions is going to be important.

Welsh Fire have a good looking XI to me Afro - as do the Northern Superchargers and Birmingham Phoenix.

Manchester I am not enthused by...Dane Vilas for 125k was the worst pick of the draft by some margin

I quite like our picks as well tbh.

For me, even as a Somerset fan, I was massively surprised by their picking of Tom Abell and Ed Byrom. Made me wonder is Jos was just trying to get him mates selected, and whether to expect them to pick up Leach as their "mystery" spinner

by GSC Mon 21 Oct 2019, 3:02 pm

Trent picking Luke Fletcher tells you how seriously they took it Laugh

by Gooseberry Mon 21 Oct 2019, 3:18 pm

Theres a few names I barely recognise let alone known much about but most of Trents squad looked pretty good. They do seem to have shown some faith in local old boys who have experience on the global T20 circuit ( Gurney, Wright)
Hales is a great pick up for them if he is off the drugs and back on track as a human.

Overall looking at all the squads there is a disappointing number of journeyman and kolpaks ( something something brexit) but at least most of the overseas spots have gone to top class talent.

by Marky Mon 21 Oct 2019, 3:49 pm

Luke Wright was a great pickup, really surprised he was still available at the end.

by **Afro** Mon 21 Oct 2019, 3:54 pm

And Dawid Malan was a bargain too

by guildfordbat Mon 21 Oct 2019, 4:47 pm

GSC wrote:Trent picking Luke Fletcher tells you how seriously they took it

Hi GSC - probably best to say that online than to Fletch's face! Wink

More seriously, some teams do seem to have picked from their locality whilst others have spread the net more widely.

I note a few references to journeymen type selections. Whilst there appears more than a grain of truth in that, we should probably also accept that some of the coaches might know a bit more than us. Two of the early picks last night were Ravi Rampaul and Roelof van der Merwe - surprising in some ways as both are some way off being household names. However, having checked further, their recent county t20 stats stand up well to scrutiny.

by **LondonTiger** Mon 21 Oct 2019, 5:28 pm

My issue with those two GB is that being Kolpak they count as Domestic Players.

There were 3 main objectives of the Hundred afaik:

1) Generate Income
2) Bring in new fans
3) Create an elite environment for English players to learn and develop.

The liberal use of Kolpak players seems not to hit 1 & 2 and deprives genuine domestic players of a chance to shine. It will though make the 50 over competition interesting.

by GSC Mon 21 Oct 2019, 5:47 pm

I'm not sure how feasible it wouldve been but wouldve liked to see a quota on young english players per squad

by GSC Mon 21 Oct 2019, 5:48 pm

guildfordbat wrote:
GSC wrote:Trent picking Luke Fletcher tells you how seriously they took it

Hi GSC - probably best to say that online than to Fletch's face!

More seriously, some teams do seem to have picked from their locality whilst others have spread the net more widely.

I note a few references to journeymen type selections. Whilst there appears more than a grain of truth in that, we should probably also accept that some of the coaches might know a bit more than us. Two of the early picks last night were Ravi Rampaul and Roelof van der Merwe - surprising in some ways as both are some way off being household names. However, having checked further, their recent county t20 stats stand up well to scrutiny.

Haha, true, more he was the last of what seemed like 6 straight Notts players

by guildfordbat Mon 21 Oct 2019, 5:52 pm

LondonTiger wrote:My issue with those two GB is that being Kolpak they count as Domestic Players.

There were 3 main objectives of the Hundred afaik:

1) Generate Income
2) Bring in new fans
3) Create an elite environment for English players to learn and develop.

The liberal use of Kolpak players seems not to hit 1 & 2 and deprives genuine domestic players of a chance to shine. It will though make the 50 over competition interesting.

Hi Tiger - I get why you have an issue although I was only looking at things from the coaches' perspective last night of picking a good and decent squad from those available.

Btw, you put forward the objectives of the Hundred in a far clearer way than the ECB have ever done!

by Steffan Mon 21 Oct 2019, 10:05 pm

Welsh Fire sign Steve Smith and Mitchell Starc

I might have to attend some games at this rate

With all of south Wales cricket fans supporting us along with some people from western England making the journey I am sure the crowds will be big

Wales

by Steffan Mon 21 Oct 2019, 10:22 pm

Afro wrote:My "local" franchise, Welsh Fire

I am sure you can get behind us Welsh Fire

If you're in Cardiff at all for a match and fancy a beer then then let me know

Don't worry I'll have a word with the boys and make sure they don't all start speaking Welsh as soon as you walk in the pub just to annoy you and be ignorant

We do that all the time apparently (in a paranoid fantasy world) laughing

by TightHEAD Thu 28 Nov 2019, 11:37 am

Steffan wrote:Welsh Fire sign Steve Smith and Mitchell Starc

I might have to attend some games at this rate

With all of south Wales cricket fans supporting us along with some people from western England making the journey I am sure the crowds will be big

The crowds are never big there lol.

Fingers crossed the 100 flops and costs the ECB lots of ££££££££££s, heads should roll.

Disgruntled Somerset Fan. thumbsup

by Gooseberry Wed 12 Feb 2020, 12:13 pm

I know it's cheap and easy to know the 100 but given this format was pushed at providing a short event for the time/concentration poor family and casual fan ...why on earth are they doing double header fixtures which run slightly longer than a T20

by guildfordbat Wed 12 Feb 2020, 1:46 pm

Gooseberry wrote:I know it's cheap and easy to know the 100 but given this format was pushed at providing a short event for the time/concentration poor family and casual fan ...why on earth are they doing double header fixtures which run slightly longer than a T20

Aren't though the 100 double headers a men's game and a women's game so as to try and generate more interest in the latter?

by Duty281 Tue 20 Jul 2021, 6:25 pm

Hundred starts tomorrow. 60-over, 50-over, 40-over, 20-over, 10-over, lucky dip under Duckworth-Lewis...all those have been tried. Now time for 100 balls. Will it be the colossal and embarrassing failure I think it will be, or will it actually be a monumental success?

With team mottos like this one - Follow Southern Brave, and go boldly where others shy away. Endlessly curious, with an insatiable appetite for adventure, what’s over the horizon? - how can it possibly fail?

by JDizzle Tue 20 Jul 2021, 6:46 pm

I'm looking forward to it. We've seen the depth England have in their white ball teams, and I hope that quality will carry it to being a success. As much effort as they want to put into the razzmatazz and promotion, the product has to be good and I think it will be. I'm going on Sunday, should be a good day!

For us more in depth followers, there are certainly some quirks to the rules - a bowler can, in theory, bowl 20 out of 25 balls in the PP or at the death. Interested to see how teams use that.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Tue 20 Jul 2021, 11:00 pm

JDizzle wrote:I'm looking forward to it. We've seen the depth England have in their white ball teams, and I hope that quality will carry it to being a success. As much effort as they want to put into the razzmatazz and promotion, the product has to be good and I think it will be. I'm going on Sunday, should be a good day!

For us more in depth followers, there are certainly some quirks to the rules - a bowler can, in theory, bowl 20 out of 25 balls in the PP or at the death. Interested to see how teams use that.

20 balls of Tom Curran at the death - nightmare fuel

by guildfordbat Wed 21 Jul 2021, 9:25 am

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:
JDizzle wrote:I'm looking forward to it. We've seen the depth England have in their white ball teams, and I hope that quality will carry it to being a success. As much effort as they want to put into the razzmatazz and promotion, the product has to be good and I think it will be. I'm going on Sunday, should be a good day!

For us more in depth followers, there are certainly some quirks to the rules - a bowler can, in theory, bowl 20 out of 25 balls in the PP or at the death. Interested to see how teams use that.

20 balls of Tom Curran at the death - nightmare fuel

As seen and remembered by older posters, Joel Garner would have given slim pickings from 20 balls out of 25 - eh, Alfie? Smile

by GSC Wed 21 Jul 2021, 9:34 am

I think it can be a positive force, especially getting star players back from behind a pay wall. It could genuinely be a transformational moment for cricket in this country if it takes off

Format itself is a bit gimmicky but let's see if it works

by Duty281 Wed 21 Jul 2021, 10:23 am

Only bits of it are available on FTA TV. All the women's games will be free to watch on YouTube, but only a small number of the men's games will also be available. The BBC will have 10 men's games and 8 women's games to show live. The majority of the men's competition will only be available on Sky.

Of course, the main problem I see is that these potential new fans don't even know about this Hundred lark. Among my friends who don't like cricket (and they don't love it either) none of them know about this Hundred competition. And it's not exactly getting much publicity so far - on the BBC Sport page, the Hundred lags behind Olympic football, Olympic softball, the Lions team selection, and England's T20 win last night.

And, as I've said before and others have as well, it's just not that different from T20. Even the pace of the game is supposed to take around 2 and a half hours (with timeouts and coaches allowed to wander on to the field), which is near identical. If you don't like T20 you won't like the Hundred, either.

by Soul Requiem Wed 21 Jul 2021, 10:42 am

T20 was bad enough let alone this embarrassment masquerading as cricket.

by TightHEAD Wed 21 Jul 2021, 10:46 am

Will not watch it, South West has been excluded.

by GSC Wed 21 Jul 2021, 10:48 am

I agree if you aren't a fan of T20 cricket already you probably won't like this any more. But equally not sure that is the point of the hundred to begin anyway so not sure it's that relevant as a detracting point.

by JDizzle Wed 21 Jul 2021, 10:56 am

It’s 100 balls to ensure it finished by 9pm for Beeb and so the Blast and the counties toes aren’t trod on for that competition. Think the format being the thing to attract new fans is a red herring.

As the quote in Nick Hoult’s piece in the Telegraph said, it’s far easier to tell a story and market a competition when every game is on TV and it’s not 138 games like the Blast.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Wed 21 Jul 2021, 10:57 am

Bit of a shame that due to Covid and subsequent international fixture clashes there have been some pull outs from overseas players both in the women's and mens game...but particularly in the men's, it will give a good platform to some of these fringe England white ball players to show their skills again, and guys who have gone well in the Blast to face a step up in player.
A good showcase for someone like a Tymal Mills to make a case for England selection, for example.

by Duty281 Wed 21 Jul 2021, 7:41 pm

First impressions:

- Who designed these awful graphics for the on-screen scorecard?
- Seems quite empty. Was hearing 12k would be attending, helped by free ticket giveaways. Looks short of that.
- Little atmosphere, apart from the early fireworks. Was expecting something similar to a T20 in this aspect, but it's as quiet as a County Championship contest.
- The possibility of bowling ten consecutive balls does add tactical variety, but of course it'll only be used in the circumstances where a bowler is in control. Will be used by spinners more. Would be more interesting to see a certain number of 10-ball 'overs' as a mandatory requirement.
- Tempo the same as a T20 game. Stil can't see this attracting a new audience.
- What's with all the crisp sponsors?

by TightHEAD Wed 21 Jul 2021, 7:42 pm

The on-screen graphics are awful.

by TightHEAD Wed 21 Jul 2021, 7:43 pm

Poor not enjoying it at all

by GSC Wed 21 Jul 2021, 7:43 pm

To be fair, this took less adjusting than I thought it would. Decent start so far

by VTR Wed 21 Jul 2021, 7:55 pm

Don't understand launching it with a women's game. As noted, crowd is sparse. Had a look at the BBC live text and only about 10k following on there, that is low numbers. I am all for equality but get the premium product out there first. Show people Buttler, Stokes etc in front of a good crowd, they have probably at least heard of them. The casual follower this hopes to attract may even think this is a women's competition?

by JDizzle Wed 21 Jul 2021, 8:34 pm

I like the graphics! Think the counting up/counting down is a good idea, but the middle graphic could be a bit neater.

7.5k is an excellent crowd for a women’s domestic game, free tickets or not. I guess they didn’t want to shove the women’s game on in the afternoon for the launch of a competition that claims to be equal.

And it remains just cricket. Shame Vaughan and Tufnell are commentating though.

by GSC Wed 21 Jul 2021, 8:36 pm

Is a decent atmosphere?

Graphics need a bit of work, I like the countdowns but probably put them next to each other?

by GSC Wed 21 Jul 2021, 8:58 pm

Enjoyable game this.

Agree on what was said about starting with a women's game, but also it sends a pretty powerful message.

It feels like a big deal, crowd is into this game. Not bad for starters

by GSC Wed 21 Jul 2021, 9:04 pm

The one thing I haven't worked out is why the umpire holds the card up

by JDizzle Wed 21 Jul 2021, 9:08 pm

GSC wrote:The one thing I haven't worked out is why the umpire holds the card up

To signal the end of a ‘five’/over. Seems unnecessary.

That was decent. Looking forward to the men’s game tomorrow.

by GSC Wed 21 Jul 2021, 9:10 pm

Yep enjoyable watch, good chase but some missed catches cost the Originals

by JDizzle Wed 21 Jul 2021, 9:12 pm

Threlkald has some quick hands too, but that stumping was taken in front of the stumps. Glad it wasn’t crucial in the end.

by JDizzle Wed 21 Jul 2021, 9:27 pm

Didn’t realise it was Issy Wong on comms with Nasser. She speaks so well for a 19 year old. Great pick up by Sky.

by Duty281 Wed 21 Jul 2021, 9:40 pm

Good comeback in the end. Agree the white card is unnecessary. Overall the whole thing felt like a T20, just one that was a little shorter. Not enough to differentiate it as a format in its own right, like T20 has, which is why the Hundred is unlikely to succeed.

7.4k was the attendance which is incredibly poor, below the anticipated numbers of 10k-12.5k. Apparently only 2k tickets were sold, about 7k were given away for free (seems not everyone turned up!). Women's sport just doesn't pull big numbers in.

Mind you, ticket sales for the whole event are poor. Only around 56% of tickets for the games have been sold, even though the ECB is slashing prices like Woolworths did during its final week and giving away plenty of freebies.

by JDizzle Wed 21 Jul 2021, 10:03 pm

7.4K is definitely not incredibly poor for a women’s domestic cricket game. Even if a lot were given away. The Kia Women’s Super League finals day in 2019 had a touch over 3000.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Wed 21 Jul 2021, 10:19 pm

That was a good watch - liked some of the on screen graphics, but think they need a slight tweak - the bowlers figures all being different colours were weird, and not sure it’s great for those who are colourblind like my pal!
Did like the balls/runs towers mind

I do agree on the having a men’s game first, whilst I agree it does send a powerful message to have the women’s one first, with the recent news re: women’s pay for the event, it feels a touch hollow.

The white card thing needs adjusting too - can’t imagine that is easy to track as a spectator in the ground!

As for the game itself, interesting to see the difference in tactics used - don’t think any Manchester bowler, bowled 10 balls in a row but 4 Oval bowlers did? Was surprised Ecclestone wasn’t given 10 early on, when the Invincibles were on the ropes.
Looking forward to the games tomorrow! Will Jacks szn

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