The Hundred: A masterstroke or a scything attempt to dilute the game?
As we have come to the end of another incredible summer of cricket in England, it only makes sense to start looking into what we have to be excited about in the summer of 2020. Not only do we have the West Indies and Pakistan coming over to contest a series of One- Day and Test matches, but it shall be the inaugural year of the highly divisive “The Hundred” tournament to be played across Britain.
The tournament is the ECB’s latest attempt at trying to up the numbers at the turnstiles at cricket grounds countrywide, with eight city-based franchises completing the first ever sports draft the UK has seen a few days ago.
The teams have been graced with some real international superstars, with the likes of Andre Russell and David Warner joining England’s pace demon Jofra Archer to play for Southern Brave, Aaron Finch and Mujeeb Ur Rahman joining World Cup-winning Ben Stokes at the Northern Superchargers and there is even an attempt to bury Ashes rivalries with Jonny Bairstow teaming up with Mitchell Starc and Steve Smith for Welsh Fire.
So why is this a tournament that has courted controversy despite at least some players jumping at the chance. Of course, fans of tradition had the same grumbles regarding T20 cricket when it was first introduced in the early 2000s.
To work out whether this is going to be a success, we need to look at what works and what doesn't work for this tournament.
The Positives
The Stars: This is probably the main positive for the British public. Unlike in county cricket, The Hundred really has some global superstars who are attracted to the big-money contracts of the Indian Premier League (IPL). With people like Sunil Narine, Andre Russell and Rashid Khan, it means that there is finally a tournament at which you can see all the stars from international sides play regularly in England.
The Factor of Time: The ECB has taken into consideration the growing value of time to spare. The understanding that people were not attending one-day games in England as they could not commit an entire day from their busy lives to follow a sport. So games will be finished in under two and a half hours. Meaning a fan could fit in shopping and still get to see every delivery.
Broadcasting Rights: One of the biggest positives for both The Hundred and cricket is that the new tournament will be shown on the BBC. It's bringing back the sport to terrestrial television for more than a one-off game for the first time since the 2005 Ashes were shown on Channel 4. Hopefully this will mean an audience close to 7.9 million that tuned in to watch the 2019 cricket World Cup final.
The Negatives
Format Confusion: The tournament as a whole changes the format of 6-ball overs to a new 10-ball over. This is supposed to make the sport more understandable to the masses, but is one of the main gripes for the purists of the sport. For people who already love the game, this is confusing, especially to explain that this one format differs from the other three already-popular formats of the sport.
The Missing Nations: With big-name players like Chris Gayle, Kagiso Rabada and Lasith Malinga missing out, there does seem to be players from some of the largest cricket-playing nations not being represented. Most notably, there is not a single Indian selected.
So, is the Tournament going to be a success? It depends on how you are looking at what success is. If success is the tournament reaching the dizzying heights of popularity that T20 leagues worldwide have reached, it probably won't be.
The Hundred is trying to be too different to the other formats to bring in new fans and keep the purists happy. If you are basing the success on bringing new people to the game in the UK, it might have a chance. Combine the facts that many of England’s World Cup winners shall be playing, broadcasting rights being shared between Sky and BBC and the pull of some of the best short-format players the world has to offer, and it is possible that the ECB can create an interest in cricket that will fuel the next generation.
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