Cheat codes, coaches head-to-head and 40-ball swings: Trent Woodhill reveals how to win The Hundred and what to expect

NICK HOWSON: How do you master The Hundred? How can it benefit county cricket? Who are the favourites? The ECB's high-performance consultant explains why the new 100-ball competition can succeed where T20 cricket has gone wrong

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Katherine Brunt: The Hundred is delivering top-class women's cricket to the north... and it's about time

The Hundred: Playing conditions for dummies.... and everyone else

Since the day of its conception, The Hundred has represented one big question mark. And the tone of the scrutiny has largely been the same.

Some will likely never go away, quite rightly. Across 33 days and 68 matches we might be treated to the greatest cricket competition on the planet, yet some concerns may never be truly addressed.

If we can be guaranteed one thing in our uncertain world, it is that the cricket will look after itself. There is too much talent, both domestically and from overseas, for entertaining and high-quality sport not to follow. The narrative has moved on.

So, what exactly can we expect from the next few weeks? What will The Hundred matches look like? How will they be decided? What makes a good Hundred team? And can it positively impact county cricket and the England teams?

Trent Woodhill, high-performance consultant for The Hundred and part of the team which has produced the final product, is as well-placed to answer those questions as anyone. Having coached with New Zealand, New South Wales, Delhi Daredevils, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Melbourne Stars, a deluge of experience went into bringing an engaging, exciting and unique competition to the market.

"I was hooked from the moment he spoke about what his vision was for the game," he said of his first meeting with The Hundred's managing director Sanjay Patel, whose only fixed idea was a new competition lasting 100 balls per innings, in a Bangalore hotel room in 2018.

"The journey was about changing up something and different to T20. It's a sport that grew at such a pace that I don't think the kinks were ironed out."

While The Hundred was facing a battle to be embraced in county boardrooms and in the public domain following a lack of direct consultation, disastrous announcements and media appearances, meat was slowly but surely being added to the bone. It took shape over several days in Loughborough in meetings between as many as 30 industry experts. Simplicity, innovation and uniqueness were the priorities to attract new followers and global investment in a fresh product. The mistakes made with T20 would not be repeated.

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The Hundred is the brainchild of Sanjay Patel

After being directly involved in more than 400 20-over games at domestic, international and franchise level, Woodhill has become disillusioned with parts of the format and believes it has gone stale.

"There were times in those matches when the tempo of the game got lost and it was too influenced by a powerplay," he admitted. "This provides an opportunity for strategy without taking away the contest between the 22 yards.

"The concept around The Hundred we'll see a format that at different times is dominated by the ball, at different times dominated by the bat and at different times dominated by captains and coaches. But also all those things can happen in one game.

"I think some coaches and captains in T20 cricket have been on autopilot. The game hasn't shown you what a good captain or coach is, we just go straight to the result. I think this format is going to highlight real-time captains and coaches making decisions that are going to influence the course of a match.

"My criticism of T20 was that there was no change. It happened so fast and grew so big everyone accepted the format for the way it was."

Woodhill is excited by several points of difference. The 120-second timeout, not a new idea per se, will allow coaches onto the field to consult with their captains and players. Coaches will be head-to-head in-game like never before and analysts will be kept on their toes and forced to react to situations in play.

Bowlers can deliver back-to-back sets of five balls from the same end, giving them the chance to pin a batter down. They could theoretically be kept on for 20 of the 25-ball powerplay or for most of the death.

Trials across six days at Trent Bridge and Loughborough in September 2018 firmed up these concepts.

"What we're gaining is an opportunity for a game to ebb and flow between bat and ball," said the Aussie, who has worked with the likes of Kane Williamson and Steve Smith. "That was the beauty of those few days at Trent Bridge and Loughborough with the women's players.

"I am really excited to see how these coaches go up against each other. Should Eoin Morgan have left a player on bowling for two sets of five? Or the time when they should have bowled 10 but only bowled five? Or when a batting team tries to stick to a run rate that they should not because they're facing Rashid Khan. Maybe they are going to have to reign themselves in. There are going to be little stages of the game that change.

Where can I watch The Hundred on TV? Men's and women's 2021 competition streaming details

"The timeout is a genuine timeout. We found that at Trent Bridge in the trial games, there is a genuine opportunity to change a game with what you are seeing off the field. If the relationship between captain and coach develops well enough you could change your strategy in-game. In my experience coaches tend to reflect in T20 cricket. Now they're live on TV to explain decisions."

It is hoped that a two-and-a-half-hour entertainment showcase, supplemented by live music, avatars and crowd interaction, will attract fresh eyes who can eventually be turned onto the longer formats.

There should be a performance benefit too. For the men, this is an eight-team competition, rather than an 18 first-class county affair, which condenses the quality and exposes some of the highest level of cricket they will ever have played. Whisper it quietly, but the counties could benefit from this venture too.

"The knowledge that these players will bring back to their counties is insurmountable," believes Woodhill. "Players learn so much from the franchise environment. From the beginning of the IPL, I've seen what players have brought back to states and clubs and it is unbelievable.

"I can help players a little bit as a coach but not as much as I can help the player who sees a different way of doing things from another player first-hand.

"The county players who have been up against each other for the last three months and are now teammates, they'll start to run an eye over each other's preparation, thought processes, game management, decision-making and how they are under pressure, and they'll bring that back.

"Being able to chat with a Simon Katich or a Tom Moody, a Mahela Jayawardene or Andy Flower these players will learn so much in a short period which will only increase the standard in English cricket."

Meanwhile, after 41 new full-time domestic contracts were awarded last December and the success of a fresh structure headlined by the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy and the Charlotte Edwards Cup, The Hundred is another seismic moment.

"Women's cricket is at an interesting stage where the young players are fearless," added Woodhill. "Because they're getting the opportunity to showcase their talents on TV and on great grounds with good wickets, you're going to see across the tournament some new heroes appear.

"They're going to take power shots on. People are going to take risks and they will be rewarded in the women's team. The England team are going to see an enormous benefit over the next few years with the advent of this format and the pressure the domestic player is going to be put under which is going to advance their cricketing careers.

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"Depth not only comes from performance, but performance under pressure. The women's competition being on television, that constant focus means there is no hiding. You will find that pressure will both help and hinder performance, but it provides you with more opportunities to add to your depth.

"When you're picking players for World Cups instead of looking at 15-20 players you end up looking at 20-30 players. I saw that first-hand in the women's Big Bash where the Australian women's team jumped to a new level based on what was happening in the WBBL rather than what was happening in high performance.

"As a coach, you try and create pressure environments but now you have the opportunity to do that through actual game time. We'll see that improvement in England's women's cricket jump in the next 12-18 months based on playing in these tournaments."

Woodhill believes Oval Invincibles men coached by Tom Moody and Trent Rockets captained by Nat Sciver are the teams to beat in the respective competitions.

But how does a team win The Hundred?

"The cheat codes are that every team is different. You have got to be able to put up with where the ebb and flow is. Identifying where the 10-ball flow is in the opposition, and where is your 20-ball run-scoring opportunity. There is a 40-ball swing there to get right as a batting team.

"From a bowling perspective, it is about how you rotate your bowlers between the fives and 10s. It is about where your strengths are as a team and how you can utilise them. Analytics is going to play a big part in that because if you get that wrong and suddenly an opposition have 20 balls at Rashid Khan or Adil Rashid are in a lot of trouble.

"At times you're going to have to get ahead of the game because it is going to catch up with you, but if you're not you could be in a heap of trouble."

Even when the first ball goes down, Woodhill's job is far from over. Development of The Hundred is set to be an ongoing process and fresh rules are inevitable for future editions. Nevertheless, the opening game at The Oval draws a line up underneath an uncertain build-up.

 

"It seems so long ago we were talking about this. To get to the point where we are now is amazing and I do feel like I'm waiting for Christmas."

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