SAM MORSHEAD puts on his best Deerstalker in an attempt to figure out an elusive answer to English cricket's burning question...
Is The Hundred for these guys? Probably not
The Lindbergh baby, Roswell, Jack the Ripper, MH370, the Zodiac Killer and now a fresh entry into the great hall of unsolved mysteries… the ECB’s “new audience”.
In the three weeks since the governing body announced its plans for The Hundred, a steady drip-feed of information relating to the competition has entered the public consciousness but as yet the market research conducted by the organisation remains behind lock and key.
And as such, no one really has any idea where this next generation of cricket fans are and what they are doing right now.
Prominent figures in English cricket have been good enough to leave clues littered along the way - and in isolation some of them seem quite convincing.
When explored in more depth, or compared with each other, however, they point north, south east and west, like signposts on Spaghetti Junction.
So where is this mystical new audience, what are they and why?
Time for The Cricketer to do some sleuthing.
Is The Hundred for Andrew Strauss? Not really
“This is a fresh and exciting idea which will appeal to a young audience and attract new fans to the game” - Tom Harrison, ECB chief executive
Okay then, so it’s fairly clear this competition isn’t for those who’ve been around the county block. But that’s understandable.
Conclusion: People who aren’t cricket fans.
“A more casual audience” - Andrew Strauss, director of England cricket
We can assume that Mr Strauss means those who are liable to retain only a passing interest in the game, what with their smart phones, social media and avocado toast.
Either that or the ECB are targeting anyone with extensive tracksuit collections.
Conclusion: People who aren’t cricket fans, don’t follow a team and have the attention span of a concussed goldfish.
"T20 has been unbelievably successful and it has established a very strong audience now. We want that audience but a different audience as well, who perhaps would like things slightly different. That's the driver behind this idea.” - Andrew Strauss, director of England cricket
Woooah. Hold up a moment. Now you want the new audience and those who already love T20? Make up your mind there, ECB, me old chum.
Conclusion: People who aren’t cricket fans and have the attention span of a concussed goldfish but also do follow T20 cricket and enjoy it.
“It sounds different – like a good, viable product to sell to people outside of cricket” - England limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan
“Outside of cricket” is a mysterious term. Does it apply to those who don’t work in cricket? Those who have no vested interest in cricket? Those who don’t know the difference between cricket and a cricket?
Conclusion: People who aren’t cricket fans and don’t know anything about the sport but also enjoy T20 cricket, and have the attention span of a concussed goldfish.
Is The Hundred for this lad? Unlikely
“The ECB consulted Mumsnet in the lead-up to the announcement of The Hundred” - Elizabeth Ammon, The Times
Right, this case got a whole lot weirder. Will they be flogging free tickets to this thing with every pack of Pampers?
Conclusion: Parents, mainly young parents, who enjoy T20 cricket but also don’t like cricket, don’t really know what the sport is and have the attention span of a concussed goldfish.
“So the new tournament – however many balls it might be – I do enjoy the idea of it, because one of the most complicated things, when you come to a cricket ground and you don’t know what’s going on, and you look at a scoreboard for an indication, with so many numbers and names on the board, you don’t actually know what’s going on, so you eliminate that equation and you break it down to its simplest form.” - Eoin Morgan, England’s limited-overs captain
I get it (I think). Cricket’s complicated and these intellectually-stunted young mums and dads need a helping hand.
Conclusion: Teenage parents who flunked GCSE maths, don’t really know what cricket is but somehow like T20… but also don’t like cricket, all the while having the attention spans of concussed goldfish.
“In particular… mums and kids in the summer holidays” - Andrew Strauss, director of England cricket.
Oh, it’s okay dads. You’re off the hook. You must be able to work the calculator on your Galaxy S7. Or you’ll just be at work while wifey does the kid thing. I’m sure you’ve got the brains to figure out T20 anyway.
Conclusion: Teenage mums and their stupid offspring, who don’t really know what cricket is but somehow like T20… but also don’t like cricket, all the while having the attention spans of concussed goldfish.
Is The Hundred for anyone here? Don't think so
“The likes of Joe Root and Ben Stokes will be allocated to a team for marketing purposes but they won’t play. The point was made that the new audience won’t necessarily know who Stokes and Root are anyway.” - Daryl Mitchell, PCA chairman
Rightio. It’s not like Ben Stokes has had the most noticeable year. I mean, he’s only become the most expensive player in the most expensive league in the world, got arrested, been to court, got married, been on front and back pages more often than a £10 holiday, been to court again, sparked numerous ethical thinkpieces, had more airtime than an Aeroflot A330, and returned to the national team amid mass fanfare.
You would have to have lived underground to not have got a whiff.
Conclusion: Teenage mums and their stupid offspring who have lived among the Mole People since March 2016, don’t really know what cricket is but somehow like T20… but also don’t like cricket and have the attention spans of a concussed goldfish.
People who aren’t “traditional cricket fans” - Andrew Strauss, director of England cricket
Not sure there are many semi-literate Mole People with a passing interest in T20 who can be classed under “traditional”.
Next.
“I have a lot of friends outside of cricket who would never come to a cricket match, but they have already said they are enjoying the noise around this, because it is upsetting people who already come to a game” - England captain Eoin Morgan
So, trolls basically.
Conclusion: Teenage mums and their stupid offspring who have lived among the Mole People since March 2016, don’t really know what cricket is but somehow like T20… but also don’t like cricket, have the attention spans of concussed goldfish and enjoy getting a rise out of others.
Are we close, ECB?
Posted by Christopher Slater-Walker on 17/08/2023 at 14:54
I came to The Hundred for the first time in 2022 and I've been enjoying it since then. I may well have "the attention span of a concussed goldfish" or on the other hand I may well have a more than full-time job in health care (non-clinical in my case) and a life full of other stuff besides, of which cricket is just a small part. I find it concentrates all the entertaining bits of cricket into short space of time and for that I like it. I don't feel any particular attachment to any team although I would express a preference for anything outside the South of England, and even under those circumstances I still like to watch it when I can. Another thing that The Hundred has done is to break the stranglehold that the Sky/Murdoch empire has on the more established formats. I refuse to pay for Sky Sports, since I consider it would be a waste of money for me, as I have no interest outside the very limited areas of rugby, tennis and now, of course, The Hundred. Besides that, I find it a little grotesque that one company can have such power over one sport. Who is to blame for that situation, I'm sure people would love to express their opinions.
Posted by Paul Thorpe on 02/02/2023 at 06:37
So these predictions all came true. The Hundred has been exposed as a Marketing/PR advisors guess at what cricket should be - and with the dismal interest it's been shown to be a huge expensive mistake. Well done ECB. Wrong again. However, don't expect any honesty about this. BBC and Sky presenters are not allowed to voice any criticism of The 100. It is up to grassroots cricket supporters to keep doing that until this format is exposed as the damaging failure it is. - When we fail to retain the ODI World Cup because ECB immediately devalued that tournament to make room for the 100. - When the rest of the World continues their development of the game through T20 and ignores the 100 completely - when the 'new fans' the ECB promised are exposed as a marketing sham - 1500 crowds for 'No Welsh No Fire' matches? The only positive from the 100 - and this gets pushed down our throats at every opportunity - was enhanced coverage of women's cricket. But that was perfectly possible to achieve through T20 and adding them to the excellent Vitality Blast. Just admit your failure ECB and consign this failure to history
Posted by Tony Gray on 23/08/2022 at 20:41
Clearly the idea is to create a football match evening similar experience. I live in Devon. Nowhere near anywhere to go to watch. Also my “local “ county Somerset have been playing a second team in the 50 over cup due to hundred players leaving. Would have gone to that with first team playing. Noticed Edgebaston almost empty today for 50 over game. This hundred is killing the county clubs.
Posted by Graham Watts on 16/08/2022 at 10:12
If we didn’t already have T20 I think I could accept it as a short form format that is accessible to all. But T20 is well established and a global success - why compete against it? No one ever said 120 balls is too long; we need a 100 ball version. But what I struggle with most of all is the newly formed teams (leaving aside the ridiculous names constructed by the marketing teams). These franchises have no history and support base. For example, are fans of Leicestershire & Derbyshire really expected to travel to Trent Bridge to support the Nottinghamshire dominated Trent Rockets? I certainly wouldn’t. And of course it further compounds the financial difficulties already impacting the non Test hosting grounds. It seems the ECB is quite content to let the rich clubs get richer at the expense of their less well off members, which I find heartbreaking. I’ll admit I can’t bear to watch the drivel that is being broadcast on BBC and Sky. I just wish it would all be written off as a failed experiment so the ECB can put all their efforts into improving the existing county structure that has stood us in good stead for over 100 years.
Posted by Tony Rogers on 12/08/2022 at 09:01
The googd thing about the hundred is you know it is going to swollow loads of sponsors money to attract a ephemeral audience. These guys will not watch Worldwide cricket or Test tours.
Posted by Paul Faires on 03/08/2022 at 20:59
Just watched 10 mins for the first time totally terrible the graphics alone have given me a headache. Off on Sunday to Beckenham to watch some serious limited over cricket Royal London Kent v Hampshire WELL DONE ECB for screwing that up:(
Posted by Tony Jefferies on 02/08/2022 at 16:58
I thought Andrew Strauss would be good appointment but no he’s another guy only thinking about money not the grass root game. I love my county team as most county supporters, and the likes of Strauss say county cricket is there only to breed test players bullshit that will happen anyway it’s there for county supporters to watch proper cricket not crash it and it bash it
Posted by Selim Ali on 24/08/2021 at 22:02
The issue that I have with The Hundred is that the graphics are very bright and very distracting, it looks like a combination of Ceefax/Teletext and you could say the scorecard looks more like a testcard with some weird colour bars including chevrons. The cricket kits are hideous and they are also promoting junk food sponsors on they shirts which is never a good sign at all.
Posted by Michael Burley on 22/08/2021 at 08:57
It is for me and my family. We are casually interested in cricket BUT watched every match. Totally got caught up in it. 3 of us went to a lords match and 2 to the eliminator at the Oval. We would never normally consider going to a cricket match. Loved the women's matches. Loved the new players coming through. I consider it a great success. Yes it was entertaining. Look forward to next year.
Posted by Clew on 21/08/2021 at 21:02
Just watching for the first time. I can’t say it’s not “cricket as we know it” - good shots are good shots, good balls are good balls . But the question that keeps going through my mind is “Why?”.
Posted by Cameron.P on 21/08/2021 at 16:36
I've given the 100 a chance and it is bloody awful. I have played cricket and been a lover of the game for almost 50 years and this is just a PR stunt by greedy marketing firms and KP. It is unnecessary, contrived, manufactured and extremely poor quality. As some other commented its a slog fest with crossbat schoolboy shots. Indeed, why bother with the bowlers. Put a variable bowling machine in its place, reduce the teams to 7, put cheerleaders on the ridiculously short boundaries and sell hotdogs to the clueless crowd. And that's just the mens game. To avoid upsetting the delicate people of this world I won't make any comments on the women's version. If people like this trash then that's upto them, but this junk will end red ball cricket. I'm just saying...
Posted by Paul Stone on 21/08/2021 at 08:35
Oh how I heartily agree with all the above. If only I could be transported back to Cricket in the 70s.......
Posted by Michael on 20/08/2021 at 11:07
The 100 is not cricket it is an entertainments program. And to my dismay it is being g promoted by the BBC when they should be promoting the county game. When you first open up the BBC sports app it is virtually all about the 100. If they want to promote the woman's game then show proper cricket matches on that a sensible Time. The BBC even removed the 7pm highlights of the 2nd India England test match on BBC2 for the 100. Shame on the BBC.
Posted by Alan Chapman on 18/08/2021 at 12:20
Sam Moreshead obviously has no inhibitions in insulting people he has never met or spoken to. His language is inflammatory, more like the language you would expect to hear from a bigot. His head seems to be stuck in the 19th century while commenting on the 21st. The 'Hundred' is inclusive, a breath of fresh air aimed at lifting the game of cricket into a dynamic 21st century. I love test cricket and have done so since I was a teenager but the game is exclusive and consumes a huge amount of time in modern lives. It game has to adapt to survive. It is hoped, and probable, that a good number of those introduced to the game through short duration formats will develop an understanding of the greater game and go on to support it into the future. Its rules prevent 'The Hundred's' short format from stalling which is something we are witnessing with the increasing playing times of T20 matches. The game only uses four weeks of the playing season, a period set within the summer holidays of children and hence is more likely to attract a greater number of new enthusiasts than other formats. My only disspointment with 'The Hundred' is that it missed a golden opportunity. Why are the mens and womens points not combined. For spectators this would make the womens points as important as the mens. To top the table both men and women would have to do well to win as a team. This would go some way to lift the audiences for the womens game. You have to admit, the womens game is now just as entertaining as the mens. I love all cricket and am certainly not going to massage any withered biases because someone has the temerity to develop the game for modern audiences.
Posted by stuart gascoyne on 10/08/2021 at 18:33
Its for me! I am that concussed goldfish. Really enjoyed the hundred. I took a break for the Olympics because I am not super fussed about cricket. I have watched the odd T20 and listen to the Tests on the radio but this is a great format with lots of suspense. I have just had a painful foot operation which was definitely preferable to watching 1 day or 4 day county matches. To all the mysoginists and other haters you must be really disappointed by its ratings success.
Posted by Geoff eskowitz on 31/07/2021 at 18:37
You read my mind What next a one over match?
Posted by Michael billam on 30/07/2021 at 21:52
Made up teams,this is a joke and it is trying to make female cricket more watchable. It will kill the county ,test game
Posted by Paul on 30/07/2021 at 19:44
So they say they want to get young people interested in cricket . So how about making it easier for them to watch it and have games free to air on channels that everyone can access without paying.
Posted by ray goodchild goodchild on 27/07/2021 at 21:00
I wonder if they are trying to develop it for the American market where they only have rounders, sorry baseball because Americans don’t have the intelligence to understand the rules of proper cricket.
Posted by Mike T on 27/07/2021 at 10:22
This format is pointless, meaningless and totally unnecessary in my humble. T20 does virtually the same thing but so much better, with the added bonus of Bumble singing!!! Time for the BBC to stop wasting yet more of our money and Sky to wake up.
Posted by John on 26/07/2021 at 20:24
Well I like cricket, test and county cricket, T20 but as yet have had no inclination to watch any of the matches. A gimmick for gimmicks sake.
Posted by Graham Watts on 26/07/2021 at 16:10
There is so much wrong with The Hundred it's painful, but the main crime is the creation of these Frankenstein teams. Who do the ECB think will support them? Sport is all about giving partisan support for your favourite players in your team. These are just a Mish mash created by marketing people who clearly don't understand sport in general or cricket in particular. The concept should have been killed at birth. Thank goodness we've got the Olympics to watch.
Posted by Norman Baggaley on 24/07/2021 at 06:48
Laboured and not funny.In fact ,almost as pointless and stupid as the new format itself. I can ,however, support it’s message of disapproval.
Posted by Roger Ward on 23/07/2021 at 17:38
Hi, I don't know who to talk to but would it be better TV (and stadium) if you posted a photo of a batter when they come out to bat? It's very difficult when they are wearing a helmet, maybe a short precise as well? Nationality etc?
Posted by Doug on 23/07/2021 at 16:17
I'd just add that having watched 10 minutes of it last night after drinking a whole bottle of Southern Comfort I came to the inclusion that's it's like T20 on Speed and is cricket's equivalent of recovering from a migraine.
Posted by Phill C on 23/07/2021 at 11:43
I watched the 100 last night (thurs) and was dismayed, I love all form of cricket, but this was just disjointed nonsense. There was far too much commentary, in a fast paced game anyway, I tried to follow it all bit it dizzied me, what is wrong with BBCs adage that only speak if it enhances the game ???? people were talking left right and centre about everything under the sun for talkings sake. The scoreboard on the TV screen was just a bad joke, and they were trying to get newbies interested in cricket ??? The flamethrowers, were very OTT, and the 'rock' band got what they deserved, a stoney silence, when the interval should be for a look back at the innings. I wont be watching another, bring back 20/20
Posted by M Thompson on 22/07/2021 at 20:40
To me it just looks like T20 less 20 balls and 5 balls instead of overs. Why all the fuss?
Posted by Chris O'D on 21/07/2021 at 22:33
This makes no sense whatsoever, it just appears to be trying to advertise women’s cricket. 100 balls is not divisible by 6, an over is and always had been 6 balls! Most of the country has no team to support, and why do we need another format? 20/20 covers a fast paced game and is popular, bowling 20 balls less is not a recipe for success. Expensive advertisement for the women’s game in a format that is doomed to fail!
Posted by Clinton Henderson on 25/04/2021 at 04:45
Its just not cricket: cricket for non-cricket fans? Sounds like ex-players gambling with ECB money to top up their pensions. Sport is about rivalry - you can't make that up. Changing the rules is only going to turn away existing fans - that will leave a stadium of people tapping on their smart phones for guidance. Maybe there will be announcements to inform the confused crowd. Why don't they just say it: this is cricket for football fans. Not sport really.
Posted by Steve Foster on 16/03/2020 at 21:49
What an irony it would be if all us starved sports fans are left with this goddam awful tournament .
Posted by Steve Tribe on 19/01/2020 at 18:31
Sounds horrendous.
Posted by Blockpants on 21/10/2019 at 01:14
Ah, so 100 ball cricket is essentially, just a form of children’s entertainment....I see.
Posted by leigh fry on 13/10/2019 at 22:35
It's sad to say but there is more money for clubs in this format. For me its T20 or The Hundred. Can't have both surely????? Need to fit red ball in for up and coming players.
Posted by David Price on 02/10/2019 at 11:47
Living in Somerset, why would I support a team called "Welsh Fire" in a competition with a spurious name.??? I, like many others, would prefer to watch local village teams.
Posted by Malcolm Mitchell on 02/09/2019 at 12:30
This looks like a disaster about to happen for youngsters looking for a future cricket career. Looks like a step backwards for women’s and girls cricket.
Posted by James Hitchcock on 29/08/2019 at 15:37
If they'd have rebranded t20 and had more franchises maybe it might work. Wtf is the point knocking 20 balls off the innings. If you can't wait for those extra 20 balls maybe cricket isn't for you
Posted by Timothy R Sullivan on 15/08/2019 at 12:56
The Hundred is something I am going to be very happy to miss. There is already fierce competition for spectators via Test, County, T-20 and other limited over offerings. To create further contrived teams seems to me to be entirely unnecessary and frankly banal. Far better to improve the county offering and let them enjoy the spoils directly. If this obsession with the immediate continues there will be no players who have the first idea how to play Test Cricket. As it is, we can already see how harmful to the long form of the game, white ball cricket is. With the exception of some truly great talent, the vast majority of batsman have no idea how to bat for a whole day
Posted by Paul Clarke on 09/08/2019 at 12:38
We had first class and test match cricket. Then came the limited over cricket. 40, 50 and 60 over cricket. It was still cricket, then came the twenty20 cricket, but this latest dumbing down and changing the laws of cricket losing the lbw is a step to far. This is just going to be a skill less slog fest, making the bowler's job untenable. Slog it and use your legs to defend the wicket. Why not get rid of the bowler with a bowling machine. Are any of these cricketters going to successfully be able to adapt to the long form ever again. Jason Roy is still trying to hit the ball out of the ground and apart from 72 against Ireland is struggling on test cricket.
Posted by Robert Saker on 08/08/2019 at 18:34
Not a bad idea the 100 balls a side. I would like to the downtime between deliveries shortened. Since bowlers only ball 4 overs each in this format, there is no reason why they can’t back to their mark a little quicker. Another novel idea but one that could encourage bigger sixes would be to award 8 runs for a six carrying 115 metres or more. There are far too many sixes below 70 metres. The really big sixes are much more a spectacle than the plethora of sixes that only travel 70 metres, which is foul-hit territory in baseball. The TV broadcasters these days often use ball tracking in their coverage.
Posted by Jack Harper on 04/08/2019 at 11:59
More Baseball With Stumps. Death is too kind a result for the cricket hierarchy, whose aggregate IQ is not a positive number. Anyone for T1?
Posted by Jack Harper on 04/08/2019 at 11:53
More Baseball With Stumps. Death is too kind a result for the cricket hierarchy, whose aggregate IQ is not a positive number
Posted by Joe Glare on 16/05/2019 at 00:36
I don’t know where to start with the Hundred. Every actual cricket fan I’ve spoken to absolutely despises the idea of the Hundred. What is so confusing about the number 6 (no of balls) and the number 20 (no of overs) compared to 5 oh but you have the option to bowl 10 if u want too. There’s no consistency how will new fans make any sense if one bowler has 5 balls n another bowls 10 in a row. Who actually is going to think, having chosen not to watch cricket all their life, ah 100 balls that has completely changed my outlook on cricket I’ll definitely come and watch every game. This article is absolutely spot on no one has a clue what’s going on which is the same as what people coming to see the hundred. The ECB have spotted an opportunity to give cricket more exposure but don’t change the game the IPL and Big Bash have proven that t20 is clearly an extremely popular and successful format. The game is not what not needs to change but the format yes make it less teams give them more money attract better players. The worlds best n most popular player Virat Kohli hates the idea and has ruled himself out, so much for the stars will all come flooding in to play. Another thing this article points out is they try and make it simpler and when u look at the scoreboard you will suddenly understand. Why? All that changes is the number of balls left as opposed to the number of overs. Should we just change the overs on the scorecard to balls n then if that’s the issue, sorted. But also there’s still going to be all these other numbers on the board people who don’t already understand will still not understand with the new format ( batters score, bowlers figures, cut off times, run rates etc) they’ll all still be there. There’s still a lot I dislike , they’re excluding fans away from the cities and that doesn’t affect me but thinking of others, team names etc the only positive is we get to see a draft which is exciting, but other than that it’s a disgrace
Posted by Murray Hedgcock on 01/03/2019 at 16:30
Thanks Sam for putting your finger on the bizarre and quite ridiculous contradictions in The Hundred. And what do we think of Eoin Morgan's admission that he has "a lot of friends outside cricket who would never come to a match but are enjoying the noise around this because it is upsetting people who already come to a game". Does the ECB feel a man with friends like this is the right leader of the national team?
Posted by Leslie Bone on 20/05/2018 at 15:23
Are families going to be able to afford the prices of T20 as is as well as for the new competition? Basically going to be the same audience. Very much doubt it. County T20 to suffer? Probably. Who do the ECB really think the new audience is going to be?
Posted by John Harris on 18/05/2018 at 14:22
Funny article but also sad in that it highlights the farce and muddled thinking that defines ECB
Posted by Douglas Miller on 15/05/2018 at 23:05
I subscribed to The Cricketer for 50 years then gave up when it became ridiculously puerile. Under Simon Hughes it has improved beyond belief, but this latest article is back to the bad old days. It contributes little to more serious debate. I strongly endorse the views of David Baker. The ECB has moved the game forward in many ways. Think before knocking their every utterance.
Posted by Steve Harris on 15/05/2018 at 07:42
I am trying to think of a decision that the ECB had got right since 2005, when cricket was riding a mass wave of popularity. This is a shambles that is not only unnecessary (just revamp the County T20) but won't attract a sole that T20 doesn't. The idea that stars that no one has heard of can attract people to a game they don't understand is the ECB's "logic". It's nonsense. Meanwhile the County Championship, upon which the Test side depends, is reduced to a farcical lottery buy being pushed to the margins of winter. These are the same people who encouraged unneeded, unsustainable international facilities to be built and now pay people not to use them. Some heads need to roll and quickly.
Posted by Mike Brewer on 14/05/2018 at 17:58
as in a scene from a 'way ahead' meeting in W1A.... some bright spark (probably a twelve year old marketing creative - who definitely isn't a cricket fan) thought '100' was somehow catchy (not realising a century in cricket already is) before anyone could butt in the die was cast and now they are all trying to justify the thing..... Armando Iannucci your next series awaits; a spoof of the ECB, probably entitled 'Money at all Cost'
Posted by Steve KIrk on 14/05/2018 at 17:06
You left out the hard of thinking but pretty much on the money apart from that . Will the ECB let us know at some stage how many £000's they blown on some "sexy" PR outfit to come up with their scheme ?
Posted by Geoffrey Hutt on 14/05/2018 at 16:17
I couldn’t agree less with David Baker below. The article is an excellent one. It is long overdue that someone teased out the nonsensical, self-contradictory statements emanating from the ECB, some of them sexist and ageist at the very least. The Cricketer should be congratulated for exposing their stupidity and giving us all a much-needed laugh at the same time. Mr Baker himself is not clear - he seems to be saying that women and children are are attending the English T20 in the same numbers as they do the Big Bash, and yet there is a need to broaden the appeal of the game...I’ve no idea what he means.
Posted by Jackie Litherland on 14/05/2018 at 15:16
Perhaps the ECB can explain why tribes in Afghanistan seem to understand the game and have picked it up from a non-traditional background and can manage all those names and numbers and field settings plus the intricacies of spin bowling and fast bowling and it has taken over the country like wildfire? Given that literacy is still a problem in Afghanistan it makes it even more mystifying that they have managed to grasp the fundamentals of cricket. True that the one day format has helped to spread the game but the basics of cricket seem to be posing no difficulties. Low expectations by the ECB or just contempt for their target audience? After all purveyors of cheap goods often have that attitude.
Posted by Pateldaku on 14/05/2018 at 14:56
There is already a 100 ball game named LastManStands. And it is getting popular. And lot of leagues worldwide. They play the shorter version of this 50 Ball as #RhinoCup in Kenya and this year it is going to be in Memory of Sudan, the Last MaleGreat Norther White Rhino #LastMaleStanding who dies in March this year.
Posted by Sue Gascoyne on 14/05/2018 at 13:11
Fixing something that isn't broke ! Going to be far more complicated that any T20 game when it comes to those last 3 overs
Posted by David Baker on 10/05/2018 at 20:57
This is really a terrible article, lacking in objectivity, understanding and constructive criticism. I attended test matches and big bas games in Australia over the winter. Conservatively at least 5 times as many children were at big bash games, maybe as high as 10 times. I also attended test cricket and T20 games in England last season and the numbers of children in attendance was much the same, and not much different for women. If we want Test and County Championship cricket to survive then we need to find a way of broadening the appeal of the game. This article does no more than criticise negatively. A very poor comment on the state of The Cricketer magazine and it's journalistic content.
Posted by Alex on 10/05/2018 at 08:03
No sane marketing executive would try to attract people who know nothing of cricket by fronting a campaign with STAR names they have (by definition) also never heard of. Why not try Snoop Dogg & Piers Morgan for all the good it will do....
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