NICK HOWSON: Four hours and 50 minutes after the scheduled start of play the first ball was sent down. It was what the assembled masses deserved after a frustrating afternoon
Booing. Murmurings of discontent. Exacerbation. Ironic cheers. Mexican waves. And that was just when confirmation we were finally going to get some cricket after nearly five hours of procrastination finally broke.
The show must go on has been the mantra of The Hundred against the backdrop of the uncertain English summer. Sustains periods of drizzle have been ignored and the officials have got on with things like DRS.
That intent appeared to go out of the window on a truncated and tedious Sunday afternoon during which Oval Invincibles were due to face Trent Rockets. The rain came and went, albeit it only in brief dispatches, covers were dragged on and off, umpires strolled around the outfield, poking at areas of concern like a picky in-law at a roast dinner. Overnight and morning rain had done plenty of damage.
Player safety was the overwhelming concern and it was hard to argue with that as a priority. Cricketers don't owe us anything and they should not be risked purely for our entertainment. There is also the integrity of the competition to take into account and umpires must be seen to be consistent in their decision-making.
As infuriating as it is for both teams to be practising on the outfield, the ground to be surrounded by blue skies and yet conditions not deemed fit for play, the officials and groundstaff are merely doing their jobs. It is hard to argue with that.
If player welfare was the biggest concern, keeping spectators up to the date certainly was not. As the sun shone fans were kept in the dark. Announcements on the PA were neither clear nor regular, informative nor insightful. It was a communication breakdown. Neither umpire Nick Cook or Nigel Llong explained the rationale. The boundary was only brought in on the Harleyford Road side of the ground, covers put on the waterlogged areas and sawdust laid down late in the day.
The same effort wasn't put into getting the women's game on, which did have a start time until the inclement weather returned. So the ground was fit for play at some point. The ECB outlined before the tournament that each match has its own playing window which could not be altered, but this feel like an inflexible policy. For this reason and many others, it would be good to see double-headers flipped in 2022 and beyond.
Umpires Nick Cook and Nigel Llong speaking with captains Lewis Gregory and Sam Billings
For a tournament whose raison d'etre is to engage with new fans using simplified rules, an all-around entertainment experience and innovative graphics it was a staggering decision to shut them out. This tournament has been all about projecting cricket in a new light, but these are familiar teething problems.
The truth is cricket has been operating in the shadows for years. I dread to think what a new visitor to The Oval would have thought about the entire experience. I doubt they will be back, as the ECB hope.
As the tournament has progressed, organisers and the broadcasters have done a good job at explaining the technical aspects of the game and putting everyone on a level playing field. Why that suddenly ground to a halt is mystifying. Perhaps the ECB was worried the appetite for beer would dry up.
It was therefore of little surprise that the reaction to a start time of 8:20pm being announced was met with such audible displeasure. As far as they were concerned, nothing had changed. It would have almost made more sense to call it a day.
Groundstaff preparing the outfield
Every Ball Counts has been The Hundred's marketing slogan, but they should change that to Every Fan Counts. And then act like they mean it.
Speaking on Test Match Special before play finally began, Chris Green said: "The fear is we're losing fan by fan at the moment.
"As a cricket lover, regardless of the critics of this new competition or not, the fact we are turning people away, is what worries me. It's a sad day for cricket. It's a sad day for The Hundred."
For all the credit The Hundred as a cricket competition has built up over the opening two-and-a-half weeks, this felt like a backward step. Creating a T20 Blast-like atmosphere was of course preventable and could be fatal further down the line, but this was the most avoidable aberration yet.
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Posted by Lloyd Birch on 11/08/2021 at 19:29
This is just "Money Grabbing". End of. Would somebody please sack all the Administrators of our Summer game, before it's TOO LATE!!!
Posted by Marc Evans on 10/08/2021 at 23:49
Always enjoy having a gloat when marketing turns sour. As it's the cen
Posted by Stephen Harris on 10/08/2021 at 18:07
I don't like applauding disasters but anything that helps undermine this farce is good in my book. Lord's has had to ban people brining in drinks for the first time. The new crowd seems to be the same crowd that make Friday nights at the Oval so unpleasant. No amount of TV coverage of the few little people in the crowd and commentary that isn't so much analysis as propaganda is going to change that or remove the threat this all poses to the counties.
Posted by Andrew Dow on 10/08/2021 at 17:26
The age old problem that has afflicted all cricket for far too long comes round to the miracle new format! Why should we be surprised? Cricket and cricketers are part of the entertainment industry, competing for the same buck as all other spectator sports. "Cricketers don't owe us anything and they should not be risked purely for our entertainment." - What arrant nonsense. What utter bilge. Nick Howson, you are an idiot for writing this. Go back to school and try to learn something. Cricketers take money from the paying punter, who pays to see them perform, you milksop. The players can put boots on with spikes in them if they are worried about falling or slipping over. The players are the expendable bit of the process, just like gladiators were. The public pays to watch them. They get paid very well for very little real work. . No one pays to watch 2 middle aged men standing under umbrellas, prodding the pitch with their foot and making pensive faces. Cricket needs to wake up, and start making a contract with the public along the lines of "if there is no further rain, play will resume in ten minutes time" following the cessation of any rain, and / or immediately all covers are removed - whichever is the sooner." That would be similar to baseball. That way the paying public will know what will happen, can trust this, and will no longer be reliant on two self regarding retired players, and communication between them and an inept PA announcer.
Posted by Graham Schofield on 10/08/2021 at 17:13
Dear Mr Howson, What a negative and dreadful article & I suspect you were totally anti The Hundred from day one ! I wasn't there but the article to me has only one point which is "constructive", ie better communication from organisers to the fans. If the ground isn't fit to play on, "so be it". The weather issue will never go away in English Cricket & you know that is the case ! How about promoting some of the wonderful experiences of The Hundred, eg Edgbaston last night ! I suspect this isn't however on your "one eyed" journalism Agenda ! I suspect this isn't however on your Agenda ! How about promoting some of the wonderful aspects of
Posted by Douglas Miller on 10/08/2021 at 15:57
Those of us brought up in the 1950s will, no doubt, remember that we were never told anything. There were lights on the scoreboard to identify fielders but that was about it. Shrouded in secrecy were such matters as who had won the toss. This past Sunday I umpired a club match scheduled to start at 1.00pm, which eventually began at 2.00. That it did so was in no small measure due to the efforts of the home team to get to work with towels etc. All bar one (the away team captain) seemed totally happy that it was sensible to start at 2.00. Remember how the crowd helped get the Test back on in 1968. Could they have helped in 2021? Umpires are under a strict obligation to put player safety at the top of the agenda. However, I am starting to wonder if we go too far. If 22 players start a football match, there will be a few who will be ruled out for a mid-week fixture. That is about par for the course. I think the spectators at The Oval had a right to be better informed, and better entertained in some way. If a couple of fielders fall on their backsides, so be it. Sport is not risk-free. I ended up in casualty a couple of weeks ago thanks to a throw in deflected at the last moment. So what? Depending on how you look at it, i was either lucky or unlucky. The sooner the odd injury becomes more acceptable, the better. Years ago we were less risk-averse, less inclined to seek legal redress and insist on insurance. In many ways we were the better for it. Remember those days - no helmets for batsmen or close fielders, few special measures for young players and, if motor racing was your sport, the chance of a death was very real.
Posted by Keith Mein on 10/08/2021 at 14:08
Spectators/members etc have been treated very poorly by cricket for years. It does not seem to have sunk in that it is an entertainment and thus proper,consistent, informative and audible information MUST be the order of every game. Umpires frankly seem sometimes more than happy to call a game off so it may be time to take that decision away from them. Whilst player safety is paramount the current state of affairs can not be allowed to continue
Posted by nick holdsworth on 10/08/2021 at 13:51
Absolutely no comment!
Posted by Steve Dines on 10/08/2021 at 03:14
This tournament should be scrapped and the money should be invested into the existing county playing structure.
Posted by Brian Barnard on 09/08/2021 at 22:26
Having experienced my first hundred game(Lords 3/8), I was quite disappointed by the lack of engagement with the fans. Announcements were quite inaudible, there was little atmosphere created by the DJ, and scoreboards didn’t give enough information. I also felt that 5 ball overs actually slowed the game down. Fielding changes and changes of bowler still happened 20 times in an innings but with one less ball in between. In my opinion, the number of balls in an over should have been increased not decreased to reduce the number of multiple field changes. I’m sure the experience would have been enhanced with a closer fought contest then we witnessed, knowing the result was settled 7/8 overs before the end.
Posted by Jeremy Atkin on 09/08/2021 at 17:58
I can't wait until the FA announce no football will be played while it is raining or the ground is wet
Posted by Mike on 09/08/2021 at 17:50
Enjoyed all the games so far, but last night, the apparent lack of respect to its customers by the umpires was disappointing. Also glad to see the commentators have now noticed the lack of penalty for a slow over rate. The penalty should be a player removed from the fielding side completely for every 3 minutes they overrun and not just brought into the 30 yards circle. Currently when a penalty has been awarded, the fielding team has got slower and slower. This cannot be allowed to happen and changes must be made for next year. Well done The Hundred!
Posted by Dan Truman on 09/08/2021 at 16:14
I was at the Oval yesterday. And the key word in this piece is farcical. Because it was. The Test Match had been rained off hours earlier, but the scheduling of both women's and men's Hundred matches didn't change. The pitch inspections were highlighted but no feedback given. There were umpires, cricketers, groundsmen all discussing. And then, there were the suits who happened to turn up on the pitch with a crowd of 15-20k inside the ground waiting for play. The suits wanted play to avoid repaying all fans, the players wanted to play, the fans wanted some value. The umpires wanted to go and sit upstairs. All for player safety but it was bone dry for 90mins between the matches. Cover the pitches until play is due to start and warm up elsewhere. Put a roof over it like a baseball stadium (Rogers Centre in Toronto survives snow each year). If cricket doesn't find a solution and communicate it, you can brand it however you like but it will fail.
Posted by Ian Mills on 09/08/2021 at 13:58
The writer doesn't mention the farce of the pace of play. They reached the time out with 11 balls to go and took a further 15 minutes to complete the match. The penalty for missing the deadline is being ignored
Posted by Derek hatch on 09/08/2021 at 13:46
Why do we need the 100?by playing it now,the royal london cup is being devalued.top players lured away from counties to play 100.there is too much white ball cricket.test cricket is suffering.bairstow,butler,lawrence and curran all played white ball innings at trent bridge.quick runs for short time at wicket.they are not adapting to the longer game.
Posted by Matt W on 09/08/2021 at 12:27
Could not agree more with this article. I was there and I have a relatively good understanding of cricket and the pitfalls of weather. The procrastination of the ground staff and umpires was abhorrent. At one point one of the (annoying) ground "hosts" said that they were doing all they could however it was so clear to all sat basking in the sunshine (my mate got sunburn on a rained off day!?) That the ground staff were doing nothing and as said the part of the outfield that was a problem was left un touched for hours. The game when it finally was played was brilliant however they had to do it as if no play happened they would have lost their entire match ticket funds through refunds.......this policy might need a review for double headers.......
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