NICK FRIEND: The former England white-ball captain is reuniting with Trevor Bayliss, his World Cup-winning coach in 2019, at London Spirit for the second edition of the tournament
Eoin Morgan believes that The Hundred has already come through its acid test, with the success of the competition in its inaugural year coming amid a backdrop of scepticism.
The former England white-ball captain is reuniting with Trevor Bayliss, his World Cup-winning coach in 2019, at London Spirit for the second edition of the tournament, albeit in difficult circumstances following the passing of Shane Warne.
Morgan has long championed The Hundred, and it is now central to his cricketing focus, having retired from international cricket earlier in the summer. He has not played competitively since the second of two ducks against the Netherlands led to him calling time on a glittering, remarkable England career.
"Last year was the ultimate test," said Morgan, speaking at the launch of KP Snacks' summer cricket roadshow at The Black Prince Trust in Oval.
"People hated it. Hated it. Like you couldn't believe. I couldn't believe it. So, we're past that."
He pointed to Alice Capsey, the 17-year-old who has since made her international debut, becoming the youngest player to record a T20I fifty for England, as proof of the competition's upshot and described its impact on the women's game as "the biggest benefit of the tournament".
"I think we saw a huge amount of evidence last year when it came to the power of what a tournament like this can do for the sport," added Morgan.
"It's the sport across the board: we can be very selfish and talk about the men's game all the time, but actually the biggest positive of last year was the growth of the women's game, and the level of attention it attracted was extraordinary."
The Morgan-Bayliss axis is reunited at London Spirt this season (David Rogers/Getty Images)
Capsey, he said, would be among the first of many to forge reputations through the tournament. Her half-century for Oval Invincibles at Lord's in 2021 was a major moment. She has since been on an England A tour over the winter and made her international bow against South Africa last month.
"I think it's extraordinary – extraordinarily good," said Morgan, who is also due to continue his foray into commentary for Sky Sports over the next month.
"In other tournaments, I think we've seen it before – it's going to continue to happen, not only the jump that the tournament brings to springboard you to international level, but also creating household names from a domestic tournament.
"The Big Bash has done it – purely a name that springs to mind is Chris Lynn: a household name in Australia, who plays very little international cricket. He gave it a crack but doesn't get into their team. But yet everybody knows his name as a product of the Big Bash. I think we'll continue to see that throughout the tournament.
"Last year, Chris Benjamin – the number of guys like that who will come through and continue to impress. Jake Lintott, a schoolteacher."
Morgan, who insisted he hasn't given any thought to his career after the conclusion of The Hundred, also backed his former England teammates to use the tournament to rediscover their aggressive "intent" after an unusually disappointing, at times limp white-ball summer that ended without a home series victory for the first time in almost a decade.
"I have 100 per cent faith that things will turn around again," he stressed. "There's a transition regardless, even if you're the best side in the world. They are still winning games. When I first started, we couldn't win a game."
Jason Roy in particular struggled for rhythm, averaging just 24.2 in ODIs against India and South Africa and almost half that figure in the T20Is, only three times in 11 innings scoring at quicker than a run-a-ball.
Morgan was speaking at an event to mark the start of The Hundred's second edition (Nick Sellers)
"Our strength has always been our batting," said Morgan. "The team has been built around that we bat to No.9. But there's no good having nine guys who can bat if you're not playing with intent.
"The batting needs to work itself out and needs to show more purpose, and then you can get back to Adil (Rashid) bowling well and building the bowling unit around who's fit and having a varied attack.
"Anyone who's followed Jason's international career since he started – that's how he plays. He takes on an extremely important high-risk role at the top of the order.
"He doesn't just smack average bowling, he smacks the best. Clearly, that has a big impact in the changing room – they realise his value. It will come back again.
"I just think he needs to get back to somewhere near how Jason Roy plays. It hasn't helped with the schedule with the type of player that he is.
"He and Jonny Bairstow are two guys who really like centre-stage and really like three days building to a game and then it's a show. Playing back-to-back games, having two days off and not training and then playing again is a treadmill.
"It's not an actual show. It's a different challenge – more a test of endurance, which is actually closer to county cricket than it is to international cricket."
Morgan has back Jason Roy to come through his sticky run of form (Steve Bardens/Getty Images)
Bairstow has opted out of The Hundred to give himself a breather ahead of the Test series against South Africa; he played 10 international matches in July alone, while Roy played 12, including three pairs of ODIs with just a single day in between and two pairs of T20Is on consecutive days.
England's white-ball squad doesn't reconvene until heading to Pakistan in September ahead of the T20 World Cup in Australia later in the autumn.
Liam Livingstone established himself in England's white-ball plans by starring for Birmingham Phoenix last year – "to prove it under pressure and become a mainstay in the World Cup team was brilliant" – and Morgan believes there are positions at stake in this year's competition.
He namechecked death bowling, where Chris Jordan is England's only fit regular at present, and a successor to Rashid as two places "where people can target as an avenue in". Tymal Mills' performances for Southern Brave in 2021 contributed to his return for the T20 World Cup in the UAE.
For Morgan, without international cricket to distract his focus for the first time in his career, this also represents a fresh start of sorts. "I'm just going to try and enjoy myself," he said.
"I've enjoyed training, which is a start. I don't normally enjoy training. If that ever stops, I'll finish. I loved the tournament last year, and we were crap, so it's a good sign. I'm really looking forward to it."
KP Snacks, Official Team Partner of The Hundred, are touring the country this summer to offer more opportunities for people to play cricket as part of their ‘Everyone In’ campaign. Visit everyonein.co.uk/about
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