The Hundred, eh? After a couple of low-key pilot matches at an empty Trent Bridge in mid‑September it is possible to report back that the ECB’s funky new format is, to all intents and purposes, still cricket.
Indeed, beyond a handful of tweaks – one of which seemed OK and some others that required a touch of mental de-programming (even if the pre-converted are not the targeted new audience) – The Hundred differs little from Twenty20 as a short, sharp event. Should this news, after months of gimmicks being floated, provoke a sigh of relief? Or does it in fact raise the question of whether a fourth cricketing format is required at all?
Whatever one’s perspective, the fact is that from 2020 onwards eight newly created teams will be competing in a five-week mid‑summer window as part of a £1.1bn broadcast deal in which 10 of the 36 men’s matches will be aired live on BBC Two. To make the latter happen, and as a secondary consideration allow families to get the little ones home at a reasonable hour, the England and Wales Cricket Board feels it must crunch Twenty20 down into two and a half hours and thus come some of the changes witnessed on Monday.
During the matches played, between two sides of county pros notionally called North and South, an ability to forget some of the fundamentals was required. Chiefly this was that overs are a now thing of the past. It is all about balls.
There are 100 per innings and these are sent down in blocks of 10. Bowlers deliver five at a time and 20 in total. They can bowl 10 in a row – an entire 10-ball block, if deemed tactically correct – or four lots of five. A bowler can also bowl 10 either side of a change of ends. As the balls count down from 100 on the scorecard, the runs go up. In the first game the North, captained by the former England all-rounder Samit Patel, beat the South by nine runs in two hours and 17 minutes (job done).
Patel’s men posted 137 for seven from their 100 balls but the South roared back, smashing 66 from 25 balls (the first 20 of which were the powerplay) via the flashing blades of Warwickshire’s Ed Pollock and the giant Essex all-rounder Paul Walter.
But then came another innovation, with a strategic 2min 30sec time-out called that allowed their bowling coach, Nottinghamshire’s Andy Pick, on to the field. Patel regrouped his men and from there the South collapsed to 128 all out with eight balls remaining, the sometime Leicestershire off-spinner Rob Sayer picking up four.
Along the way there was another notable difference. When Billy Root of Notts was caught in the North’s first innings, for example, the batsmen had crossed. But here the new man in had to face the next ball (even if coming the ball before a change of ends). Though overriding Law 18.12.2 – something that Daryl Mitchell, the PCA chairman, later revealed may be changed for all cricket by MCC down the line – this was the one innovation that seemed not entirely unreasonable.
As Trent Woodhill, the Australian freelance coach who is advising the ECB, explained: “The bowlers play such a massive part in the sport and there’s got to be reward for when they do something well – that’s bowling to the new batsman.”
Though Patel did not agree – “I’m a batter. If you cross, you cross” – he did enjoy the time-out from which the collapse ensued, even if he was keen to point out that it was his tactics – rather than any input from Pick – that made the difference.
Another interesting decision came in whether to stick with a bowler for all 10 balls of a block or switch. In the case of spinners he felt it was easy to decide. Seamers, on the other hand, should have a greater say in whether they can go the distance. If the fifth ball of a block was hit for six, Patel said he felt compelled to change bowler regardless. His overall take? “It was pretty good, actually. You don’t feel any difference from a T20 game really. I wonder why we can’t stick with T20 but we’ve been told to give it a crack. I’m sure different rules and regs may come in but, so far, I think it’s been pretty good.”
While the first match was a thriller – or as close as you will get with an audience of 16,000 plastic seats and the odd ECB employee – the second was a damp squib, with the South rolled for 104 in 92 balls, which the North chased down in 77 with four wickets down.
This was day four of six pilot days and aspects like powerplays and substitutes will continue to be tweaked before sign-off in November. But overall it appears the ECB feels the new audience will be unlocked by playing them cricket’s equivalent of the radio edit. For those who prefer the 12-inch version, it will take some getting used to.
