Gerrumonside ref

Mills in - see below: https://sussexcricket.co.uk/news/14-man-squad-named-el-clasicoast-opener Archer injured I think.

To me, this tournament shared between Sky and a big FTA broadcaster would be ideal for cricket’s national exposure. In case anyone didn’t catch the TV preview there are some really good players in it this year including Martin Guptill as gingerjon has mentioned: AB de Villiers (Middlesex and South Africa) Mujeeb Ur Rahman (Middlesex and Afghanistan) Eoin Morgan (Middlesex and England) Glenn Maxwell (Lancashire and Australia) Aaron Finch (Surrey and Australia) Imran Tahir (Surrey and South Africa) Nicholas Pooran (Yorkshire and West Indies) Babar Azam (Somerset and Pakistan) Mohammed Azir (Essex and Pakistan) Rashid Khan (Sussex and Afghanistan)

T20 Blast about to get underway. Some of the counties have made interesting overseas signings with a few big names. Nottinghamshire are the favourites and will kick things off against the defending champs Worcestershire on Sky now.

Pretty bewildered that anyone is coming out to bat over this for Trump both over here and over there.

I like it and would spend money watching a Roses game.

The clubs outside the Super League are crying out for exposure and this could deliver it.

Congratulations to us, in your face everybody else!

Amazing. Literally amazing!

I think that’s the obvious inference tbh. It’s important they hold a consultation exercise with the Swinton fans to set out their position properly and show the research they’ve done into the benefits of anything radical. It’s a shame it’s even an issue in what has obviously been a good season for Swinton (after everybody had wrote them off at the start of the year).

I’ve got a Star Warsy ‘bad feeling’ about the way the media are building up this game. It’s cheesy, but I hope we play the game and not the occasion. Come on England!

It was a measured finish by Dubois who looks a real prospect. Comes across as pretty level headed too. Unfortunately ‘talking’ in boxing is usually seen as a big part of the game, but I find Dubois’ personality almost refreshing at the moment.

I think in terms of participation your experience of the effectiveness of the ECB’s approach may be localised to your area. If we believe the research done prior to the launch of The Hundred then only 5% of children between the 7-15 age group rank cricket amongst their favourite sports and only 7% of primary school children play cricket (source: The Cricketer) I think these are the main concerns with regards participation. Whether the solution they’ve come up with is the answer is questionable to me. It does sound impressive what is happening in your local area.

What I don’t understand is why giving these new entities nicknames is seen as particularly groundbreaking? I’m struggling to think how any person is going to say to themselves, “Hang on, I don’t normally like this, but now they’re called the ‘Rockets’! It’s a yes!” To me the ECB have been hoodwinked or have willingly led themselves down the garden path.

I would say there are four markets: -People who like cricket -People who used to like cricket -People who don’t like cricket -People who don't know what cricket is? The Hundred is an attempt to go after the latter two with the risk of turning the first group into more of the ‘People who used to like cricket’ second grouping. The crux of the matter is that participation rates are deemed to have dropped to a critical level for the future of professional cricket in England. What concerns me about the attempt to remedy this is money will be wasted on player wages and so-so marketing and market research which could be better spent at grassroots. I think an easier answer would have been to televise part of the popular T20 blast tournament on the BBC including the final.

Can’t see Sky doing it though on a regular basis. Maybe if we were part of BT’s portfolio of live sport.