Cricket - Matches & General Discussion Thread

[Gerrumonside ref]

1 hour ago, 17 stone giant said:

Do you really need me to answer such a stupid question?

So it’s all an idle threat then?

[17 stone giant]

1 hour ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

So it’s all an idle threat then?

No, the risks of losing interest, goodwill, credibility, respect etc. are very real when you scrap something that you've only recently introduced and championed.

In my opinion the crowds for The Hundred have been pretty good, the TV viewing figures seem decent, the merchandise seems to be selling in increasing numbers, so if it's still failing I would have to question how was it ever going to be a success? What more did it need to do in order to be considered one?

That then comes back to my point above. If as a sport you introduce something that has unrealistic aims and is basically always destined to fail, then that puts your sport in a bad light and doesn't say much for the competency of the sports administrators.

[Gerrumonside ref]

7 hours ago, 17 stone giant said:

No, the risks of losing interest, goodwill, credibility, respect etc. are very real when you scrap something that you've only recently introduced and championed.

In my opinion the crowds for The Hundred have been pretty good, the TV viewing figures seem decent, the merchandise seems to be selling in increasing numbers, so if it's still failing I would have to question how was it ever going to be a success? What more did it need to do in order to be considered one?

That then comes back to my point above. If as a sport you introduce something that has unrealistic aims and is basically always destined to fail, then that puts your sport in a bad light and doesn't say much for the competency of the sports administrators.

I fully disagree as I fail to see how people can have developed such close affiliations for teams and a competition that didn't exist only a few years ago.

I don’t see the emotional upheaval of scrapping it for cricket fans as it has failed to deliver and at some cost to the game in England.

Surely at some point you have to cut your losses and act rationally not emotionally as administrators of the sport.

 

 

[Moose]

I've just been reading the QPR FC forum 'Loft for words' and found a thread had been started today about the hundred. Several county members are on the forum, people who are Kent, Surrey and Middlesex members have posted and its a good level of debate. Couldn't let this post go by without sharing. The poster is 'Hunterhoop'. Sums up my view better than I could, 

The concept is a complete failure. And it was completely unnecessary.

Kids and families went to the T20 already.

If you subsidised T20 tickets, if you put it on during the school holidays, if you added gigs and a women’s game before, if you pumped this much into marketing, it would be as equal if not a bigger success because you’d have taken county members with you, and made it accessible to 18 county’s not just 8 grounds.

It’s been an absolute jobs for the boys con job. All the pundits like Vaughan with shares in sports agencies have made a killing from the pointless draft where the ECB are just handing out money to players and their agents. The consultancies involved have made a killing for themselves. The leaders within the ECB who implemented took their enormous bonuses for getting it off the ground even though it’s running at a loss and there is no evidence to say it is drawing in any new audience or one that couldn’t have been drawn in with far less wasted investment.

It’s also completely ruining the whole cricket schedule both County and England. For what?

It’s a dud and deserves to be canned. Sounds like next year will be the last one, won’t it?

 

[gingerjon]

47 minutes ago, Moose said:

I've just been reading the QPR FC forum 'Loft for words' and found a thread had been started today about the hundred. Several county members are on the forum, people who are Kent, Surrey and Middlesex members have posted and its a good level of debate. Couldn't let this post go by without sharing. The poster is 'Hunterhoop'. Sums up my view better than I could, 

The concept is a complete failure. And it was completely unnecessary.

Kids and families went to the T20 already.

If you subsidised T20 tickets, if you put it on during the school holidays, if you added gigs and a women’s game before, if you pumped this much into marketing, it would be as equal if not a bigger success because you’d have taken county members with you, and made it accessible to 18 county’s not just 8 grounds.

It’s been an absolute jobs for the boys con job. All the pundits like Vaughan with shares in sports agencies have made a killing from the pointless draft where the ECB are just handing out money to players and their agents. The consultancies involved have made a killing for themselves. The leaders within the ECB who implemented took their enormous bonuses for getting it off the ground even though it’s running at a loss and there is no evidence to say it is drawing in any new audience or one that couldn’t have been drawn in with far less wasted investment.

It’s also completely ruining the whole cricket schedule both County and England. For what?

It’s a dud and deserves to be canned. Sounds like next year will be the last one, won’t it?

 

The thing about agents/players is significant - especially on the men’s side.

The salaries are fixed and really not bad. But they were based on international players coming over for them. More and more internationals are giving the comp a swerve as they have better options in other franchise leagues. Meaning that a growing number of spots with these not bad at all salaries are being taken by the kind of county journeyman who is meant to be the problem and not the solution.

[JonM]

2 hours ago, gingerjon said:

The salaries are fixed and really not bad. But they were based on international players coming over for them. More and more internationals are giving the comp a swerve as they have better options in other franchise leagues.

Isn't this the fundamental, not really fixable problem though? There basically isn't anything the ECB can do about the fact that the TV contract for IPL is bigger per match than Premier League football, Champions League football, NBA etc etc. There is simply nothing they can do to keep the best one-day cricketers playing in England rather than India. Remains to be seen whether Indians living in the US and Canada constitute a bigger audience (in financial terms) than UK cricket fans, but it wouldn't surprise me if that isn't also the case, and MLC becomes a viable competitor for players too.

[gingerjon]

8 minutes ago, JonM said:

Isn't this the fundamental, not really fixable problem though? There basically isn't anything the ECB can do about the fact that the TV contract for IPL is bigger per match than Premier League football, Champions League football, NBA etc etc. There is simply nothing they can do to keep the best one-day cricketers playing in England rather than India. Remains to be seen whether Indians living in the US and Canada constitute a bigger audience (in financial terms) than UK cricket fans, but it wouldn't surprise me if that isn't also the case, and MLC becomes a viable competitor for players too.

To go back to a founding principle of The Hundred, which we can add to the list of things it is failing to deliver, it was meant to be the world’s best players.

MLC is definitely a competitor.

I have no problem with journeymen cricketers. I think it’s a selling point of English cricket. But they were being held up as part of the problem because the Blast and Championship are full of them.

Well, now so is The Hundred.

[17 stone giant]

On 08/08/2023 at 09:14, Moose said:

I've just been reading the QPR FC forum 'Loft for words' and found a thread had been started today about the hundred. Several county members are on the forum, people who are Kent, Surrey and Middlesex members have posted and its a good level of debate. Couldn't let this post go by without sharing. The poster is 'Hunterhoop'. Sums up my view better than I could, 

The concept is a complete failure. And it was completely unnecessary.

Kids and families went to the T20 already.

If you subsidised T20 tickets, if you put it on during the school holidays, if you added gigs and a women’s game before, if you pumped this much into marketing, it would be as equal if not a bigger success because you’d have taken county members with you, and made it accessible to 18 county’s not just 8 grounds.

It’s been an absolute jobs for the boys con job. All the pundits like Vaughan with shares in sports agencies have made a killing from the pointless draft where the ECB are just handing out money to players and their agents. The consultancies involved have made a killing for themselves. The leaders within the ECB who implemented took their enormous bonuses for getting it off the ground even though it’s running at a loss and there is no evidence to say it is drawing in any new audience or one that couldn’t have been drawn in with far less wasted investment.

It’s also completely ruining the whole cricket schedule both County and England. For what?

It’s a dud and deserves to be canned. Sounds like next year will be the last one, won’t it?

 

Remaining three games at The Oval are all sold out. As are the two remaining games at the Ageas. And two of the three at Headingley, and one of the two at Trent Bridge. Just thought I'd mention these things when you're talking about complete failures and duds etc.

It will be interesting to see what they replace it with, and how happy The Hundred critics are with what they get instead. I get the impression that it will be impossible to please everyone.

One article I read suggested teams based at the county grounds, but not called county names. Some might even use The Hundred names - I can see the team playing in Glamorgan doing that, as Welsh Fire covers nicely their target area. Maybe Hampshire will keep Southern Brave, providing Sussex don't want it. Two divisions with 8 in the top and 10 in the second. Not sure why you'd do that - 9 and 9 would be more sensible I'd have thought - that way you'd keep the four home and four away matches, without the need to play a rival team twice (which is one thing I'm not so keen on with the The Hundred).

Anyway, sell out crowd for the Northern Superchargers vs Oval Invicibles tonight. 1815 on BBC2. Hopefully get a full game in without any weather interruptions.

 

[Moose]

1 hour ago, 17 stone giant said:

Remaining three games at The Oval are all sold out. As are the two remaining games at the Ageas. And two of the three at Headingley, and one of the two at Trent Bridge. Just thought I'd mention these things when you're talking about complete failures and duds etc.

It will be interesting to see what they replace it with, and how happy The Hundred critics are with what they get instead. I get the impression that it will be impossible to please everyone.

One article I read suggested teams based at the county grounds, but not called county names. Some might even use The Hundred names - I can see the team playing in Glamorgan doing that, as Welsh Fire covers nicely their target area. Maybe Hampshire will keep Southern Brave, providing Sussex don't want it. Two divisions with 8 in the top and 10 in the second. Not sure why you'd do that - 9 and 9 would be more sensible I'd have thought - that way you'd keep the four home and four away matches, without the need to play a rival team twice (which is one thing I'm not so keen on with the The Hundred).

Anyway, sell out crowd for the Northern Superchargers vs Oval Invicibles tonight. 1815 on BBC2. Hopefully get a full game in without any weather interruptions.

 

Under fives free, five to fifteen year olds £5 and adults from £10.

You could sell out Headingley for a bread buttering competition at those prices.

 

[17 stone giant]

13 minutes ago, Moose said:

Under fives free, five to fifteen year olds £5 and adults from £10.

You could sell out Headingley for a bread buttering competition at those prices.

 

Sensible pricing for a game live on the BBC. Games not live on the BBC start at £18 for adults.

Perfectly sensible to make it £5 for 5 to 15 year old, given that you're trying to attract the next generation. Let's not even bother discussing under 5's being free, because that's not going to be a game changer in any respect.

And no, you couldn't sell out Headingley for a bread buttering competition at those prices, but feel free to continue your delusions.

There seems to be a disease among certain rugby league fans whereby people supposedly only go to The Hundred because tickets are free or cheap, and people don't go and watch rugby league because of poor marketing. I guess it helps avoid reality that way.

Anyway, the weather looks great, so I shall sit back and enjoy a great game of cricket. Eventful start with that first ball catch.

 

[ivans82]

Couldn`t support any sport where the teams are set up seemingly at random with no real attachment to anywhere .It`s all about money and the whole thing with the hundred to me is to see how far wide you can ball and get away with it .

[Wolford6]

I can't do with T20 or Hundred competitions. The boundaries are pulled in, the fielers have restrictions and it's basically a slogathon. I don't watch them.

However, the Hundred is available for young/teenage boys and girls to watch on terrestial telly. That's got to be good for the wider game.

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

On 01/08/2023 at 15:46, JonM said:

'd be interested to know whether Alex Carey was affected by the Bairstow incident and the consequent treatment by spectators - his batting average in the subsequent 3 tests was 14 and he's dropped a few behind the stumps too. 

I sincerely hope Broad's assertion to him was correct (that is all you'll be remembered for)

Barring a full apology and acceptance of wrong doing (which won't happen) I hope this follows him everywhere and ruins his test career 

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

8 hours ago, Wolford6 said:

I can't do with T20 or Hundred competitions. The boundaries are pulled in, the fielers have restrictions and it's basically a slogathon. I don't watch them.

However, the Hundred is available for young/teenage boys and girls to watch on terrestial telly. That's got to be good for the wider game.

T20/hundred can be great to watch.....I've long accepted it as my main way of watching cricket now ....and I'm someone who grew up on tests and 46 I'm still playing cricket after 40 years 

[MattSantos]

3 hours ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

I sincerely hope Broad's assertion to him was correct (that is all you'll be remembered for)

Barring a full apology and acceptance of wrong doing (which won't happen) I hope this follows him everywhere and ruins his test career 

Wow. Really?

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

40 minutes ago, MattSantos said:

Wow. Really?

Yes really 

It was appalling and he deserves everything he gets 

[17 stone giant]

Another win for the Southern Brave women. Looking in a strong position to again make at least The Eliminator.

Hopefully the men can follow suit. Good to see Vince and Jordan are playing, and great to see Archer in attendance. Hope he can make a return to cricket soon.

 

 

[Futtocks]

John Arlott and Ralph Richardson give you a full load of solid gold cricketing nostalgia.

It's all rather lovely...

 

[Tommygilf]

Over 24,000 at Lords for Spirit vs Superchargers in the Hundred tonight

[17 stone giant]

On 18/08/2023 at 20:57, Tommygilf said:

Over 24,000 at Lords for Spirit vs Superchargers in the Hundred tonight

I can't believe some of the haters on here aren't watching it too. After all, isn't any cricket better than none? Many of the England heroes are playing too now - Root, Duckett, Woakes, Ali, Crawley, Brooks, etc.

So, who are the secret lemonade drinkers Hundred watchers? Anyone going to confess?

 

 

[gingerjon]

9 hours ago, 17 stone giant said:

I can't believe some of the haters on here aren't watching it too. After all, isn't any cricket better than none? Many of the England heroes are playing too now - Root, Duckett, Woakes, Ali, Crawley, Brooks, etc.

So, who are the secret lemonade drinkers Hundred watchers? Anyone going to confess?

 

 

First season - watched a bit, enough to know which players were in form, and to have an opinion on the teams

Second season - watched a much smaller bit, sort of knew who was doing well but no more than that

Third season - unless it's an autoplay on social media, I've seen none of it. Not deliberate in any malicious sense, it's just not been on my radar. I have streamed the One Day Cup a couple of times though.

[17 stone giant]

Another great game in The Hundred tonight. Harry Brook smashes a century and finishes up on the losing side. Welsh Fire go into third place as a result.

Brook also played his part in another great boundary catch. I was slightly surprised to see it given though, because I always thought that you had to jump from the field of play in order to make the catch - the same in rugby if you want to keep the ball in play.

In other words, you can't be outside of the boundary or pitch and jump and take the catch, and throw it back before you land. If that was allowed you could theoretically take a catch 20 metres outside of the boundary and throw it back to someone.

While Harry Brook wasn't outside the boundary initially, he was when he did his second jump.

The Hundred 2023: Harry Brook and Adam Hose's relay catch leads the plays of the day - BBC Sport

 

[17 stone giant]

Incredible batting from Manchester Originals men (especially Buttler and Salt), but I can't help feeling that we (Southern Brave) bottled that. We had a fantastic total (196) to defend, and it just looked as though we came out with the complacent attitude of thinking we just needed to bowl our sets and we'd be in the final. The bowling early on was an embarrassment.

So, as a result, we have the following:

Men's final: Manchester Originals v Oval Invincibles

Women's final: Northern Superchargers v Southern Brave

Nice to have four different teams represented. I imagine most people here are from the north west or Yorkshire and will be supporting their respective teams. So that just leaves Gingerjon and myself rooting for the Southern Brave.

It should be a great day of cricket, weather permitting.

[Leeds Wire]

On 18/08/2023 at 20:57, Tommygilf said:

Over 24,000 at Lords for Spirit vs Superchargers in the Hundred tonight

How many paid?

[17 stone giant]

2 hours ago, Leeds Wire said:

How many paid?

1 person paid. There were 23999 free tickets.

Which reminds me, next year I'm hoping someone on here that keeps talking about free tickets for The Hundred, points me in the direction of how to get one. Because I've been to 8 matches now and paid every time.

I'll settle for a free ticket to any Southern Brave match at the Ageas Bowl, or you can get me one for the Eliminator or Final. I'm not fussy. Thanks in advance.