The Hundred: cricket’s saviour or a load of marketing crap?
- Thread starter RileyOBlimey
- Start date
RileyOBlimey
Well-Known Member
Did you notice the diversity in the crowd? Or are you a gammon-supremacist?
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Have you ever been to a county T20 match?
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Oh, and don't jump in with insinuations that other posters are racist.
Not fucking on.
Not fucking on.
paulhackett
voiced by strother martin
I can just about remember 8 ball overs in the late 70s. Can't remember 4 ball overs! Can't quite remember when they stopped having 8 ball overs in Tests. Laws change..
Yes. This. I thought the match on Wednesday worked. The match on Thursday seemed to be the beer soaked atmosphere I thought the ECB were trying to avoid. If they wanted more people to understand and follow the game, show it on free to air television. And play it in schools. In other words, invest differently.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Eight ball overs were only in Australia, I think.
ETA: And New Zealand. Been 6 balls in England since 1946.
ETA: And New Zealand. Been 6 balls in England since 1946.
planetgeli
There's no future in England's dreaming
I played eight ball overs in the 70s for my town. (A combination of me being quite good and them being short). Wednesday evenings were for eight ball overs. I think it was something to do with time-saving by not messing around changing ends quite so often.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Ah, didn't know they did it in the UK as well. I'll use the opportunity to say something I don't get to say often on here: Before my time.
Only done at 1st class level in Aus/NZ.
Doctor Carrot
Marxist Henchman
Doctor Carrot
Marxist Henchman
I watched a bit of the first two matches and just thought it was weird. The graphics and the way the scores are displayed made it more confusing. Why is it like that? How long would it really take to explain what 23/1 meant?
I've never, ever understood why the ECB just didn't put the t20 blast on terrestrial TV or even made that a city franchise right at the start of it? I think t20 in a city franchise on terrestrial TV would've been wildly successful actually. I like all formats of the game but this? It just feels like a weird game based on cricket rather than actually being cricket.
I've never, ever understood why the ECB just didn't put the t20 blast on terrestrial TV or even made that a city franchise right at the start of it? I think t20 in a city franchise on terrestrial TV would've been wildly successful actually. I like all formats of the game but this? It just feels like a weird game based on cricket rather than actually being cricket.
It's completely soul-less. For all those who bitched about the arrival of T20 and how it was going to ruin cricket... well... the ECB's made that look like the beautiful game. Everything, even down to their uniforms is just crass. Every team appears to be sponsored by junk food purveyors too? Surely not the message they should be projecting when there's a huge movement to stop advertising junk food to kids, a demographic this 'format' is allegedly trying to attract.
I agree, I've no idea why they didn't just strip the Blast down to fewer teams, and whack that on terrestrial. It's an excellent 'product'. Far better than this shite.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
why strip the blast down?
it packs grounds at Taunton, Chelmsford and Hove. It really works as it is and putting it on free to air would make it even better. We have 18 counties spread across the country, and the 'small' counties have been among the most successful. Northants, Worcs and Leicester are unlikely to win the county championship, but they've all won the Blast.
it packs grounds at Taunton, Chelmsford and Hove. It really works as it is and putting it on free to air would make it even better. We have 18 counties spread across the country, and the 'small' counties have been among the most successful. Northants, Worcs and Leicester are unlikely to win the county championship, but they've all won the Blast.
Athos
Well-Known Member
It strikes me as a bit iffy to imply that the only way to attract young people, women, and ethnic minorities to cricket is to dumb it down beyond recognition. All that was required was to remove the barriers to entry e.g. make it free to air, cheap tickets, demystify some of the terminology, and decouple from the stuffier parts of the country setup. A televised T20 tournament based around City franchises could've done all that.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
what is this shit about city franchises????
The Blast has been won 10 out of 18 times by non-test-ground counties based in smaller towns. Repeating myself, Somerset, Essex and Sussex sell out pretty much every single match of the Blast at their grounds. In case you haven't been to watch any matches there are already lots of women and young people there. Attendances have been growing pretty much every year in the last few years - more than 60% capacity across the whole tournament, including all the test grounds. Edgbaston was 50% capacity yesterday for the Hundred.
This is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. You just put the Blast on free-to-air, as should have been done at the start.
Or what? To the 8,000 people who turn out every week at Taunton, or the 6,000 at Chelmsford and Hove, what do you say? Fuck the fuck off, that's what you're saying.
The Blast has been won 10 out of 18 times by non-test-ground counties based in smaller towns. Repeating myself, Somerset, Essex and Sussex sell out pretty much every single match of the Blast at their grounds. In case you haven't been to watch any matches there are already lots of women and young people there. Attendances have been growing pretty much every year in the last few years - more than 60% capacity across the whole tournament, including all the test grounds. Edgbaston was 50% capacity yesterday for the Hundred.
This is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. You just put the Blast on free-to-air, as should have been done at the start.
Or what? To the 8,000 people who turn out every week at Taunton, or the 6,000 at Chelmsford and Hove, what do you say? Fuck the fuck off, that's what you're saying.
planetgeli
There's no future in England's dreaming
May as well capture the good bits.
They really do practice those catches and they are becoming a lot more common.
Then watch a stunning caught and bowled.
They really do practice those catches and they are becoming a lot more common.
Watch Van der Merwe's quick-thinking boundary catch
Watch London Spirit's Roelof van der Merwe produce a brilliant piece of skill at the boundary to catch Birmingham Phoenix Daniel Bell-Drummond.
www.bbc.co.uk
Then watch a stunning caught and bowled.
'Not sure we'll see a better caught & bowled in The Hundred'
Birmingham Phoenix bowler Andrew Milne shows stunning reactions to remove London Spirit's Ravi Bopara caught and bowled for 17 in The Hundred at Edgbaston.
www.bbc.co.uk
Athos
Well-Known Member
I think the issue is that the new fans they're courting don't identify with the counties. There's no reason why the teams couldn't be city-based, but games played at other grounds in the region.
planetgeli
There's no future in England's dreaming
Dobell with some brilliant lines.
www.espncricinfo.com
Did anybody ever say, "That cricket stuff looks good, but I hate it when they call 'over' after every six balls!" Has any protest ever featured the chant: "What do we want? The introduction of the decimal system in cricket. When do we want it? We don't mind, as long as it's in increments of five or 10"? Is the game really any more accessible for the introduction of the umpire holding a white card up at the end of five balls rather than shouting "over" a delivery later? It seems unlikely. All these simplifications… they're really complicated.
In truth, there's not much new here. Shortened formats? We've done that. Music? We've had that for years. Fireworks? The best display I ever saw was after the final of the Stanford Super Series. It was incredible. Really, the man spent a fortune on them. Sadly, it turned out not to be his fortune.
For all the breathless excitement of the commentators - some of who seem to have graduated from the Kim Jong-un school of journalism...
The use of the name Phoenix in connection with Birmingham is revealing. For those with any real association with the city, it surely evokes memories of the Phoenix Consortium. They were a group of four businessmen who bought the Rover name for £10 - yes, £10 - in 2000. Five years later, having taken £42m - yes, £42m - in pay and pensions from the company, they called in the administrators. A history of car-making that stretched back a century in the city was ended. The Longbridge area, where the car-plant once employed over 25,000 people and stretched over 70 acres, has never fully recovered.
Calling a Birmingham team Phoenix, then, might be compared to founding The Margaret Thatcher Coal Mining Museum.
Want the truth about the Hundred? It's smoke, mirrors and gimmickry
The ECB's new format seems to work but we may still be counting its cost for years to come
Did anybody ever say, "That cricket stuff looks good, but I hate it when they call 'over' after every six balls!" Has any protest ever featured the chant: "What do we want? The introduction of the decimal system in cricket. When do we want it? We don't mind, as long as it's in increments of five or 10"? Is the game really any more accessible for the introduction of the umpire holding a white card up at the end of five balls rather than shouting "over" a delivery later? It seems unlikely. All these simplifications… they're really complicated.
In truth, there's not much new here. Shortened formats? We've done that. Music? We've had that for years. Fireworks? The best display I ever saw was after the final of the Stanford Super Series. It was incredible. Really, the man spent a fortune on them. Sadly, it turned out not to be his fortune.
For all the breathless excitement of the commentators - some of who seem to have graduated from the Kim Jong-un school of journalism...
The use of the name Phoenix in connection with Birmingham is revealing. For those with any real association with the city, it surely evokes memories of the Phoenix Consortium. They were a group of four businessmen who bought the Rover name for £10 - yes, £10 - in 2000. Five years later, having taken £42m - yes, £42m - in pay and pensions from the company, they called in the administrators. A history of car-making that stretched back a century in the city was ended. The Longbridge area, where the car-plant once employed over 25,000 people and stretched over 70 acres, has never fully recovered.
Calling a Birmingham team Phoenix, then, might be compared to founding The Margaret Thatcher Coal Mining Museum.
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littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
The new fans they're courting have shown little evidence of materialising as yet. Meanwhile, the existing fans, of whom there are plenty, are being treated like they don't matter, when they are actually the ones who matter most.
But again, why are you talking down the counties? We're never going to have something like the IPL here. What we can do is build on an already successful tournament in which it is some of the smaller counties based in smaller towns who have been the most successful in engaging with the local community. And Surrey. Hate to admit it but by luck or judgement, Surrey have led the way in the Blast when it comes to packing out grounds. They were also the only county to have the balls (and financial security) to vote against the Hundred.
I read somewhere that the reason they can't get it more screen time is because there's too many sides. It's impossible to screen everything. The IPL, the most successful league in the world by far, has 8. And every single game is screened live and watched by millions, if not hundreds of millions around the world. The Big Bash also has 8.
The Blast has 18.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
The comparison with the Big Bash is a revealing one. They tried to expand the number of games but with very mixed results. The overall attendance at the Big Bash is a little more than the Blast - just over 1 million vs just under 1 million - but only a little more, and that when they have stadiums that hold more than 50k.
The Blast gets plenty of screen time - on Sky, behind a paywall, because the whole tournament was sold exclusively (at not enough money) to Sky.
Were there ever serious efforts to get the BBC to take the Blast? I very much doubt it. Sounds like the same kind of dishonest bullshit that Giles Clarke came out with when he sold test cricket to Sky in 2005, when he made out that it was the only way to save English cricket. That was a self-serving lie, of course.
And again, I repeat myself: we will never have anything like the IPL in this country. It's absurd to compare our competitions to that. But on its own terms, the Blast has been very successful, in terms of attendances, the quality of cricket and the finances of the game. The authorities systematically rubbished their own tournament in order to get this Hundred crap through. Shameful behaviour.
paulhackett
voiced by strother martin
And (God help me for looking it up..) Pakistan.
And there were 5 ball overs in the UK in the 1890s. Who knew?!
If the BBC took this current rubbish, I'm sure they would have taken the Blast if it was less drawn out and priced in their range. And Sky doesn't screen every match, by any stretch (as far as I know?). The Blast has a perfect opportunity to capitalise on the gap between the IPL and the Bash as the premier global comp in that period. It just needs to figure out what its goals are. Either way, it will outlive the Hundred though!
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Sky doesn't screen every match, no. Is that a problem? Every match of the football Premier League isn't screened live either, but it seems to do rather well.
And every match of the Hundred isn't on the BBC.
But again, I don't quite understand this idea that somehow the Blast had a problem with it as it was. It didn't. It was doing well despite not being on free to air tv, which both the IPL and the Big Bash are. Despite not having the huge stadiums like the IPL and Big Bash. Despite not having family-of-four tickets for £30 like the Big Bash does. Despite being held in a country with decidedly iffy weather.
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I'm not sure you can compare the Premier League with the Blast. The Premier League, or various forms of it, is the oldest and most popular league in the most popular sport on earth. The Blast has been around a few years. It's a great day out but I think it could learn from other leagues. 18 teams is absurd. Even the Premier League only has 20 - and you can watch every single game if you so desire anyway.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Tell me how the Blast is failing then?
Tell me what you say to all the fans at the small clubs, who pack out their grounds every week, when you axe their team?
You're proposing solutions to a problem that doesn't exist.
Learning from other tournaments means: putting the games on free-to-air tv and making on-the-day tickets affordable. Regarding the number of teams, we have a different history and different strengths from other countries. We have a fully professional 18-team first class system dating back decades. That's a unique history. It matters. It's what the game has been built on.
Who knows how big the Blast would be now if it had been on free-to-air tv from the start, as both the IPL and Big Bash have been?
18 teams is not absurd. It works.
Tell me what you say to all the fans at the small clubs, who pack out their grounds every week, when you axe their team?
You're proposing solutions to a problem that doesn't exist.
Learning from other tournaments means: putting the games on free-to-air tv and making on-the-day tickets affordable. Regarding the number of teams, we have a different history and different strengths from other countries. We have a fully professional 18-team first class system dating back decades. That's a unique history. It matters. It's what the game has been built on.
Who knows how big the Blast would be now if it had been on free-to-air tv from the start, as both the IPL and Big Bash have been?
18 teams is not absurd. It works.
IPL teams have their main stadiums yes but also play at other smaller grounds in their regions from time to time.
The 'problem that doesn't exist' is that I want quality cricket, with the best players from around the world, on terrestrial TV. For my own selfish enjoyment but also to attract the stars of the future to the game. TV execs have clearly looked at the Blast and decided it's not for them. Keep the county system, but that's separate from a T20 comp.
The 'problem that doesn't exist' is that I want quality cricket, with the best players from around the world, on terrestrial TV. For my own selfish enjoyment but also to attract the stars of the future to the game. TV execs have clearly looked at the Blast and decided it's not for them. Keep the county system, but that's separate from a T20 comp.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
No they haven't. The ECB decided to virtually give it to Sky when they didn't realise how much it was worth, and have since decided to keep it at Sky. You're just buying the lies being told to make out that this had to be done.
The idea that the Blast couldn't have gone to free to air tv is a flat-out lie. They never tried.
Doctor Carrot
Marxist Henchman
My argument is the ECB should've done city teams right from the start in the same way the IPL and Big Bash do and made it free to air. I don't think there's really anything wrong with the blast as it is now but I think it would be even bigger had they done those things from the start. I completely agree that the 100 solves a problem that doesn't exist.
