Proposed new English franchise tournament

The good news: The Hundred has been postponed for 12 months.

The bad news: The ECB hsn't yet killed it off for good. 

www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/29116720/hundred-launch-postponed-2021

I'm reminded of the fact that Women's cricket doesn't have an equivalent to the T20 Blast to fall back on. 

Oh dear.

How sad.

Never mind.

Not to mention the severe depletion from the tens of millions they have spent on the postponed tournament already.

Fb,

I've had a good look at Dobell's video and read his Cricinfo article. Those who have been so against The 100 from the start are clutching at straws, imho. Even George admits: "Supporters of the Hundred would point out that the competition is projected to bring in £51m, which includes £36.5m from the home broadcast deal, £4m from the overseas broadcast deal, £6.5m from ticket sales and £4m from sponsorship, against those overall costs of £58m in the first year. Without those revenue streams, the overall saving might be more like £7m a year." The ECB have already signed a £1.1 billion media rights deal with SKY. The 100 is an integral element of that deal. So, are the ECB going to jeopardise their crucial media rights with SKY by cancelling The 100 for a paltry £7m? SKY is the only hope of saving county cricket as we emerge from the pandemic. The last thing to do, right now, is to upset them. As for the "Tens of millions spent already on the tournament" what cloud cuckoo-land does 'sussex forever' live on? 

As for George, a bad-tempered and grumpy man, who is constantly falling out with people, he probably can't believe his luck. Has Covid-19 saved his bacon after spending the last 2 years raging and ranting about the competition, putting his job on the line and embarrassing Cricinfo, all in the name of trying to make a name for himself? Like Piers Morgan, he is a journalist who becomes so self-obsessed with a subject that he drives this obsession on until finally it self-destructs in his face. The 100, until now, has been his journalistic nemesis. 

When the ECB led by Colin Graves first announced the new competition, Dobell immediately sided with the traditionalists of the game and so began a series of tweets, articles and features criticising the tournament, the ECB, and later its Chairman, Colin Graves, over even daring to consider such an outrageous idea. This fixation which developed into a vitriolic and personal vendetta against Graves during the Spring of 2018, where he highlighted the ECB Chairman's ‘conflict of interests’ with Yorkshire CCC, compelled the Board to threaten Dobell and ESPNCricinfo with a law suit. They had little choice.



This action then became notorious when Private Eye (No.1467) featured the story in an April edition, outlining in some detail, aspects of the eight-page letter from London solicitors ‘Onside Law’, for their client Colin Graves, to Cricinfo demanding apologies and damages for a particular George Dobell article on his ECB stewardship. Fortunately, for George and the cricket website, after a strong rap across the knuckles and an apology from ESPNCricinfo, the ECB did not pursue the case.

While Dobell emerged as a traditionalist hero for the anti-100 cause, he had been wounded by the fracas and when plans for the tournament continued unabated, his crusade limped into oblivion. But this didn’t stop our reckless journo from continuing to write snide comments about Graves as if George was Blackadder himself. Typical tweets during the late summer of 2018 included:

Colin Graves is awarding the Championship Trophy tomorrow. It's like asking Margaret Thatcher to award 'coal-miner of the year.’ And Colin Graves has just been presented with something to mark England's 1,000th Test. And, I kid you not, he's dropped it.

So, for a smiling Dobell, during the world’s worst pandemic since the 1960s Hong Kong flu epidemic which, so far, has killed over 230,000 people worldwide, to say that the ECB may not be able to afford to initiate the new competition, after all, due to the financial ramifications of Covid-19, is the ultimate smug of all smug. In fact, to use a possible Blackadder phrase, ”George is so smug he makes smuggness seem like a pair of pants peeing into a toilet bowl.”

Oh no...not another rather dismal George Dobell bashing attempt. Not sure why you could not focus on merely disagreeing with his views, rather than attempting a sad, poor attempt to attack the personality. Never mind......borderman would surely have been proud of your efforts!

"So,for a smiling Dobell, during the world's worst pandemic since the 1960s Hong Kong flu epidemic which, so far has killed 230,000 people worldwide........". What classic irony, given the numerous misleading and contrary information that you have managed to trot out over the past weeks.

Anyway, keep up the good work George and continue to stand up for what you believe in.