Bazpan
2nd XI player
Posts: 191 
County club member: Kent
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Post by Bazpan on Jun 24, 2021 1:01:11 GMT
During the lunchtime interval of the world test championship final on Sunday one of Sky's entire 4 min ad breaks was taken up by an advert for the Hundred. Presumably aimed at the audience of new fans who would be watching the Test match already? Or should I be realistic- aimed at Indian cricket fans who might not bother with the T20 Blast. Another recent irritation was seeing Stokes had played his first Blast game for Durham in 3 years. Unavailable previously due to fear of being overworked and all that nonsense yet no doubt he'll be playing every Hundred game possible. Got to look after their welfare after all.
I saw that Hundred promotion on Sky. Annoyingly, work stuff got in the way just at that moment so I couldn't concentrate on it, but like you I did find myself wondering who it was being aimed at. I have a vague recollection of Ebony Rainford-Brent saying things like "Still with me?" as she explained how The Hundred works, and the whole thing seemed typically frenetic. It didn't feel as though it was directed at the kinds of viewers who'd put their feet up for an afternoon watching the Test, but perhaps it was made for other markets and not unreasonably they thought they might as well stick it on the Test coverage as well. Your theory sounds highly plausible, although it wasn't exactly the saturation job that the Indian market seems to demand. Even though it's almost two months since I last watched an IPL game I can still name several companies I could use for sending money to India. Whereas I think I only noticed the Hundred segment on Sky that one time.
Every Hundred game possible for Stokes will amount to either four or five games I think. Northern Superchargers have got a match at Lord's the evening before the 1st Test v. India at Trent Bridge. That would be pushing it a bit, although I wouldn't put it past the ECB in their desperation to get as much star quality into The Hundred as possible. But I imagine the Northern Superchargers' fourth game will be Stokesy's last, which would give him three days to calm down with the England squad before the 1st Test.
England players' availability for the remainder of the IPL still seems to be up in the air - just about. Ashley Giles has said unambiguously that England players won't be released, but the BCCI are starting to feel things are going their way with the rescheduling. They must have made Cricket West Indies an offer they couldn't refuse, as the Caribbean Premier League has been brought forward by a few days to accommodate the IPL, and a CWI bigwig even felt obliged to say how important the IPL is to them.
The BCCI's tour of coercion has a few more cricket boards to take in, including the ECB. I read somewhere that the BCCI were confident that the continuing talks would result in England releasing their IPL-contracted players, even though it would mean them missing some T20s in Bangladesh and Pakistan (the latter fixtures being particularly important since it'll have been nearly three months since we played a T20 series against Pakistan over here). It still feels unlikely, particularly now that Ashley Giles has sort of staked his reputation on not giving in to the BCCI. But you never know what deals might end up being struck, ostensibly for the greater good.
Each board wants something from the other. The ECB crave Indian stars for The Hundred. The BCCI have always refused to allow their players to take part in franchise competitions elsewhere in the world, but they have now released five female players for this year's Hundred. Perhaps this is by way of a gesture of good faith, or a down-payment. "If you could see things our way on these other matters, you get the male players next year". These other matters include (but are not necessarily limited to) the BCCI's desire for there to be a clear international window for future editions of the IPL. They are seeking the ECB's support in these negotiations. For their part, ECB seemed to feel pretty good about themselves when they refused the BCCI's request to rearrange the India Tests over here, so they'll probably stand firm on their IPL-contracted players. But they do want those male Indian players for The Hundred! Never a dull moment, eh?
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Bazpan
2nd XI player
Posts: 191
County club member: Kent
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Post by Bazpan on Jun 25, 2021 16:04:44 GMT
Talking of Stokesy's Hundred franchise ...
www.dewsburyreporter.co.uk/sport/cricket/local-schools-invited-to-show-their-pride-in-new-supercharged-cheers-competition-3282247
"The Northern Superchargers, the team representing the region in brand new cricket competition, The Hundred, is giving schools the opportunity to showcase their local passion. Schools and their students are invited to submit a video of their 'Supercharged Cheers', with the loudest and most enthusiastic winning the grand prize. The winning school will have the amazing opportunity to host The Hundred’s trophy at their school for a special assembly, with guest appearances from two Northern Superchargers superstars"
That's quite clever actually, getting The Hundred's target audience used to the idea of cheering at nothing on demand.
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Post by ashingtonmartlet on Jun 27, 2021 0:20:37 GMT
😂😂😂🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
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Bazpan
2nd XI player
Posts: 191
County club member: Kent
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Post by Bazpan on Jun 30, 2021 16:32:30 GMT
In this screenshot from the BBC's introductory Hundred video, what exactly is it that's being rebelled against in this Soviet propaganda-style graphic?
I can only think this image depicts the proletariat rising up against their oppressors, the existing cricket fans. That doesn't feel like a fair representation of the attitude that existing cricket fans have towards people who don't like the game yet but might. We're not that elitist! You don't have to be proposed and seconded to buy a ticket to a cricket match. Come one come all.
Elizabeth Ammon of The Times has been to the BBC's media launch for The Hundred. She says "they basically called it the Glastonbury of cricket". What's that mean then? Ropey bands, bogus sense of communion, and awash with rain and drugs I suppose.
[By the way, I don't know if I'm doing anything wrong but clicking on that link doesn't go anywhere. But it works if you right-click on it and go 'Open link in new tab'.]
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Post by philh on Jul 16, 2021 9:42:42 GMT
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Bazpan
2nd XI player
Posts: 191
County club member: Kent
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Post by Bazpan on Jul 16, 2021 17:09:29 GMT
You'll have read a couple of days ago that there was a risk of the Royal London Cup being cancelled before it's even started. One possible reason given was that the counties might not be confident of being able to field full-strength sides due to Covid isolations ('full-strength' being a relative quality after The Hundred had already commandeered 96 of the best county players). But it seems unlikely that the counties wouldn't have at least wanted to give it a go, rather than just throwing their hands in the air and saying "This is hopeless!". I incline towards the belief that the ECB rather liked the idea of preventing the remaining county players from mingling with each other, with the attendant risk of entire squads getting infected or at least isolated. Cancelling the RLC would have given the ECB the best chance of preserving a sterile bank of surrogates who could be deployed as and when the Hundred elite start getting apped out.
A decision on this would be announced 'tomorrow', multiple sources reported on Wednesday. So when Tom Harrison duly announced on Thursday that nothing could have been further from their minds than cancelling the RLC, I take that to mean that in the end they didn't quite have the nerve to do it. As much as the ECB like to stick two fingers up at existing cricket fans, this would have been pushing it a bit even for them. Still, this quote from Harrison couldn't have been much more insulting if he'd tried:-
"We've got something to be excited about for players not involved in the Hundred"
This is a bit like when your boss calls you into his office to tell you he's going to have to let you go, and presents it as an exciting opportunity for you to embrace the challenge of unemployment. The ECB's project of destroying domestic one-day cricket had already been nearing completion, and The Hundred should just about finish it off. But Harrison almost seems to be inviting us to regard the wreckage of the Royal London Cup as this new idea they've come up with to give those players who didn't get picked up in the Hundred draft a reason to get up in the morning. Whereas: they will all be able to remember either playing in or watching a 50-over cup that actually meant something, that featured the best players, that had exposure, promotion and TV coverage, that drew big crowds, that had a Lord's final on a Saturday, and that wasn't treated as an embarrassment to be tucked out of the way where no one would notice it.
It's difficult at the moment to gauge levels of interest in The Hundred, as opposed to levels of press-ganging. The ECB claim to have 'distributed' 350,000 tickets for the entire competition. We can only infer that 'distributed' is quite a different thing to 'sold'. Anyway it sounds like about 10,000 tickets per fixture on average (all fixtures but for the first two being men's/women's double-bills). Someone might correct me but I think I read that 2,400 tickets have been sold for the inaugural (women's) game, that 6.500 tickets have been given away for that match, and that the ECB are hoping for a gate of 10,000. (Just give away another 1,100, surely?!)
If the betting market is anything to go by, I reported a little while ago that the total volume of money staked on the Hundred men's winner on Betfair stood at £0. That has now increased to £24. Intriguingly, the market has been suspended for the women's Hundred. Perhaps their teams are in even more of a state of flux than the men's ones. For comparison, total stakes on the T20 World Cup are £17,000. Even the Royal London Cup has attracted £331 of bets.
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Rob
2nd XI player
Posts: 84
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Post by Rob on Apr 28, 2023 18:06:06 GMT
So, it’s cheerio then to the Hundred - that’s a thank goodness etc from me and I hazard a guess I speak for all on these boards.
Thoughts on what the Brighton based team will be called in the new proposed new incarnation - shark based ?
And whither the Blast ?
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Post by Wicked Cricket on Apr 29, 2023 9:39:37 GMT
Rob, You must be a George Dobell supporter - the cricket journalist who backs heroic failures.  You are jumping the gun here, more out of hope than actual reality, I presume. There is no sign the ECB will ditch the 100, not for now at least. Please read this article written by Nick Hoult from the Telegraph. There will be many cricket lovers, particularly among Telegraph readers, who will dance a jig of delight if the new regime running the English game decides to axe the Hundred...
But the Hundred is here, it is a reality, and will be the only cricket played in England in August as the country, hopefully, basks in the afterglow of an Ashes win. Hoult goes on,
“Put starkly, there are two choices: bin the Hundred or back it because at the moment it is a halfway house and that is not helping anyone.The ECB has every incentive to continue the 100 and back it. Apart from pride and not wanting egg all over its face, the tournament is just two years old. It takes at least three years or more for any new project, especially one as big as the 100, to take hold and then expand. I accept that this new season is important for the competition. The 100 must show clear signs of improvement and development. I wish all those who so desperately want the 100 to fail, the best of luck, but there are still legs left in this tournament. archive.is/Fb9vN |
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