Cricket

[Nemo]

The summer starts here. What a day for it, fans at Lord's and New Zealand over here to face us. Very little to complain about there, I've even got the week off.

[Nemo]

So the last two nights have seen the launch of the Hundred, with men's and women's games on the Beeb. It's very much aimed at winning over people who don't already like cricket, and judging from the general popularity of this thread the TEF certainly seems to be a hotbed for such folks (admittedly probably skewing a bit older than the target demographic).

So, anyone watched either of the games who isn't normally a cricket fan? What did you think and will you be back?

[Nomoreheroes]

Didn't watch - but I'm a cricket nut. Two of my sons are going to Edgbaston to watch the 1 August games.

[Kinky Tom]

So the last two nights have seen the launch of the Hundred, with men's and women's games on the Beeb. It's very much aimed at winning over people who don't already like cricket, and judging from the general popularity of this thread the TEF certainly seems to be a hotbed for such folks (admittedly probably skewing a bit older than the target demographic).

So, anyone watched either of the games who isn't normally a cricket fan? What did you think and will you be back?

Not really aimed at me as I do watch cricket but I've watched most of the first 2 games and enjoyed them both. 

I very rarely watch anything other than England games unless it's a World Cup so I've already seen a few players I wasn't familiar with in last night's game.

Interesting format, hopefully it will open cricket up to a new market, was great to see so many young girls excited for the women's game on Wednesday.

[Cookie]

I'm not a big fan of t20 anyway so the hundred isn't for me. This form of cricket excludes most of the nuance which makes cricket interesting imo. Batters have it far too easy in the short form, let's have more swinging/spinning but require more aggressive fields or something.

If the aim is to get more people interested in cricket then just remove the paywall. Nothing beats the highs and lows of test cricket but most people don't have access to it.

[Kinky Tom]

Most people have such little time to get into cricket via the test format, this can be a gateway for those people. 

Enjoy what you see here, go to a couple of games, watch a few one days then if so inclined watch some tests. 

You don't get into cooking, for example, by starting with banquets, you feel your way into it with making a few things from scratch.

As for batters having it easy, that is up to bowlers, with their coaches and captains, to make it harder for them.  The Oval Invincibles last night kept Brathwaite (huge hitter) from scoring big really well, if this can translate to slowing run rates in tests then that can be good thing too.

I understand people who only really care for the test format but I like to see the reactions of the players that play in all formats, obviously they are well paid in shorter formats but you can't fake the emotion on display.  If they love it, why shouldn't the fans?

[No Longer Posh Red]

I don’t think this, or T20, helps get people into test cricket.

Had friends at work from India, and they were of the opinion that interest in test cricket was reducing in India, as most fans just watched the IPL.

For me, I haven’t watched either game, but have friends that watched who are cricket fans that didn’t really enjoy it.

[Bob's Orange]

When we were in Sydney we went to what was the Australian version of this. (I think) Neither the wife or I are particularly into cricket and it was more of a social event to meet an old friend I used to work with that moved to Oz a few years back.

It was fun, we drank a lot, put buckets on our heads, contributed to the people making 'snakes' out of plastic pint glasses, enjoyed the nice weather etc. Couldn't tell you what was going on the field mind you.

[Penmans Penalties]

This format is about a good night out with cricket thrown in. I think the matches are in the big cities so us country folk won’t really give a toss who plays

[No Longer Posh Red]

This format is about a good night out with cricket thrown in.

It’s effectively a night at the darts outdoors

[Nemo]

This format is about a good night out with cricket thrown in. I think the matches are in the big cities so us country folk won’t really give a toss who plays

Thing is, it's meant to be a family thing - the T20 blast games have been very much boozy big nights out and have sold out The Oval etc. with people on the piss who aren't really paying attention for years, and that was deemed to be the problem.

Interesting so far (from a two game sample) that the women's game was very much families introducing kids to the game, and the men's game felt much more like a typical party T20. Pretty much reflects my experience attending the previous comps (KSL/T20) so not sure it's really a total shift of approach.

Being on the Beeb is good though!

[Samdy Gray]

It's all about getting kids and new people into cricket isn't it?

My youngest daughter is 9 and just getting into cricket, she's been through the ECB All Stars and Dynamos sessions and we're now looking at getting her into a club. Through Dynamos they were handing out the Topps cards for The Hundred and we got her some more for her birthday, she loved watching the first game on Thursday and matching the players to the cards.

From my own point of view, both matches were just like a T20 in terms of entertainment.

[Abrahammer]

People don’t like change, 20/20 was slated when it was introduced but County cricket would have been on it last legs if it had relied on 10 people watching a County Championship game on a Tuesday afternoon

As mentioned it is a form of the game that will provide entertainment to new audiences

[Nick Bamosomi]

I watch cricket whenever I can, so watched some of each Hundred match. I don't tend to watch women's cricket so it was quite good for me to watch a few of them play.
I think it is trying to attract newbies to watching cricket, as last night they were demonstrating Yorkers, and it was good to see the younger kids watching - let's face it, a Test Match isn't really the place to take a youngster unless they're already cricket fans.
I wonder what Reg would have thought of it.

[JBZ]

I have been a member at Somerset for a number of years now. I have taken my offspring to all other formats of the game but they have shown little interest.  However, 2 of them are keen players.

I will probably sound a like a twazzock but i don't really see the point of the hundred.  You can probably promote cricket to young uns in the context of the current formats