The failure of the Hundred

Yet more on the Hundred and its failings, this time from Being Outside Cricket:

An excellent/depressing read. It’s likely to get worse from here, isn’t it?

https://beingoutsidecricket.com/2024/02/20/is-the-hundred-a-success/

That was very interesting until it started blabbering on about the “undoubted success “ of the women’s game. A right load of cobblers. In fact it was such nonsense I shan’t even start picking it apart as I will be here all night.

However much as we all expected/knew/suspected the Hundred is a money pit that the ECB and those that feed off it simply lie about its success. It’s a ruddy disgrace, but sadly there’s way too much money being funnelled in to it to hold the beast back. It’s a blooming great Ponzi scheme.

Did you get as far as this bit?

"There are undoubtedly some dinosaurs who loathe women’s sports on principle..."

It is a success for women's cricket because they now have a higher profile, play in front of larger crowds (due in part to double headers) and more of the players can make a full-time living. There was also very little for the Hundred to leach off, so not much scope for damage - the opposite of the mens' game.

Whether it is any more or less financially viable than the mens' Hundred is another matter.

So too is the extent to which the quality of the white ball cricket played has improved (hard to imagine that it hasn't improved at all, given the increased numbers of full-timers. It isn't anywhere near the same level as the mens' game but so what? We didn't sneer at Dina Asher-Smith because she couldn't run as fast as Usain Bolt. We don't laugh at the fans who attend League One football matches because it is lower quality than the premiership. Wembley is packed out for the highest profile Lionesses matches. So why mock womens' cricket?

I think the success of the women's game is a distraction from the core problem. Like everything, if they'd had the confidence(*) in the core product (men's county T20), then they could have promoted that, put it on TV, etc. Playing women's county T20 alongside that would have mean the women's game would have thrived on the exposure (like it did in the Hundred).

But the core problem is that the Hundred is killing the counties, perhaps deliberately.

*I was at the DCMS meeting in late 2019(?) when the liars & crooks from the ECB lined up to slag off the county game. I can't decide whether they actually think the county game is crap, or were just saying that to justify bringing in the Hundred and franchises to loot the county game. Perhaps it doesn't matter, the net result is the same.

SimonH wrote:Yet more on the Hundred and its failings, this time from Being Outside Cricket:

An excellent/depressing read. It’s likely to get worse from here, isn’t it?

https://beingoutsidecricket.com/2024/02/20/is-the-hundred-a-success/

It's an interesting piece that disects most of the issues surrounding the 100 certainly from a financial point of view. Looks like there's been a lot of fiddling the figures, it either made a huge profit according to the worms at the ECB, or lost millions. I say most issues because it doesn't seem to touch on the introduction on how the crisp packets game has impacted on the County schedule and development of red ball players: i.e. pushing the CC the margins of the season and completely ruining the one day cup.
Profit and money are all very well, but what about the game itself? It's destroying the very fabric of cricket, which to me is far far more important than making huge profits.

I'm not going to get into a long debate about the women's game because this article rambles on for ever about it and gets rather woke along the way which made me rush to the conclusion. But a couple of points: there was a perfectly good women's competition before this rubbish came along and could have easily gone in to double headers with the Blast. However TV exposure on the BBC has improved interest but that will probably end because the BBC won't fork out millions for something that gets under half a million viewers, and they have other worries like all the tens of thousands not renewing their TV licence. Maybe having Women's cricket on a Sunday afternoon or prime evening time on BBC is not for the majority of viewers?

In surprising news, potential investors want control of the Hundred.

https://archive.ph/2024.02.22-182039/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2024/02/22/ecb-hundred-potential-investors-put-off-joint-venture-plan/#selection-2927.0-2939.158

The thing is with everyone claiming “the women’s game has been a success” is that it’s only so because they’re piggy backing on the men’s.

Offering effectively a free ticket to a women’s game because it includes the men’s game after creates a misconception. Anyone who sees the crowds for the women’s games can see the difference by the time the men’s matches start.

It’s the same as football - if the women’s game has as much interest as is claimed, why can they only succeed when they use the men’s grounds and brands, effectively for free?

The men’s and women’s hundred having equal prize money is one of the most laughable things seeing as the men’s hundred brings in so much more revenue.

Is there any ground in the country which has been built specifically for women’s sport? If you rebranded Woking FC as ‘Non-League Chelsea’, used their kit and had their matches directly after Chelsea men’s, you couldn’t exactly claim the interest has grown organically.

I'm very happy that the ladies play all sports, and so they should like anybody. But I have no interest whatsoever in watching it, reading about it or paying for what is largely 6th form cricket. That's not anti woke, it's a fact.
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Chinaman wrote:I'm very happy that the ladies play all sports, and so they should like anybody. But I have no interest whatsoever in watching it, reading about it or paying for what is largely 6th form cricket. That's not anti woke, it's a fact.
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If the Hundred is to whet you appetite to go and watch Ladies cricket, they don't seem to play very much. Its great all these sports wanting equal money and parity, but then they bring nothing to the table. Are there even any fixtures after August when the Hundred finishes?
Why not advertise the xyz trophy is being played at Beckenham between South East Allstars and Northern Superchargers and you might get a new audience, but the detatchment from one franchise to the other seems to stop any follow up interest. That recent Ashes ladies series seemed barking mad, one test a few ODIs and a few T20s all adding up a lopsided contest. Can Ladies not play Test series along the lines of the men or is it such a loss maker? Surely a few people would watch a 5 test Ashes series?