THE GOOGLY: Eight questions about The Hundred which have yet to be answered

HUW TURBERVILL: There is a palpable sense of excitement among the youngsters I have spoken to – including my three children – at the newness of it all. The outfits, the helmets and the snap caps are undeniably appealing to them

The Hundred ‘team reveal’ took place last week at the obligatory trendy, urban locale (the ECB organising it in a brewery – Truman’s – was brave on their part, it has to be said); and I thought that I would let the ripples settle before reflecting.

I still think the deviation from T20 is a risk; the disenfranchisement of the Westcountry not ideal; the amount of money they are spending on the competition and its promotion a potential folly; and the damage to the other competitions a price not necessarily worth paying (for further reading see George Dobell’s piece in the October edition of The Cricketer, out this week).

That said, there is a palpable sense of excitement among the youngsters I have spoken to – including my three children – at the newness of it all. The outfits, the helmets and the snap caps are undeniably appealing to them.

There are obviously mixed views about having KP Snacks as sponsor. There has been much ridicule that the teams have been made to look like walking (Walkers?) crisp packets – Welsh Fire/Hula Hoops in the most obvious case. Yes, it’s better than those damn betting companies, but it’s still far from ideal, and it must be noted that Simon Stevens, the chief executive of the NHS, has castigated the ECB for it. 

^{The Hundred kits were unveiled last week}

“If you think about the extra demand [on the NHS] that is being created through the obesity epidemic, with poor diet now a bigger risk factor for ill health than smoking, it is disappointing,” he said.

“When for example you see the English cricket board doing a deal with junk food aimed at children. I’d hope when those sorts of deals are being considered in future, people make a different choice… let’s not see these benefits negated by commercial sponsorship deals that explicitly prompt our kids to fill up with snacks and junk food.”

That relates to one of eight big questions I still have after this latest press event. 

1. How will the ECB define if The Hundred is a success? One assumes it will come down to:

i) attendances across the eight grounds in the first year, and across the five years of the television deal (2020–24);

ii) TV audiences on terrestrial and, perhaps to a lesser extent, Sky;

iii) whether there is a boost in recreational participation across the UK, arresting the long-term decline.

2. How much was the KP deal worth? Was it worth the negative headlines it has generated?

3. England’s leading players will be appearing in this new format, The Hundred, in July and August, and will then be going back to T20 for the World Cup in Australia in November – will that be problematic?

4) Yes the ECB – thanks to the media expertise of Tom Harrison – has done well to bring some live cricket back to terrestrial TV (the BBC will show two men’s Hundred matches a week) but will it be enough to haemorrhage teen dropouts?

5) Will the counties lose revunue from the Vitality Blast and Royal London One-Day Cup in comparison to 2019? (thanks Simon Hancock).

^{Jofra Archer will play for Southern Brave}

6) The next big event is the player draft at Sky Sports on October 20, when the remaining 11 players from each of the eight teams will be inked in. There were some anomalies in the announcements of the first three for each. Dan Lawrence is a fine young player, and has been signed for £60,000 by London Spirit, the team run by MCC, Essex, Middlesex and Northamptonshire. They also have Eoin Morgan as captain, and were given Rory Burns out of the list of Test players (there is a danger that he will not play that much in The Hundred because of his T20 record). Would Spirit have been better off going for Ravi Bopara, of Essex, or Middlesex’s Dawid Malan? They could still get them, but it’s not guaranteed.

7) Have The Oval Invincibles alienated Kent fans? Tom Moody is coach of the new side, run by the administrators of Surrey and Kent. While Surrey fans will be delighted that the Invincibles have signed Sam Curran, Jason Roy and Tom Curran, would it have been realpolitik to go for Sam Billings from Kent?

8) Is having interviewers on the pitch a wise move? Nasser Hussain did not look comfortable doing the role when MCC played a World XI for Hurricane Relief in 2018. Yes it might amuse the youngsters, but is it really compatible with top-level sport? What if Morgan spills a catch because Isa Guha or Greg James are standing in his way with a microphone? No other sports does it. Best to think again on that one.

There are more questions than answers, as Johnny Nash used to sing.

With it just being announced that Vitality Blast finals day at Edgbaston has already sold out for September 5 next year, the heat is definitely still on for administrators and promoters of The Hundred.

SAM MORSHEAD: Faux outrage over The Hundred is eclipsing real issues