The Hundred will be a learning curve, says Southern Brave captain, James Vince

Vince plans to use the experience of teammates Tymal Mills and Chris Jordan to help him and his team get to grips with the new format and his squad

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The Hundred 2021 Men's team guide: Southern Brave

James Vince has admitted The Hundred will be a learning curve for all involved, commenting "there will be a bit of head scratching at times."

The England international and Hampshire opener will captain Southern Brave in their tournament opener against Trent Rockets on July 24 and said he has a lot to get his head around, including keeping within the time limits of the match and measuring the game in balls and not overs.

"The timing is obviously very tight," he said. "We played a warm-up game at Lord’s and the wicket wasn’t great and we took quite a lot of wickets and found the timings to be very tight. You don’t get any leeway with wickets, no time added on, unless the umpires feel the batters have taken too long to get to the middle.

"I found myself focusing more on trying to get accustomed to the rules and the end switches and the five balls and making sure the bowlers are aware of when they’re bowling. It’s just a learning curve. As the games go on, both playing and watching them, we might see some patterns evolve, but for now, it’s a learn on the job thing.

"We had a bit of a taste of it in the warm-up game, but it will be different in the pressure of a match with the crowd there and the noise, but hopefully we can pick it up quickly and get off to a good start. There will be a bit of head scratching at times."

It’s not just the rules which are different either, with the Southern Brave team made up of players from six counties plus South Africa’s Quinton de Kock. However, with three familiar faces from his Hampshire side and Sussex duo, Chris Jordan and Tymal Mills, on his roster, Vince is confident his teammates will help him share the captaincy workload.

"I’ll be leaning on a few of the other guys, particularly Chris Jordan, who knows the Sussex bowlers," he said. "We’ve got a couple of at the same county, so if I’m not overly familiar with what they like to do, I’ll be leaning on the other guys to gather information and also on the opposition, and help out with timings and stuff like that.

"I generally know everyone reasonably well; some of the guys from the other counties, I’ve played with in the past on Lions trips or with England. CJ and Tymal [Mills] know each other well, so they can provide good information on the guys they’ve played against more, and also what each other likes to do."

^{Chris Jordan and Tymal Mills}

And speaking of Southern Brave’s bowlers, Vince has an enviable group to choose from, with George Garton, Jofra Archer and Craig Overton also in the squad alongside Mills and Jordan. However, despite his star-studded line-up, he’s not getting ahead of himself.

"It just shows the strength of the Blast and then narrowing it down into eight teams, you look at everyone’s squads and it’s high quality all the way through," he said. "I’m not 100 per cent sure how many and what games Jofra is available for, but even without him, we’ve got Jordan, Mills, Craig [Overton], George Garton and then our spin attack as well.

"I feel like I’ve got a good bowling attack at my disposal and some good batters in there as well. We’ve got a good squad together here and will be able to compete, but I don’t think there’ll be any easy games in this competition."