The Analysis: Farcical scenes at The Oval undermines cricket's thirst for new audience

NICK HOWSON: Four hours and 50 minutes after the scheduled start of play the first ball was sent down. It was what the assembled masses deserved after a frustrating afternoon

Booing. Murmurings of discontent. Exacerbation. Ironic cheers. Mexican waves. And that was just when confirmation we were finally going to get some cricket after nearly five hours of procrastination finally broke.

The show must go on has been the mantra of The Hundred against the backdrop of the uncertain English summer. Sustains periods of drizzle have been ignored and the officials have got on with things like DRS.

That intent appeared to go out of the window on a truncated and tedious Sunday afternoon during which Oval Invincibles were due to face Trent Rockets. The rain came and went, albeit it only in brief dispatches, covers were dragged on and off, umpires strolled around the outfield, poking at areas of concern like a picky in-law at a roast dinner. Overnight and morning rain had done plenty of damage.

Player safety was the overwhelming concern and it was hard to argue with that as a priority. Cricketers don't owe us anything and they should not be risked purely for our entertainment. There is also the integrity of the competition to take into account and umpires must be seen to be consistent in their decision-making.

As infuriating as it is for both teams to be practising on the outfield, the ground to be surrounded by blue skies and yet conditions not deemed fit for play, the officials and groundstaff are merely doing their jobs. It is hard to argue with that.

If player welfare was the biggest concern, keeping spectators up to the date certainly was not. As the sun shone fans were kept in the dark. Announcements on the PA were neither clear nor regular, informative nor insightful. It was a communication breakdown. Neither umpire Nick Cook or Nigel Llong explained the rationale. The boundary was only brought in on the Harleyford Road side of the ground, covers put on the waterlogged areas and sawdust laid down late in the day.

The same effort wasn't put into getting the women's game on, which did have a start time until the inclement weather returned. So the ground was fit for play at some point. The ECB outlined before the tournament that each match has its own playing window which could not be altered, but this feel like an inflexible policy. For this reason and many others, it would be good to see double-headers flipped in 2022 and beyond.

^{Umpires Nick Cook and Nigel Llong speaking with captains Lewis Gregory and Sam Billings}

For a tournament whose raison d'etre is to engage with new fans using simplified rules, an all-around entertainment experience and innovative graphics it was a staggering decision to shut them out. This tournament has been all about projecting cricket in a new light, but these are familiar teething problems.

The truth is cricket has been operating in the shadows for years. I dread to think what a new visitor to The Oval would have thought about the entire experience. I doubt they will be back, as the ECB hope.

As the tournament has progressed, organisers and the broadcasters have done a good job at explaining the technical aspects of the game and putting everyone on a level playing field. Why that suddenly ground to a halt is mystifying. Perhaps the ECB was worried the appetite for beer would dry up.

It was therefore of little surprise that the reaction to a start time of 8:20pm being announced was met with such audible displeasure. As far as they were concerned, nothing had changed. It would have almost made more sense to call it a day.

^{Groundstaff preparing the outfield}

Every Ball Counts has been The Hundred's marketing slogan, but they should change that to Every Fan Counts. And then act like they mean it.

Speaking on Test Match Special before play finally began, Chris Green said: "The fear is we're losing fan by fan at the moment. 

"As a cricket lover, regardless of the critics of this new competition or not, the fact we are turning people away, is what worries me. It's a sad day for cricket. It's a sad day for The Hundred."

For all the credit The Hundred as a cricket competition has built up over the opening two-and-a-half weeks, this felt like a backward step. Creating a T20 Blast-like atmosphere was of course preventable and could be fatal further down the line, but this was the most avoidable aberration yet.