The Men's Hundred is here - but now the many questions need answers

NICK HOWSON AT LORD'S: Entertaining. Engaging. Unsurprising. The men's edition has been everything we expected, but the concerns over its role linger

Nearly four years on from the PowerPoint presentation that threatened to turn English cricket underside down, finally, The Hundred is here.

After many, many months of questions, concerns, threats, questions, PR own goals, confusion, questions and rhetoric, we've reached the end of the inaugural edition.

For a competition that has navigated a cricketing minefield to reach this point, it was only fitting that it had to swerve a forecast of rain to reach a conclusion. But reach a conclusion it has.

The women's tournament has been an unparalleled success. That is the simple part.

Meanwhile, the men's competition hasn't offered many surprises or answers. Yet. But those difficult conversations are looming.

It provides a quality cricket competition. With Imran Tahir, Rashid Khan, Glenn Phillips, Quinton de Kock, Liam Livingstone and Moeen Ali among the cast, what did you really expect?

We need not judge the tournament on the one-sided Eliminator or Final. Southern Brave proved the old adage that bowling attacks win you trophies and sometimes that isn't always exciting.

Nothing against Jofra Archer, but his absence probably made the finale more competitive than it might have been.

Add to that some absurd fielding and Birmingham Phoenix, though with the outstanding player of the competition in the form of Livingstone, never really stood a chance.

It probably says more about the carousel that has been the squads in this year's event that Tim David, not even part of it at the start of the week, was the man of the moment.

^{Liam Livingstone's run-out swung the final in the Brave's direction}

A fantastic catch at backward point and an incredible throw to run out Livingstone after he cracked two sixes in the Brave innings capped the perfect evening. Bound for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL, he arrived off the back of two centuries for Surrey in the One-Day Cup. Yeah, that.

Away from the middle, people still like cricket. With Test and Blast crowds having sat at or close to capacity for many years and Covid have created a thirst, was more of the same names, the same entertainment at these iconic venues really going to produce a different outcome?

And with it has come what my colleague Sam Morshead called 'big Blast energy' across the country. Beer snakes, 'Don't Take Me Home' and pitch invaders remain staples.

The ECB must find a way to accommodate both these fans and uphold the family-friendly, inclusive atmosphere that this tournament was meant to be built.

^{Tim David starred in the field and with the bat}

As it turns out there is an audience underneath those county devotees. It doesn't mean the traditionalists deserve to be left behind, but they are not in the majority. They have to accept that now.

Simplifying cricket didn't mean ruining cricket. Sets of five, skyscrapers, funky graphics, 10 balls in a row. As long as you get the right ingredients in place, these aspects don't really matter.

How this affects the tapestry of the sport won't be clear until next summer at the earliest. Will the Blast be completely undercut? How are the four formats accommodated in a single summer? Is the £1.3 million due to each county enough to offset the inevitable shortfall? Balance sheets once Covid has fully passed will be fascinating.

The All-Stars and Dynamos programmes are enjoying record-breaking take-up. But is this enough to arrest cricket's declining participation figures?

In many ways, this is the easiest edition of the men's Hundred to stomach. All the difficult questions are for the future. Once the stages are fully dismantled, these must be addressed and not ignored.