The competition, they announced, has surpassed expectations. Engagement was high. Sixteen million viewers tuned in across the five weeks, more than during the 2019 World Cup, over half of whom had not watched cricket in 2021. More than half a million tickets were sold, with in-ground capacity at about 90 per cent. A quarter of a million people downloaded the competition’s app and clips were viewed more than 34 million times on social media. Spectators — and players — clearly enjoyed it.
The executives’ sense of wonder at the high levels of interest reveals a lack of faith. Here’s the news: cricket is a great game. Stage it in high summer, charge reasonable prices, give it the oxygen of free-to-air TV allied to the muscle and expertise of an established cricket broadcaster, create a condensed tournament with one match per night so that the narrative is easily followed, and then pour all your love, attention and marketing spend on it, people — of all ages, faiths, gender, backgrounds and abilities — will come.
Unquestionably, women’s cricket has taken a transformational leap in five short weeks, creating a host of role models for the next generation. What a tournament it has been for them; truly a game-changer. Patel confirmed that the double headers, which came about by accident, will continue next year. The women’s game has been the biggest winner of all, and a pay rise for those involved next season is, rightfully, coming.
Patel referenced the opportunity created for young English cricketers, such as Will Smeed, of the Birmingham Phoenix. It was remiss of him not to mention that Smeed is a product of the ECB’s own pathway system. Smeed, 19, came through the Somerset age-group sides and has represented Young Lions (England Under-19) and Somerset in 16 T20 Blast matches. Not, as some breathless comment would imply, emerging from thin air into the Hundred, but an example of how one tournament cannot exist in isolation.
Handed every possible advantage, the success of the Hundred was a given. The broader context and whether there will be longer-term casualties will only be revealed in due course. Quite how it fits into English cricket’s increasingly complex and crowded picture and what the future holds brought fewer direct answers. Harrison would not commit on whether there would be an expansion in the number of teams and, consequently, the number of games. History suggests, and the Indian Premier League and Big Bash has shown, that when administrators get a sniff of something successful, they find restraint impossible.
The usual line about Test cricket being “the pinnacle” was trotted out. How administrators continue to convince themselves of this is hard to know, when Test cricket is clearly on the retreat in some parts of the world; when the unfettered market is leading the game’s top players increasingly in the direction of domestic short-form leagues and when decision-makers give that generational shift a helping hand along the way. Their actions and words are not in sync.
So many questions, so few answers. How will the fixture list look next year? Can the schedule be tweaked to allow England’s Test team a fair crack? Can four formats survive? Can those counties unaligned with the Hundred flourish? Will the engagement driven by the Hundred migrate to other forms of the game, or will it simply grow and expand at the expense of everything else? There is a lot of cricket to sustain and it is hard not to see some collateral damage down the line.
On Saturday, the Hundred’s social media account tweeted a picture, deleted 12 hours later, of two downcast-looking cricketers with the tagline: “when The Hundred is over and you don’t know what to do with yourself for the next year.” The concluding stages of the Blast were about to start, three Tests remain against India, as well as the final four rounds of the championship, with the Bob Willis Trophy final to come. Will there be migration to other formats? We shall see.
For now, the response of any fair-minded observer must be to acknowledge a successful launch, no small feat of imagination, organisational resolve or flair. With it, though, comes a caveat: that the bookseller has a responsibility and duty to the other books in his shop as well. They, too, could do with a little of the same promotion, love and attention. After all, the bookseller would surely want other editions to be widely read as well. Wouldn’t he?
