The format won’t hinder good cricket

Criticism of the 100-ball format is warranted.

Selling it as a competition aimed at “mums and kids during the summer holidays” – because, obviously, women and children only understand things presented in multiples of 10 – is horrifically patronising.

Cricket's authorities must be unique in actively believing that their own game isn’t good enough, let alone that over half the population can’t understand it.

Indeed, it wouldn’t be a surprise if The Hundred did evolve into a T20 competition in the next few years, once it has dawned on the authorities that six-ball overs – in other words, cricket – remain perfectly suitable.

Yet just because this revamped format is unnecessary, it doesn’t mean that it automatically won’t work.

Steve Smith, Andre Russell and Mitchell Starc won’t become worse cricketers because the balls aren’t coming down in batches of six anymore.

Big sixes, dramatic run chases, brilliant catches, crunching yorkers – the quality of the players involved guarantees them all. For that reason alone, The Hundred will be worth watching and deserves taking seriously.

The quality of the squads

One glance at each of the eight squads is enough to know that the cricket produced during The Hundred is going to be better than ever seen in the English domestic game.

Every team can field an explosive batting line-up.

Welsh Fire’s trio of Jonny Bairstow, Tom Banton and Steve Smith – with Ben Duckett waiting in the wings – stands out, but every team boasts at least one international superstar at the top of the order.

Rashid Khan, Shadab Khan, Majeeb Ur Rahman, Qais Ahmed, Sunil Narine, Imran Tahir, Mason Crane and Adam Zampa are spread across the eight teams, guaranteeing a high quality of mystery spin and leg-spin.

In the fast bowling department, Jofra Archer, Mitchell Starc, Mohammad Amir, Shaheen Afridi and several others are bound to impress at the beginning and end of the innings.

Watching how the overseas players fare against the wily domestic-based pros will be one of many sub-plots.

Grouping all of these players in the same competition and fielding them in unique combinations can only be interesting.

The players are excited

Once we had worked through each player telling us that their franchise’s squad was “really good, really exciting”, an interesting element of Sky’s coverage was the relish with which current pros talked about The Hundred.

In particular, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Eoin Morgan’s eyes lit up when pushed on the merits of the tournament – though Buttler’s bemused reaction to the Manchester Originals selecting Dane Vilas as a £125k pick was one of the highlights of the night.

Morgan was so involved in London Spirit’s selection process – at one point hopping off the sofa mid-interview to advise coach Shane Warne on the next selection – that his excitement has to have been genuine, rather than an obligation as England captain.

Behind-the-scenes cameras showed Jason Roy, Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali enthusiastically becoming invested, too.

These are the players that made themselves heroes to cricket fans young and old last summer, so their passion is vital if this competition is to be embraced by a sceptical general public.

The hype surrounding it

That Sky were investing so much time and manpower into an off-season cricket broadcast that didn’t actually include any cricket says something for their belief in the product.

OK, they were probably ‘encouraged’ by the ECB to push it as hard as possible, but even that it was regularly plugged during Manchester United v Liverpool on Sunday afternoon contributed to the hype.

Fronting the coverage with Ian Ward, Nasser Hussain, Isa Guha and Rob Key – four of their most dynamic and intelligent on-screen presences – legitimised the whole thing. If they’re into it, then it must be worth liking.

The excitement translated onto social media, where the draft was discussed in non-sceptical terms for the first time.

Trent Rockets’ decision to sign several Nottinghamshire-based domestic players compared to Southern Brave’s Galactico approach was a serious point of debate, as was how spin was generally prioritised above pace.

The draft was ripe for mocking had it been done badly, but a decent production seems to have piqued people’s interest.

The wider interest it will generate

Step one of the ECB’s plan to introduce The Hundred in 2020 worked to perfection: England winning the 2019 World Cup.

The finale of that tournament captured the imaginations of millions of people, lots more than usually show any interest in cricket at all.

The Hundred is an opportunity to keep hold of them.

Longstanding supporters of the county game and structure might oppose it, but backing up the greatest of all summers by shoving more high-quality cricket under people's noses does make sense.

For those who connected with cricket in the summer, a T20 between Glamorgan and Leicestershire at Sophia Gardens is underwhelming compared to Jonny Bairstow and Mitchell Starc v Andre Russell and Jofra Archer at the same venue.

Let’s face it: if hardened traditionalists can’t get even a little bit excited about that too, then maybe they need to re-examine why they fell in love with cricket in the first place.

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