The Hundred

[deanothedino]

I don't pay much attention to the mercenary 100 competition either. Sure it has its entertainment value, but what damage is it doing to the conventional game? I've got plenty to despair about as a Kent supporter, but above all else I lament that the season is now a piecemeal mix of different competitions with little continuity and long intervals when no cricket is being played at all. One day cricket has its place but must not be allowed to eclipse the championship game. My answer:

• Stop compartmentalising the season and orchestrate the 4-day game so that it goes on the throughout the summer. That would re-establish continuity and provide a better base for emerging Test Match cricketers .
• Scrap divisional county cricket and revert to all counties playing each other once, alternating home & away from one season to the next
• Add a couple of regional minor counties teams to the first class mix.
• Introduce a zonal north v midlands v south 3-way test competition – over 5 days. The zonal teams also play the warm-up matches against touring teams.
• Here’s the real gamechanger – make county cricket a 5-day game but over shorter hours – say 2-session 11:00-13:15 and 14:00-16:30. Min 60 overs.
• Run T20 cricket in the evenings alongside the county game. Same venues. Male and female T20 on successive evenings
• Two one-day competitions, T20 and 50-over, that’s all. 50-overs played on consecutive evenings after the "daytime" county games, perhaps with a reserve day for inclement weather. Rebrand T20 to satisfy media glitz expectations that we see in the Hundred.
• Introduce mobility of selection so that counties can rotate within squad in the same match and players can be selected for the 5-day or evening one-dayers, or both
• For the 5-day game, allow 13-14 to be selected with those nominated as bowlers open to rotation between innings. Better chance of openings for spin bowlers in that setting.


Well, something needs changing!

This is bonkers. A big part of the reason the ECB invented the Hundred was to shed the smaller counties from that competition. Adding the minor counties would be a non starter.

A few years ago they had the county championship largely starting on Sunday's, this alongside predominately playing T20 Blast on Thursday and Friday evenings is probably the best way to structure the county game.