ECB’s new competition is by design a saleable noise, only the struggles of the Welsh Fire men’s team genuinely feel like sportAt 6.57pm on Wednesday 3 August, as the final notes of Freed From Desire by Gala (Full vocal club mix) lingered in the eaves of the Rose Bowl, Hampshire, as the lights of the smoke-shrouded player tunnel gleamed like nuggets of high carbon Llanelli anthracite – like fire, Welsh fire – Joe Clarke, top bracket signing, felt a droplet of sweat trickle down the grille of his tomato red helmet.Slowly he turned to Tom Banton, first draft pick, with whom he would in the next few moments be yoked together on the face of the Hundred Matchday One, out...
From the Olympics to the oche, women trained, performed and competed on the same stage as men in a breakthrough yearIt was one of the most heartwarming images of the Tokyo Olympics. In the aftermath of the women’s BMX final, the newly minted gold medallist Beth Shriever sat slumped on the track in front of a metal barrier, her legs splayed uselessly in front of her. She had pumped every last drop from them to see off the world No 1, Mariana Pajón, in a thrilling chase to the line. Now they couldn’t even lift her to her feet.Within seconds, her GB teammate Kye Whyte was at her side. Whyte had taken silver in the men’s race that preceded Shriever’s,...
It turns out that lowering the average testosterone levels of a sporting crowd really can make a differenceCricket’s culture wars can call a truce. There is something traditionalists and progressives agree on, and rather surprisingly it’s about the Hundred. Now the all-important final scores are in – and we’re talking bums-on-seats and eyes-on-screen, not who hit most sixes or which weird-named franchise triumphed – there is consensus on a single, indisputable fact. The tournament was A Good Thing for women’s cricket.For the hardcore sceptics, the grudging concession that the Hundred has been a gamechanger for women will not outweigh the collective trauma the competition has cost them. The undeniable benefits the women’s game has derived from the format – the...
The players enjoyed it and Kevin Pietersen was a good pundit although teams can still work on their identitiesWell, that happened. The first edition of the Hundred is complete, after 32 games, 429 sixes, 1,581 fours and 3,327 uses of the word match-up. The Oval Invincibles got away with their hubristic team name thanks to their women bossing their final, and Southern Brave won the men’s contest despite being cruelly saddled with a logo that looked like the kind of utility company that offers online-only discounts on Uswitch.Bathed in the pink-and-green glow of victory, their winning captain James Vince admitted that the players had shared the same doubts as every other cricket lover about the new summer confection. “Before it...
Ten-ball overs, white cards for bowlers and coaching time-outs are all part of the controversial competition’s first editionWelcome to English cricket’s anxiety dream. The Hundred is here, the tournament upon which hangs the game’s reputation, its financial future – some say its very existence. Even those who’ve had the screaming abdabs about this endeavour from the start have found themselves sucked into its dramatic eddy, even to the point of buying tickets.Given it is a tournament that has been talked (or, more accurately, complained) about for two years, it is remarkable that we still don’t know quite what to expect. The Covid-inspired withdrawal of various overseas signings – including the Australian stars Aaron Finch, Alyssa Healy, Glenn Maxwell and Meg...