Tom Curran and young fans celebrate getting a «man of the match»; award in the oval Invincibles' victory over the Manchester Originals in the men's 100 final Photo: Getty Images/Alex Davidson
The crowd at Baker Street Station was diverse in age, gender and ethnicity, with many children dressed for the occasion.
In other words, this was exactly the audience for which The 100 was designed. Unfortunately, they were going to Notting Hill Carnival and not St. John's Wood, but even so, those who stayed on the Jubilee Line and traveled to Lord's for Sunday's 200 final belonged to a different demographic than those who booed and taunted six Australians. weeks earlier in the birthplace of cricket.
The 100's third year saw strong attendance figures, top performances in the men's competition, and decent viewing numbers. The concentration of talent in eight teams instead of 18 raises the standard, and it's been clear since kickoff on Sunday that the teams have built up a fan base in just three years. This is a success story.
It should be so, given the sums of money invested in it and the privileged place it occupied in the Ashsummer calendar, swallowing up August and the school holidays. But one unintended benefit was decent attendance at the Metro Bank One Day Cup, in which the resourceful counties drew good crowds by engulfing the outdoor venues they had avoided for years because players complained about pitches and executives didn't like the lack of convenience for corporate guests.
The Hundred is bringing cricket back to its fans in two ways. It is attracting new audiences with 580,000 tickets sold this year, a record with 30 percent female buyers, 23 percent juniors and 41 percent families, the first two more than last year, the number of families remained unchanged. .
Southern Brave finally won the women's 100 at Lord's on Sunday after two minor places. jpg» /> By attracting a younger and more diverse audience, The 100 is expanding its cricket fan base. Photo: PA/Adam Davy
It also forced the counties to go back to their roots. It's not perfect, but Metro Bank has also become a development competition where young players gain valuable experience by playing in front of decent crowds. England players in the World Cup do not have to play cricket with more than 50 players. Winning the World Cup requires resilience under pressure, and that's what happens in international cricket. It would be better if Metro Bank allowed young cricketers to learn how to play the game of 50 more.
Hundred works, and it's time to recognize this fact. The England and Wales Cricket Board, under the leadership of Richard Thompson and Richard Gould, returned to the counties again, correcting the imbalance towards centralized decision-making that had taken place under the previous regime.
This led to discussions about the future of the 100 with talk of turning it into an 18-team competition divided into eight and ten teams, although nothing concrete has been formed.
This undermined the Hundred, to the distrust of franchised cricketers around the world, who cannot believe that the ECB is not 100 percent backing a tournament it has spent millions to create. Many reading this may well want to see it replaced with an improved Blast competition, but that moment has already passed.
The future is a tournament built on the principle of «Hundreds». Regarding the format — T20 or Hundred — a separate dispute. But the mechanics are right: eight teams, a concentrated window and a convenient list of matches.
The next step will be to auction off stakes in the teams to outside investors who will line up to snap up the iconic names in English cricket: Lords, Oval, Headingley, etc. Then, a couple of years later, adding teams to the West Country and North East, selling them to the market, which saw the Hundred prosper. The 100 could then copy the IPL, where franchises play at different venues in their states. There's no reason why Leicester, Derbyshire and Sussex, for example, couldn't host games closer to the competition.
Manchester Originals batsman Max Holden on the crease amid the glitz of Lord's final. enjoy the performance of drum and bass band Rudimental ahead of Lord's finale. Photo: Getty Images/Jeff Spicer 
The Hundred is much more family friendly than, say, Friday night's T20 Blast match . Photo: Getty Images/Tom Dulat
Sources say the Ambani family, owners of the Mumbai Indians, are now ready to add to their franchise portfolio. So the 100 could easily become the second strongest tournament after the IPL, as Jos Battler recently said.
This will bring new money reserves to English cricket. This would be a huge boon for the counties, securing their future and finding ways to properly reward them for creating the talent that franchises rely on. This would guarantee the survival of the red ball cricket. This will open up commercial opportunities in India and new people will bring new ideas.
Another alternative is to go back to pyramid district brands like football. But, as was recently seen in Yorkshire, it is very difficult to persuade businesses to invest in county cricket. Many clubs have experienced financial difficulties for decades. They are unattractive to serious investors.
The ECB intends to implement the findings of a recent report on discrimination in cricket. Breaking the only competition attracting a new audience would be a strange way to do it.
The Golden Treasure of Cricket was awarded to the counties in 2003 when they became the first to play Twenty20 cricket, but they were held back by conservatism. ago, and the format was copied and improved by others. The counties started out with bouncy castles, but quickly realized that there was more money in pints than in coffee and ice cream. They would still prefer all their Friday night Blast games because it attracts guys who want to drink beer and spend money.
Thompson and Gould will alleviate the «them and us» conflict that has marred the game. starting the Hundred, but starting over with a new competition that would take years to build and set English cricket back another ten years as other countries expand their franchised tournaments, is not the answer. Keep the 100, invest in it, and increase the level of cooperation. Thus, English cricket has an asset that it can use in the future for the benefit of all forms of cricket that we enjoy.
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