It isn’t excessive to suggest this was the biggest moment in English cricket history. With many of the 18 counties already operating hand-to-mouth pre-pandemic, the shift to franchise-based tournament that cherry-picked the best talent simply had to work.
Getting cricket back on free-to-air television was enormously important and, as viewing figures would suggest, well-received. 1.6 million watched the opening game of the tournament, smashing the previous record achieved at the men’s Cricket World Cup in 2019. The women’s game particularly benefited, not just due to increased media exposure but in the crowd sizes at stadiums too.
With the women’s and men’s games being played back-to-back in double-headers, even on the traditionally quieter ‘work’ evenings, crowds would regularly dwarf those who attended domestic women’s matches previously. 90% of all tickets available throughout the tournament were sold. 20% of ticket holders were children, and 21% were women. These are mightily impressive figures for the first year of a competition.
You can see why it proved popular for that demographic too – lots of fast-paced action and rule changes to increase the speed of play kept the whole family engaged. Whilst it took some getting used to, the countdown scoreboard during the second innings also helped to simplify matches.
Although the mid-game concerts struggled to keep bums on seats at games I watched and attended, the atmosphere was electric. The music between end changes brought the crowd alive, and even the garish kits won me over in the end.
The cricket itself was of a very good standard, although it was some way off the very elite level. Some teams were undoubtedly hampered by the departure of their England stars and the late withdrawal of overseas stars due to restrictions.
There were certainly a few head-scratching, if not panic-inducing moments for the competition organisers. The frequency of pitch invaders was shocking, and there were complaints about the boozy, loutish behaviour in sections of the crowd. Organisers haven’t quite managed to make an evening at The Hundred, the family experience they originally marketed it as.
It is unlikely England Test captain Joe Root saw many benefits from The Hundred. With commitments to the new competition and the County Championship sidelined for the bulk of the summer, England’s Test team had zero red-ball preparation for their series against India – and were duly outplayed in the first two games of the series.
Some would say England’s batting woes existed long before The Hundred. But with the schedule changes consistently leading to the neglect of the four-day game, how can current and future England stars build any sort of game to forge a Test career upon?
There is no questioning the competition was a huge and well-received success – even with five ball overs. Similarly, no one can knock the tournament if it leads to an uptick in participation rates. But for the counties, their fans and supporters of English Test cricket, many questions remain unanswered.