On Sunday, Aug. 16, the men’s and women’s finals of The Hundred will be contested at Lord’s. The competition is in its sixth year and has been a disruptive force since its conception in 2017.
The format is disruptive, consisting of 100 deliveries, broken into sets of five, with a bowler able to deliver 10 successive balls. Players for this year’s event were acquired mainly by auction, rather than selection, with four overseas players, instead of three, allowed in each starting XI.
A further disruption occurred over the winter when equity shares were sold in the eight franchises. And ticket prices have been increased.
Speaking after the first week and the 11th match on July 29 between the Trent Rockets and the Welsh Fire, England’s opening batter, Ben Duckett, expressed his surprise at the number of empty seats at several grounds.
His reasoning was: “You look at every side, and it’s just world-class opponents. I’d be desperate to watch some of these guys play cricket.” At 3 p.m. in Cardiff on a Wednesday, there were around 7,400 spectators. This compares with a record 11,796 attendance for the Welsh Fire’s opening match against MI London the previous Saturday evening.
