What were some of the cool things that happened?

As all 22 players took to the field, The Hundred officially kicked off in SPECTACULAR fashion. The Oval was surrounded by fireworks, and boy they were a thing of absolute beauty. The dazzling fireworks were so good that it left Manchester Originals opener, Emma Lamb, in absolute awe. Words won’t do justice to the moment, so here’s a picture that captures the moment. 

Camerapeople following batters all the way from the dressing room to the middle of the wicket has its own touch, but in The Hundred, there is something even better; much cooler. Batters have their own entrance, with their name and jersey number being digitally displayed as they walk out of the den. It does make them look special, and adds a bit of aura to the individual. WWE-esque. Entrance music missing, though, probably something for the future.

Yes, this is not a drill. The two skippers and the match referee settled toss matters at the DJ stage. Was it actually cool? Debatable. But it did fit in with the competition’s overall motive to break stereotypes. 

Two runs awarded in the case of a no-ball

Yes, you read that right. Two runs, not one, will be awarded to the batting team, should the bowling team bowl a no-ball. 

If we are to go by the first game, then it would seem that there are no free hits for balls that are called a ‘no-ball’ due to height. Oval Invincibles’ Shabnim Ismail bowled a no-ball (due to height) in the first innings (did not overstep) but the batting side were not awarded a free-hit. But when Kate Cross overstepped, the batting side were indeed awarded a free-hit. 

No usage of the term ‘overs’ anywhere

‘Five’, five everywhere

Everything associated with The Hundred is a multiple of five - simple as that.  After every five balls, the umpire will pull out a white card to signal the end of a ‘five’. Post the signal, a new bowler can either be brought on to bowl another ‘five’, or the same bowler can bowl the next five balls. Remember, a bowler can bowl a maximum of 10 consecutive legal balls. 

A 25-ball powerplay

A multiple of five here too. Instead of the conventional ‘six overs’, the powerplay in The Hundred is the first 25 balls in the innings. 

The scorecard graphics certainly were…..interesting.

It would be near-impossible to explain the graphics via text without sounding insane, so below is the screenshot of how the actual scorecard looked like, and what they displayed.

Yes, this is all you’re going to get. Names of the batters (and their scores), name of the bowler (and their figures), balls, runs and wickets. No ball-by-ball breakdown. No info about what happened in the previous ball. No context to what’s happening in the ‘five’. Just balls, runs, wickets and the target required. 

There is one interesting aspect in this graphic that is dynamic. The two bars on either side keep fluctuating in size. During the first innings, the bar grows taller in height with time, and during the second innings, it shrinks. Some might consider it a distracting, unnecessary addition, but it certainly is innovative. 

The white cards

The on-field umpire pulling out the white card for every five balls seemed bizarre. The white card was shown regardless of whether the existing bowler got replaced - this was confusing. Perhaps it would be better if the white card is shown only when a bowler is set to be replaced (i.e at the end of their 5th ball if they’re bowling a 5-ball spell, or at the end of their 10th ball if they’re bowling a 10-ball spell).

The ECB spent so much energy advertising The Hundred as cricket in fast-forward, yet only 84 balls (14 overs) were bowled at the end of the first hour of the match. That’s a figure that’s pretty standard across all forms of the game. The match did, nevertheless, move at a steady pace, but in no way was it a super-fast contest that proved to be completely different to T20 cricket. 

Final Verdict