“That’s exactly what we don’t need in cricket and exactly what the Hundred isn’t designed to do,” England captain Heather Knight said
The Hundred has put the idea that there is no such thing as bad publicity to the test ever since its soft launch three-and-a-half years ago, and Sunday’s double-header at The Oval threw up a candidate for its worst moment of PR yet: a member of Surrey’s groundstaff throwing sawdust from a bucket into a wet patch on the outfield, each handful met with an ironic “olé!” from a restless, cricket-starved crowd.
Loud boos and slow hand-claps followed, with minimal communication to the crowd over the public address system or via the big screens. Readers told ESPNcricinfo that there had been “absolutely no communication” and that “shambles is the word for the ECB”, while fans on social media reported families leaving the ground after a long afternoon sat watching nothing in particular.
“That’s exactly what we don’t need in cricket and exactly what the Hundred isn’t designed to do. It’s designed to do the opposite, to bring new people into the game, and if they don’t understand things and don’t understand why and are frustrated by what seems to be a mad situation, they’re likely to turn away.”
In truth, it was a thankless task for the umpires – booed and jeered during their second inspection, then cheered warmly two hours later after Llong took evasive action to tumble out the way of Samit Patel’s straight drive. Their eventual decision to bring one boundary in 10 yards was pragmatic but perhaps later than necessary – and meant Tom Curran could chip a 62-metre six over square leg – though generally supported by the players.
“It was ridiculously wet, to be honest – madness,” Roy said afterwards. “Even now, when we were fielding there, I had one where I completely slipped over and I was soaked. The groundstaff did an incredible job just to get us on the field.
“There probably wasn’t a huge change from when we went on and when we were due to start but the umpires didn’t think that way, so we had to wait and be patient. I don’t think there was a huge amount of change. They changed the boundary size but the outifled was still pretty well. We just had to get on with it.”
“Even on the short boundary, throughout the game it was pretty damp. It was a brilliant effort from the groundstaff – we were all keen to play some cricket in front of a full house but I think that delay was definitely justified, if you saw how the conditions were out there. In the end, it gave 20,000 fans what they wanted, and that’s what the competition is all about.”
The main lesson was that days like this demand transparency. Most fans went home happy after an enjoyable – if long – day out, a breathless match and with a 50% refund, but unclear as to the reasons behind the delay, let alone why it had taken quite so long. Clear communication is key: if an umpire or official had even briefly taken to the DJ stage to explain the decision, this near-farce could have been avoided.
Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @mroller98