Vocal Voices

Anyone tried watching this Hundred stuff?

Along with T20 it is bashing a ball about for those with a limited cricket attention span. Not for me.

It is boring
County and Test cricket much more entertaining

I have had a rethink, as I sometimes do.

I am strill not a fan, but because TV is so bad I have watched a few, both men and women's games, and what am I seeing?

I am seeing crowds. Good crowds, Big crowds. My new thinking is that these formats might well be the saviour of cricket. The fans obviously like them and they are also giving more players a chance to earn from the game.

More thoughts....

Look at the thickness of these bats and the c-of-g of them! They are there for only two things....fours and sixes!

Then there are the spinners. They are taking the wickets and keeping the runs down. I can see two possibilities. One is that a team will field only spinners. The other is that the ball will change to a tennis ball seam to reduce their effectiveness.

One final thought. There is nothing to choose between the men's and women's games. They are slightly different, but equal.

The shine goes off the white ball earlier, it doesn't swing or move off the pitch as much as the red ball. So it's a lot easier to slog a medium pacer or fast bowler, especially with bouncers being limited.
It's OK.
I like women's cricket too. It seems to be free of the gamesmanship and bad manners of the men's game.

Yesterday I watched both Hundred finals and as a bowler a couple of things stand out.

The accuracy of the out of the back of the hand balls by the quicker bowlers. and the speed of the wrists of the batters. Bowling the slower ball with the same arm speed is a dark art and hitting the ball hard is not just about upper body strength; it is also wrists and timing.

The batters play shots we would never have tried, and the bowlers bowl balls once thought as shockers. It is a different game and the punters love it.

I saw the women's 00 final and enjoyed it - the women seemed to be so natural and happy! I really enjoyed it.
Also the start of the men's final, with Paul Stirling smacking the ball to all parts of the ground.