Warwickshire county cricket bowler Oliver Hannon-Dalby said The Hundred tournament has been a success at creating new fans of cricket.
Run by the English and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), The Hundred format of the sport was first played in July and August 2021.
The tournament features eight franchises representing major areas across England and Wales, with each club fielding both a men’s and women’s team.
Cricket bat and ball
“It’s good if it gets bums in seats,” Hannon-Dalby said.
“Certainly, in my opinion, test cricket is the pinnacle and I’d hope you would be watching the test matches and be thinking that it is good and entertaining cricket.
“But we all know for whatever reason, in certain parts of the world, test cricket is struggling.
“So, if it gets a new audience into cricket and watching games like today, and games like fifty over cricket or T20, I’m all for it.”
The Hundred is a shorter format of cricket, with the aim of making the sport more accessible to a wider and younger audience.
The inspiration for the English tournament came from the popularity of the Indian Premier League, which has a large following in India.
The Hundred is the ECB’s own unique take on the game, attempting to stand out from traditional longer formats of cricket such as test matches and county championship.
“There are kids at The Hundred and they end up loving cricket for the rest of their lives, and that is great for me,” The 33-year-old said.
“But at the end of the day, it is just cricket, you can wrap it up however you want.
“Ten overs, twenty overs, 15.4 overs, or whatever The Hundred is. It’s just cricket at the end of the day, and in my opinion, cricket is a really brilliant sport.
“So, it is no surprise to me that it (The Hundred) has been really entertaining and has been a success, because cricket is a good sport.”
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