No Bouncy Castle Can Ever Match Drama Of Test Cricket

Peter Hayter took to social media to gauge opinion on The Hundred, as Headingley’s memorable advert for Test match cricket unfolded last week

I know, I know. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it, but, in this week of weeks for Test cricket, the question does need asking.

Do we really need The Humbug? Err, sorry… that should read The Hundred.

Two days before Ben Stokes and Jack Leach rewrote the fairy-tales on that unforgettable last afternoon at Headingley, relighting the Ashes from barely a flicker, a similar question was posed to an audience of nearly 200 who had come to the small Herefordshire town of Leominster to hear Marcus Trescothick talk about his life and times, good and bad.

A show of hands was invited so that all those in favour of the England and Wales Cricket Board’s bold idea to attract new audiences to the game in this country could make their feelings known, to which not one hand was raised.

Not a single hand. None.

And, in the interests of fairness, this vote of no-confidence in The Hundred was taken before the assembled men and women of all ages were reminded that the reported budget set aside for marketing and fireworks was £175,000, not per team, but per match, information that provoked a groan that could probably have been heard at ECB Towers.

Later, on the Sunday itself, but while the extraordinary climax to one of the greatest cricket matches ever played and the best Test innings ever played on English soil and possibly the planet was still just an idle thought in the mind of whichever celestial scriptwriter was on duty that day, I tested the water on Twitter.

“Yes, ok,” I declared, not entirely, it has to be said, without mischief, “Test cricket is quite good. But it will never, ever replace the Hundred.”

And the response was similarly enthusiastic.