As the cricketing authorities launch their latest money grabbing exercise to a ground (not so) near you, my thoughts on the new competition due to start in summer 2020.
I Oppose The Hundred (audio)
I Oppose The Hundred
For the simple fact
Professional cricket doesn’t need another shortened format
With T20 and one-day already in existence
Who decreed to proceed down the path of most resistance
There are ways to innovate and modernise the sport
Without the trashing of the existing band of travelling support
I Oppose The Hundred
The assault on the county game
The ECB ignoring fans, whatever they may claim
England won the men’s World Cup by the skin of their teeth
Failure to build on that success truly does defy belief
50 over cricket domestically downgraded
The World Cup barely lifted while the counties are grifted and raided
I Oppose The Hundred
And the scrapping of the Super League
Where’s the planning for the future in this mindless, thoughtless blitzkrieg
Why is women’s cricket being shoved into a corner
With all the tact and diplomacy of a sledge from David Warner
I Oppose The Hundred
And the patronising claim
Women and children cannot understand a complicated game
Cricket is convoluted, idiosyncratic in charm
The way to learn the game is by watching
Tell me what is the harm of making the sport more attractive, with tickets reasonably priced
Without a new competition where cricket is sliced and diced
I Oppose The Hundred
And its tinkering of cricket laws
The MCC abetting change it traditionally abhors
I Oppose The Hundred
Feel as sick as a pig
Seeing old players becoming lackeys in exchange for another gig
Hankering for the commentary box or a coaching role in one of the sides
All the while embracing a scheme that so openly derides
Existing fans faithful to their team
For the sake of a new competition replete with garish colour scheme
I Oppose The Hundred
Each team with a stupid name
And draft pick rules designed by fools that complicate the game
I Oppose The Hundred
For I can count to six
A five or ten ball strategy play is not a simple fix
I Oppose The Hundred
The money thrown in the air
After Allen Stanford you’d think they’d take more care
The helicopter may have gone
But dear prudence is still playing second fiddle
To a political play, where the pawns in the game
Are the players out in the middle
Cricket was taken off free to air for the big money from Sky
But as grassroots have dwindled the ECB won’t eat humble pie
Instead they look at the franchised IPL and Big Bash
Heads have turned, 20 balls burned
By the allure of television cash
I Oppose The Hundred
A shameless rotten beast
Despised across the land from the south-west to the north-east
I Oppose The Hundred
For I truly fear
The end of the county system is drawing ever near
I Oppose The Hundred
And the vast expense
How will The Hundred help a 50 over World Cup defence
I Oppose The Hundred
And am deeply cynical
Administrators truly believe Test cricket is the pinnacle
I Oppose The Hundred
And all it represents
The ECB still ploughing on despite all common sense
I Oppose The Hundred
Most of all because
The ECB and the powers that be don’t care about the likes of us