The first problem with the brave new world of the second edition of the Hundred, whereby the women’s match will (on occasion) take the primetime slot, became apparent 30 minutes before the start of play: 6pm came and went, and the men had still not finished their match, let alone vacated the field. In a sport where men have taken up more than their fair share of resources for over a century, there was something rather symbolic about that.
On the other side of the equation, the crowd seemed largely content: Surrey had proclaimed the day a sell-out, and the overwhelming majority of ticket-holders (approximately 16,000 out of 21,339) stayed on to watch the women’s game. “I struggled in the field because I could not hear a thing!” Oval Invincibles’ Suzie Bates said afterwards. “We’ve been there when it has just been your mum, your dad and the dog. And this is the norm now – how cool.” More evidence, if it were needed, that the ECB has (if largely by accident) found a sweet-spot for double-headers via the identical team brands of The Hundred.
