Has anything changed? When Ben Stokes was helped off the field at Old Trafford last Sunday, kitted out in Northern Superchargers gear, his left hamstring torn after running for one, it was inevitable what would follow.
“Ben Stokes injuring himself in meaningless Hundred is one of English cricket’s dumbest moments,” ran the headline of one newspaper column, the tournament blamed for Stokes’ impending absence from the Test series against Sri Lanka. Of course, there’s this argument, too: cricketer suffers injury playing cricket. These things happen. But the reaction highlighted the never-ending divisiveness of the Hundred, now about to complete its fourth season.
