A day late and zero dollars short (this is free and I don’t get paid). The Hundred is here! What is The Hundred? It’s cricket. That’s what The Hundred is. Early winners in this format that is tearing families apart (not really) were Trent, Oval, Birmingham and Welsh on the Men’s side and Northern, Southern, London and Oval on the Women’s side. Nobody scored a hundred in The Hundred in the first 8 games, but Jemimah Rodrigues came closest with 92* for Northern Superchargers over Welsh Fire at Headingley. We’ll see if The Hundred destroys County cricket, Western civilization, or life as we know it by September (spoiler: it won’t). Early verdict from me: it’s cricket and therefore I like it.
West Indies and Australia had a COVID scare, postponing an ODI a couple of days until the positive tests came back negative. Australia won the first ODI in a romp and the second one is ongoing. A third will be played on Monday, virus willing.
Sri Lanka salvaged an ODI win from India’s third-and-a-half team, or whatever it was. India clobbered the Lions in the first two ODIs, and a three-game T20I series between the teams will commence tomorrow before the Men in Blue head to England for a Test series, where presumably they will field their top squad.
As for the dying County game (it’s fine), the six teams who will vie for the County Championship and/or Bob Willis Trophy are Warwickshire (21 points), Somerset (18.5), Lancashire (16.5), Hampshire (8.5), Nottinghamshire (5) and Yorkshire (4.5). The points in parentheses are the starting points for Division One. The teams each play three games in September, with the top points-having team after the three games being crowned the County Champion and the top two teams playing for the Bob Willis Trophy at Lord’s in a 5-day game. Forget what I said last time. You expected me to research this (it’s free, I’m not paid, remember)? The other 12 counties are in Division Two and Division Three, which as far as I can tell, will be played in another dimension of some sort.
I did get the Vitality Blast right. It’s still the top eight teams heading to the Quarterfinals. This year, we have Yorkshire v Sussex, Notts v Hampshire, Somerset v Lancashire, and Kent v Birmingham. The winners of these games go to Edgbaston on 18 September for the endless drunken bacchanal that is Finals Day. So not The Hundred.
