Bumble on how he would improve County Cricket.

[@anthonymilner1851]

100% sense from Bumble. How do we produce good test cricketers when the county game is side-lined away from June & July. The county game is the breeding ground for good cricket.

[@davidholgate123]

It is but nobody watches it... The crowds for county test cricket are abysmal and the shorter formats are financially keeping the game afloat so it's a catch 22 situation!

[@andrewganley9016]

Bumble speaking sense as usual agree 100% save for the Hundred get rid of it its silly boys rounders!

[@brightonred27]

Love cricket, test match, county, and one day, but the hundred leaves me cold, the rules of cricket have never said that an over comprises 5 balls ~ end of.

[@chrisbirmingham5132]

Between 1889 and 1900, overs consisted of five balls. I don't like the Hundred either, but you're wrong about the history of the laws of the game.

[@paultugwell9855]

@@chrisbirmingham5132 In Australia we had 8 ball overs, if 100 is making money for the grass roots then it is good

[@DavidJohnAshman]

Brilliant ideas from Bumble. Completely agree with everything he said. The FA cup does the non league vs the goliath really well. Minor counties in the 50 over knockout would really widen the interest. It would also give the minor counties something to aim for. Hundred being the shortest format would be brilliant in September. The county championship ideas are spot on as well. Cricket has to do this!

[@DavidJohnAshman]

Remember people want to watch Test Cricket. Yet the County games is sidelined. Does not make sense. Put the money in as Bumble said and it would flourish. Also, get the kids playing softball cricket at all the grounds.This would give an incentive for parents to bring their kids along. The kids love it! My son said to me he doesn''t check the county scores anymore as the scores aren't interesting anymore. He always use to look them up when using the Duke Ball. He is a batsmen as well!

[@Hugh-nr5sx]

The problem with September for The Hundred is that it does not coincide with the School Holidays and one of the attractions of the tournament is that it families can attend together.

[@DavidJohnAshman]

@@Hugh-nr5sx It's a short format so play it in the evenings and weekends. Lots of families go to football matches during September and they are not in the day time. But I do accept that the school holiday attracting new kids into cricket is a good window. It is difficult to solve.

[@chrisbirmingham5132]

The Hundred was predicated on the idea that the Blast was failing. To end up with both was madness, compounded by the creation of totally artificial squads for the Hundred. I agree roughly with Bumble's prescription, but fitting in the test matches poses major problems.

[@WilliamSmith-mx6ze]

The Hundred, in my view, was predicated on the BBC saying "We'll give you three hours per match on free to air" and a T20 match lasting about three-and-a-half hours, and rather than do something about over rates, the all-new even shorter format was invented.

[@blackislepeastoo]

Benaud & Bumble the voices of cricket !

[@williamdeypres1122]

The 'Hundred' can go and do one. Players from a mixture of counties? No thank you. It's meaningless, apart from slogging.

[@mattbyrne3621]

Couldn't agree more.

[@technofaisal]

Bumble is 100% right on on the approach for county cricket

[@glennandhelendutfield344]

Loved the common sense. I work really hard on 100 days at Hampshire ground to make the experience as good as possible for the visitors but hate that it is at the expense of county matches.

[@philgraham5341]

Is the Hundred here to stay? It isn’t being adopted around the world as far as I can see which suggests it is a concept out of place with the rest of cricket.

[@98notout61]

At least until 2028 when the Sky deal is up for expiry/renewal.

[@ryanberry1]

ECB doesn't make money on many things, loses on County Champ, loses on Blast (yes) and loses on some internationals. Hundred makes money, and whether you like it or not, they WILL keep it, we live in a capitalist economy

[@charliegeorge9393]

@@ryanberry1 revamp the blast then!

[@stevogeezer]

Bumble... legend.

[@JP1234815]

Ive never understood why England don't copy the bonus point structure from the Sheffield Shield - it's unique in cricket yet it's by far the best way to reward posting large scores, first innings leads and taking 10 wickets. Here's how it works: Award .1 points for all runs scored over 200 runs throughout the entire innings (In Australia it's over the 1st 100 overs of the 1st innings). - so a team scoring 650 would be awarded 45 bonus batting points, whereas a team only scoring 278 would be awarded only 7.8 points - quite a difference especially if the top 3 is being tightly contested. Same goes for bowling bonus points too. Award .1 points for every wicket over 3 wickets taken. So a team taking all 10 wickets gets .7 bowling bonus points whereas a team only taking 4 wickets receives just .1 point. The bonus points adds up over a season but it just means teams are always incentivised to score maximum runs and take 10 wickets each 1st innings. On top of bonus points the Sheffield Shield award no points for a loss, 3 for a draw and 6 for a win. So if you draw or lose a game in Australia there's a danger that team could fall down the table very quickly. I also like the fact the Sheffield Shield is a condensed competition - each team only playing 10 Sheffield Shield games per season and there's only 3 competitions too - Sheffield Shield, the Big Bash and the 50 over Marsh cup. It keeps viewers, spectators and administrators all happy.

[@baroncorvo3813]

This is completely wrong. Batting, they get 0.01 bonus points for every run over 200 in the first 100 overs. Bowling, 0.1 points for every wicket in the first 100 overs. 6 points for a win and only 1 for a draw.

[@bobmartin7399]

I watched Malcolm Marshall's first game for Hampshire in quite heavy snow (old Southampton ground).

[@BitcoinMicropig]

3 Divs of 6. All Test players to play every one of the 10 matches. 2 points for a win, 1 for a draw. Tiebreaker is runs/wickets. Limited overs 90 per innings (can overrun 1st innings but the overs come off 2nd inning = 180 total). Rain = DL adjustments down to 200 over total match minimum.

[@JP1234815]

The limited overs in the CC 1st innings was tried between 1974-1980. The only downside was that a strong team (Leicestershire in the mid 70's) could score 400+ and then restrict the other county to around 250 (not necessarily being all out either!). Leicestershire then enforced the follow on. Would you bring in any laws to prevent this? One suggestion not put forward is to have 3 County Championship matches played on uncovered pitches. Every team will play at least 1 spinner (maybe 2 if intermittent showers were forecast) If rain were to fall the spinners would bowl quite a few overs - rather than be used mainly to avoid a hefty fine for slow over rates! I've heard so many cricketers who played on uncovered pitches (both batsmen and bowlers) say it made them better cricketers.

[@BitcoinMicropig]

@@JP1234815 In this example the team batting 2nd could use their 2nd innings overs to avoid the follow on. Test wickets would be best rather than uncovered. The team with the highest run rate would win and that's fine IMO over so many overs. All to make England stronger (and to encourage aggressive Test play, call it Bazball or whatever)

[@stevenholt4936]

I would like to see two conferences of teams. Play the county championship, 16 games over three long days from end of April until September, preferably on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Final between the winners of each conference over four days. Hours: 10 30 to 19 00. Agree 50 over should be a knock-out early season. Blast, mid to late season.

[@WilliamSmith-mx6ze]

Then you would have no weekends free for T20 or 50 over. So the prime time would be turned over to a sport that gets an average 1000 spectators a day and the stuff that can get 25000 at Lord's or the Oval has to be played on weekdays, not even on Friday evenings!

[@stevenholt4936]

@@WilliamSmith-mx6ze the CC would become much more exciting and played at times when most people have free time. Either we want a competitive Test team or we don't and counties, who own the game, won't vote for poking their members in the eye. T20 can be played in the evenings when most people can attend anyway. My county, Lancashire, would fill the ground on a Wednesday evening for T20 and Saturdays and Sundays for a county game. Perhaps start later on a Friday and play the second half under lights? The 50-over knock out could be played on Saturdays when there is no CC game in early season.

[@LongFormPiece]

I'd start the season with the 50 over comp. 64 teams, straight knockout. The counties, minor counties, and previous year's champions of all the Premier Leagues would make about 64 sides. Could invite England U'19 or whatever to fill the gaps. I think it would create a lot of interest locally and nationally, and the whole tournament could be from mid April to mid May. Including the final.The Championship and Blast should run alongside each other throughout the season from Mid May until the end of July. I'm not even entirely against reducing the number of Championship games. Three groups of six with promotion and relegation, everyone plays each other twice, so 10 games, would be fine. It works for the Shield in Australia. Games have more significance, and they'd be being played during the actual summer. The Hundred can be stuck on in August. There is no point pretending we're going to be able to get rid off it, it lines the pockets of too many of the games leeches. In a perfect world it would get binned and the Blast would receive more investment, with the women's game being closely tied to it with several double header full days of cricket. Alas, cricket is run largely by people who don't really care about it.

[@98notout61]

Very good post, thanks!

[@Paul-r7t6z]

Bumble is the man we all listen to makes sense unlike most of the others 😊

[@PaulRoneClarke]

The Hundred is far too similar to T20. I quite enjoy it now and then, but 20 minutes into a game I've forgotten the format is different. The rule changes have minimal impact on how a player goes about bowling or facing ball by ball. But my issue is, as a lifelong Worcestershire supporter. I have no team to really support. Birmingham Phoenix make no bones about being Warwickshire with a slap of paint. So supporting them is out of the question. Would you ask a Manchester United supporter to support Manchester City? Imagine the argument "Oh go on. Man C are still in the cup - Man U are out. Might as well support Man City now" How do they think that would go down? (Tip - Badly) I've got no emotional connection with Birmingham anything. Phoenix or otherwise.

[@rangergaming8316]

The main issue with the Hundred is that it's a tournament with nothing above it. Every T20 league is interesting because there's the T20 World Cup and international cricket so players essentially audition for the national teams in these tournaments but that's not the case for the Hundred, it's just odd.

[@chrisboniface8665]

County championship 3 x 6 regional groups 80 overs a day 2 innings each team, 4 days no draws the team with the most runs win the 2 sides with most points play grand final. T20 perfect leave alone,50 over reduce to 40 regional or straight knock out.grand final. Hundred played in school hols not for me but my girls love it.just sort dates out.

[@johnperry994]

What if the team batting first get 900 in 3 days?

[@michaelgodbold6247]

No way pedro

[@paulturnell9315]

Brilliant and very workable ideas

[@98notout61]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@112sje]

I like the shorter formats, but the real game of Cricket is the first class game where bowlers are attacking for wickets and batsmen are selecting the correct shots most of the time. However, the crowds won't come back in county cricket if the players keep complaining about the ball and coming off for bad light etc. I wish Boycs was next to Bumble for this video. They haven't always seen eye to eye, but I am sure he would agree with nearly all of his comments.

[@jshaers96]

It's not going to work playing The Hundred in September because it's specifically placed to take advantage of the off-season for football.

[@davidglow3]

You can't fix something that isn't broken..More games,one a week right thru season..White ball on Friday nights, Saturday or Sunday.

[@DavidJohnAshman]

I was watching the Hampshire vs Durham game the other day. They went off for bad light on the last day. Simon Hughes was commenting on the KZbin channel and wasn't't sure why they were going off. He said "Are they going off for a lack of interest?". I must admit It wasn't clear why they were going off and the game was getting so boring, I could see what he meant. If Bumble's idea of getting 5 million pumped in, you would start seeing the games getting a lot more competitive. I have often seen my son play in youth cricket games and sometimes the games lack competitiveness. I have often thought why don't all the players chuck in £20 and the winner takes the money. You would certainly see the effort going up!

[@Makkajakka]

Scrap the Hundred and then put County Championship fixtures on during August on free-to-air tv. That's how I'd improve County Cricket.

[@98notout61]

Good shout, but not sure free to air tv companies would pay up?

[@matthewsmith-lk4qe]

Never going to happen. Even back in the day I remember itv showing roses cricket that didn't last once sky sports came along. Access is via KZbin now.

[@JP1234815]

@@98notout61 The only County Championship fixture that Free to air TV covered was the Roses match. BBC showed the fixture up to 1978 and then Regional ITV showed it until the early 90's!! Interestingly the BBC used to show the opening county fixture of the touring sides' itinerary until the early 70's. Could you imagine any free to air tv company showing such fixtures these days?

[@jshaers96]

You can get most county games on YT anyway. I don't think TV would be interested in something that is a minority interest at best.

[@WilliamHBonney617]

I could listen to Bumble talk cricket for hours, likewise with Boycott. Boycott & Bumble would make a good cricket chat show.

[@98notout61]

Check out my other chats with him on this channel!

[@alexpollington5337]

Bumble's suggestion is the most sensible I've heard with the current contracts in place. Get him in charge of the ecb. The only issue would be I feel slurry and lancs etc. would get richer and richer still and the rest poorer and poorer which is still something that should be looked at.

[@cwp0]

Good ideas

[@cwp0]

What about a new John player league played on Sunday afternoon … loved those games on bbc on a Sunday afternoon finishing at teatime

[@98notout61]

They were great days, but not sure the calendar can accommodate yet another competition?

[@nigeljones1969]

If my summers cricket is reduced because of this poxy Hundred then thats ny membership finished

[@georgecurtis5371]

@anthonymilner take it you are not a county member if Bumbles suggestion goes ahead you would only get 20 days of first class cricket a season and with the weather and games finishing early you could probably be down to about 15

[@tbeau6663]

Love Bumble, but there are a few flaws in his ideas - but essentially they're very good

[@stringbok]

There is way too much luck involved in cricket - the weather, toss - over a season it balances out. Deciding the championship with three one off games (the semis and a final) is rubbish if you want to find the bestteam.

[@MrPhantom1961]

Cut back drastically on the one day cricket. Too much one-day cricket simply breeds cricketers with the mindset that they are looking to blast every other day over the boundary fence rather than reading the bowler and selecting the right shot.

[@paultugwell9855]

Bumble you need to be on board to implement your ideas, otherwise this is never going to happen

[@davidevans1203]

Lot of sense. T20 blast is far better than Hundred, much prefer watching. Hundred in September has no chance. County playoffs in September.

[@chrisboniface8665]

Oh and Kookaburra red ball to make games last unfortunately

[@georgecurtis5371]

Ridiculous comments from Bumble if you don't like T20 just 5 championship matches in a season and a knockout comp when you could be drawn away and lose so that's just 20 days cricket in a season for some fans

[@kadichidu4171]

Neeed to improve county cricket broadcasting

[@gordonmonaghan133]

Cricket season?! That,s when it,s too wet to play football!

[@technofaisal]

Hundred should be moved to Sept

[@RuachEden]

Give 'im th' job!!!

[@bensymington6617]

No chance county cricket can have September if it's so good it's a dead format

[@nigelwatson2750]

No more flat, boring, pitches, like Old Trafford

[@michaelgodbold6247]

Play the pajama cricket (100) in may then play the real cricket in july august September

[@kbm1956]

The Hundred is a competition too far. Yes, it's exciting, draws crowds and promotes the women's game - so, put that same effort into the T20 Blast, a contest that reflects the format being played elsewhere. It might even incorporate the drafting in of overseas players.

[@malcolmcoram2857]

Why Oh Why is 'The Hundred' so damned sacrosanct? It is simply not cricket. It is money grabbing shit and nothing more. But everyone seems unable to find a single criticism for something which is, as far as real cricket is concerned, an aberration. I hate the hundred with a passion. The T20 Blast is ok as far as I am concerned but let's not get carried away with the idea that every new innovation is something to be revered. There is clearly some agenda here because everyone speaking about this says the same thing: "The hundred is here to stay." But why? That is my question. Why? Five ball overs; stupid, pyjama-like uniforms and inane commentary... What is there to like? Cricket is about concentration and application and dedication and 'The Hundred' does nothing more than undermine those ideals... So why? Why is 'The Hundred' so damned important? County cricket and test cricket are important but 'The Hundred' is nothing more then a money spinning distraction which all of you so called cricket experts and devotees have sold your soul to. Shame on you!

[@bobpook5535]

A reduction in championship cricket is NOT acceptable. Two divisions with 9 teams in each so each team plays 16 four day games from May to September. The Blast, the Hundred etc. is irrelevant rubbish.

[@98notout61]

Can the game survive without the white ball fixtures?

[@kadichidu4171]

Blast is ok hundred is rubbish

[@rangergaming8316]

There won't be a county championship without white ball tournaments because that's what brings in the money. I agree that the Hundred is rubbish but the Blast is great.

[@paulsimpson3269]

Your opinion, but went to championship game on Saturday. There was hardly anyone there. I understand it, it was tedious. People these days want entertainment, and the shorter form fulfils that role so much more.

[@ronwhitfield8872]

County cricket has been ‘shoved aside’ because it’s boring. Where is this huge following? Your comments are ridiculous. As for the game…25 matches played….9 results! What’s the point? I’d scrap it totally

[@KT123Caton]

who is actually interested in what this silly old man has to say ?

[@anthonyrichardson4761]

The county championship is a joke 😃

[@iananderson3799]

All a bit pie in the sky, from a nice but utterly out of touch chap. Clubs need T20 and One Day match income to survive, so these competitions have take place in July/August. County Championship cricket is an anachronistic relic from a bygone era. Watched by tiny crowds. It's time has gone.

[@iangair8236]

Simple Play 50 over in April May t20 May June July CC June to Sept The false game 100 in August over the CC programme