The Hundred 2024

And some thoughts about the future of the tournament...

The fourth season of The Hundred drew to a close last weekend, although I wasn’t there to see it. Unfortunately I couldn’t attend Birmingham Phoenix’s eliminator on Saturday due to being in hospital with a high fever which I picked up on Friday, with the conclusion after numerous tests being that I was suffering from viral gastroenteritis.

So, I had the tough task of watching the match on Sky Go, which wasn’t particularly fun, although in a strange way it was easier than being there in my normal role given that I could have no influence on the match.

Obviously we should have got that game won in the last over of the full match, but I think as a group we can be extremely proud of how we played throughout the tournament and the manner in which we bounced back from a bad defeat in our opening match to go 6-2 in the group stages.

Birmingham Phoenix Men have now won 61% of their completed non-tied matches in the four years of the tournament, meaning that we are beating my 60-40 rule where I state that any team in a level budget tournament winning at least 60% of their matches are significantly ahead of the average team, and conversely, teams winning less than 40% should be doing some urgent investigations and having tough conversations as to why that has been the case.

One team which struggled this year was Manchester Originals. I would have clear feedback to give those in charge of Manchester Originals as to why I think this was the case, but this isn’t the platform for that discussion. What did catch my eye was this excellent post from Mohammad Khan in his Cricket Strategy Newsletter (I’ve added it to my recommended Substack reads today as well).

Part titled ‘Lancashire and the Intellectual Decline of County Cricket’ it refers to the article on Cricinfo recently (which I had also read with interest) from Lancashire CEO Daniel Gidney where they discussed partnering with an IPL team for cricket operations.

As Mohammad correctly notes, Lancashire/Manchester Originals have Manchester City in their own city, a team who is basically best in class for all football operations. Has there been any attempt to work with them in order to improve their own processes? Based on results, it would be pretty tricky to assume so.

Far too many cricket teams rely on a small number of ex-professionals to guide them. That’s not to say that this is necessarily a bad idea, and there are plenty of good ones (e.g. Phoenix’s management group are top drawer, in my view) but I’ve also seen a lot of ex-players as coaches who are one of, or a combination of being or having, too much of an emotional/volatile temper, are tactically inept, have little clue about T20 specific strategies (because they coach all formats), have little grasp of the overseas and domestic player markets, or lack the human skills to get the best out of the people working for them.

Mohammad also mentions that ‘If the Hundred and English Cricket is to reach its Optimal Potential, it must look beyond Cricket’s Stale Operating Model. Cricket is not a Sport known for Research, Innovation, or Ambition. If anything, these concepts are looked down upon’.

Are Lancashire/Manchester looking in the wrong places for this strategic and operational talent? My view is absolutely yes.

However, partnering with an IPL team is hardly a guarantee to improve those processes, because despite Rajasthan Royals being a well-run exception, I’m not sure any team is run particularly close to optimally. Some are better than others, but English countries and Hundred franchises should be careful what they wish for in terms of assuming that IPL franchises will solve all their problems immediately.

Anyone interested in discussing how I can help their team with strategic management and data-driven analysis can get in touch at sportsanalyticsadvantage@gmail.com.