Mark Ramprakash backs 'The Hundred' after 'fun, action-packed' trials at Trent Bridge
Monday 17 September 2018 16:29, UK
Mark Ramprakash says ‘The Hundred’, the ECB’s proposed new 100-ball competition, will be “great fun” and “action-packed”.
The former England batsmen was involved as a coach in a 'North v South' match as the new format was trialled at Trent Bridge on Tuesday.
There has been criticism of the proposed tournament, due to begin in 2020, particularly around rule changes intended to simplify the sport to attract a new audience, but Ramprakash believes the players involved in the trial embraced the changes.
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"It's going to be great fun, it's action-packed, it's quick and so your decision making has got to be really quick, you've got to be on the ball and up to speed with the game," he told Sky Sports News.
"The captain is really versatile, they're in control. Of course, the fielding side can call timeouts and that's worked really well. We've had a really good example of that just now where it changed the momentum of the game just by taking a two-minute break."
England bowling coach Kevin Shine was the other coach in Nottingham and highlighted a number of tweaks to the rules that added extra excitement to proceedings.
"Every ball is definitely an event now," he said. "I know it's a bit of a cliché but it is and that's made it really exciting, especially from the dugout and the players have enjoyed it too.
"The powerplays and the timeouts, they give it even more emphasis. The fact that we've now got five-ball overs and that bowlers can now bowl 10 balls [in a row], it's been really, really interesting and quite exciting, to be fair."
