THE TIMES THEY ARE A- CHANGIN`..

Well, I guess the jury is in the process of returning its verdict on the first ever `The Hundred.` It will be interesting to see what the cricketing world has made of this new upstart competition that has been gracing our screens for the last few weeks.

A few posts ago (see "A Rumble of Thunder" back on 25 July) I ventured some unease about The Hundred with all its razzmatazz, its quirky rules, its obesity-encouraging sponsorship, which seemed to be the main difference between it and the established T20 format.   There was also the concern I had about its effect on the more `traditional` formats of the county championship and test cricket.

Having now witnessed The Hundred through the admittedly narrow spectrum of television, I still have those concerns but I have to admit to being converted to this new kid on the block. It seems to have brought a different level of `excitement,` drama and personality to a game which in the end is all about which team scores the most runs in order to win it.  It`s franchise cricket of course with all its rampant commercialism and its sense of immediacy.  But maybe in this frantic world, it`s what people want - rather than need - and it unashamedly plays to that demand.   

I guess what helps me come to terms with it all is that the first competition was won yesterday by the catchily named Southern Brave based at Southampton`s Ageas Bowl and led by Hampshire captain James Vince, although the team comprised players from all parts - Sussex had a decent representation but so too did South Africa, New Zealand and all points beyond the south coast.  But it was the pace of it all - helped by the imposition of time limits, the skills displayed, the phenomenal hitting, the inventive bowling, the athletic fielding that stood out, as too did the involvement and active participation of the growing crowds who seemed to genuinely enjoy the occasion. 

I never thought I would see the day when pyrotechnics and whoopy-do `music` would be allowed, not to say tolerated, within the hallowed confines of Lord`s but I suppose it`s a sign that the times really are a changin` and that maybe the success of the first Hundred competition suggests a turning point in the way cricket has to evolve if it is to survive in a sometimes cruelly competitive world.   In the end, if The Hundred and its like manage to contribute towards the upkeep of the more traditional forms of the game then it deserves to be welcomed for what it is and what it can provide in allowing people like me to carry on enjoying my days in the sun at Canterbury.

I nicked a line from Bob Dylan as the heading for this post but I`m also reminded of Neil Sedaka`s lines from `Our last song Together` - a plaintive acceptance that things change and life moves on:-

"Yesterday is yesterday. The past is dead and gone.

Nostalgia just gets in the way. Let`s stop hanging on...."

But for all that, those of my generation will no doubt obstinately hang on to our past which is full of nostalgia, if not longing, for our yesterdays when cricket, like life itself, was so much more straightforward.