Fours, sixes, records broken, top stars in the flesh, The Hundred isn’t all bad - we’ll be back

That was not one of the questions I was expecting to field from my pre-match checklist.

“Why are we clapping for the team we don’t support?” and “Why does everyone clap when the other team gets to 50?” Maybe more so.

But as it was a day of historic cricketing firsts for the Byram household and the famous old Headingley ground and this being the much-vaunted/maligned The Hundred, I guess I really should have been prepared for anything as we stepped into the cricketing unknown.

We - your correspondent and his two sons, William 13 and nine-year-old Charlie, were here to see the first Leeds matches in the new The Hundred competition - that capital ‘T’ really jars - the apparent saviour of English cricket and the new “gateway” into the sport aimed specifically at the likes of my two.

The Hundred is, after all, Twenty20 but you just get to the exciting bits more quickly….

The boys are not complete cricketing novices, they have played the game in the park and watched local league matches, T20 matches on TV, as well as a few of The Hundred games in the build-up to our showdown between Leeds franchise, Northern Superchargers and the visiting Welsh Fire.

But it was their first big match cricket experience, streaker and all, and one I have to say they really enjoyed - and I wasn’t sure I’d ever be writing that.

At £35 for a family (£25 adult, £5 each boy) in the silver seats, they got to see a quite brilliant match-winning innings of 92 not out off 43 balls by India’s Jemimah Rodrigues - to be frank, she could still be batting now - as the women recovered from a disastrous 19-4 to overhaul 130.

Her innings alone probably did more to advance the perception of the women’s game among spectators, than any flashy gimmicks. In addition, they saw England superstar Ben Stokes “in the flesh” and a typically belligerent 56 from Yorkshire and Fire’s Jonny Bairstow - which William prophetically tipped “would end with him being caught in the 50s”. It did. Fire hit a record 173, Northern 168, in reply, with an immense 62 off 31 balls by Harry Brook - surely Yorkshire’s next England cap - and we saw him before he was famous!

It’s a long day though - the action started at 2.30pm and finished at 8.45 - for a generation that will spend hours on an X Box or iPad, but start whining ten minutes into a trip to Filey - and I didn’t see many mothers with babies, but there were plenty of boys and girls in “Stokes 55” Northern Superchargers shirts.

We had bursts of flames for the fours and sixes, a firework entrance and live music, but perhaps due to Covid, the usual “musts” of a day like this - face painting, giveaways, a person on stilts and balloon-modeller were seemingly absent.

Charlie - still confused by the streaker but not the clapping - liked the fact there were lots of sixes and fours, the atmosphere, antics and fancy dress on the Western Terrace, the singing and a “very good view”.

William enjoyed both games, the big hits and the day out, but didn’t like the “run music” and the fact we could not see the stats scoreboard from our seats in the superb new Emerald Stand.

I know The Hundred is supposed to rid cricket of its stuffy old stats, but wickets as much as runs are the currency of the game and it’s not as easy to get as excited if you don’t realise your side only has three wickets/lives left to reach their target.

And despite a two-and-half hour journey back to Wakefield due to public transport issues, the boys are definitely up for doing it all again on August 17.