The Secret Cricket Coach has said The Hundred feels as real as Ted Lasso, after attending a match at Old Trafford. The coach, a former professional cricketer now working at elite level, described the experience as disconnected from county cricket's culture and history.
Manufactured atmosphere at Old Trafford
Walking through the concourses, the coach saw faces of Lancashire's greats, including Farokh Engineer and Sir Clive Lloyd, whose stories are woven into the ground's fabric. Then, almost everywhere else, there were signs of Manchester Super Giants.
Initially impressed by supporters in new shirts, waving flags and chanting, the coach discovered the shirts and flags were being given away for free. This led to a comparison with Ted Lasso, where a packed stadium and passionate chanting are created for a television programme. The coach said there was something of that feeling at Old Trafford.
Chants of Lucknow Super Giants
Every boundary brought a booming chant over the speakers, which the coach assumed was MSG. Listening more closely, it was LSG, Lucknow Super Giants, the Indian franchise from which the Manchester identity has emerged. The coach found it disorientating to be wearing Manchester Super Giants shirts while the sound system played the Lucknow chant.
The atmosphere was described as loud, colourful and entertaining, but also surreal, feeling less like a supporter and more like a participant in an enormous live experiment.
Player and spectator perspectives
The coach said a major question is what players think about this, noting a divide. Those playing get paid well and enjoy the short, energetic format, and for the women's game it has been a massive economic and visibility driver. Those not playing may hate it, with their summer passing by.
Children at the ground were not worrying about authenticity, watching sixes, waving flags and joining in. The crowd was engaged and people were enjoying themselves.
The coach felt bemused about what could be added to the cricket, describing it as almost uncoachable. It felt separate from the cricket recognised as a coaching proposition, and the coach wondered what to tell a young player to take from it. The Hundred is not really asking to be coached, but asking the crowd to watch it.
This product is totally disconnected from red-ball cricket, technically and emotionally. The coach said the connection between on-field and off-field events was that both felt invented. Underneath the MSG branding, old murals of Engineer and Lloyd remained, names and faces that did not need a marketing campaign to be part of the place.
A reversal of cricket's journey
English cricket is experiencing something fascinating, with money, influence and cultural confidence of franchise cricket flowing in the opposite direction. An Indian franchise identity can arrive in Manchester and be laid across one of English cricket's most historic grounds. This is not colonialism, but commerce.
Maybe Manchester Super Giants will develop its own stories, and children wearing free shirts may find the manufactured thing authentic in 20 years. What feels alien and uncoachable to the coach may be cricket to the generation waving flags. Walking through Old Trafford was like seeing a new coat of paint applied over something much older, with history still visible underneath.
