So wickets are out and outs are in for the new Hundred competition. But why? The language of sport is a beautiful thing, even in the hands of a pub bore. Why is it a try in rugby, when you have to touch the ball down, and a touchdown in American football, when you don’t? I know why it’s the leg side, but why is it the ‘off’? The purpose of the Hundred is to grow cricket, and the language of cricket is part of the game. It’s not hard. It’s not Cornish, or Welsh, or Etruscan.
‘Outs’ feels like a complication too far, inventing a problem where there isn’t one. Trying to dumb something down that’s easily understandable is the work of people who don’t want to understand, the kind who own funny tea towels explaining cricket in the most complicated way possible. If kids today can load and play Fifa and Grand Theft Auto, they can work out what 87 for 2 after 9.3
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