Healthy crowds, an abundance of talented young English players and a competition that offers a varied geographic spread across the country. Welcome to the Metro Bank One Day Cup.

Maligned as a second-string development competition since the start of the Hundred in 2021, England’s only professional 50-over tournament has arguably been cricket’s sleeper hit of the summer.

Much has been made of the lower attendances at this year’s Hundred, with the influx of foreign investment resulting in higher ticket prices and three of the eight teams – Oval Invincibles (now MI London), Manchester Originals (Manchester Super Giants) and Northern Superchargers (SunRisers Leeds) – changing their identities.

Playing at the same time as the England & Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) divisive cash cow was meant to kill off the One Day Cup, a competition with a proud lineage dating back to the original Gillette Cup in the early 1960s.

With the cream of the country’s white-ball talent migrating to the Hundred – this year the 18 first-class counties have lost a combined 102 players – the One Day Cup was meant to be finished as a serious competition.

Yet something curious has happened. Instead, fans of all ages have been drawn to it more than ever. The fact that matches have been spread across so many outgrounds has helped.

Yet it feels something else is also happening. Perhaps a reaction against the hyper-commercialisation of sport symbolised by this summer’s football World Cup and the Hundred?

A growing number of fans are craving something genuine, rooted in tradition and with age-old rivalries. The throwback, grassroots feel is not just a bonus but a driver behind its growth in popularity.

Not just surviving but thriving

Across two weeks, I went to four One Day Cup games to get under the skin of a competition that has grown organically despite little marketing support from the ECB.

I visited Essex for their match against Derbyshire at Chelmsford on 26 July, the beautiful Arundel Castle ground for Sussex vs Essex the following Wednesday, Southampton’s Utilita Bowl for Hampshire against Durham on 2 August and then Cheltenham last Sunday for Gloucestershire’s match against Nottinghamshire.

What I found was an uplifting tournament that could be described as the beating heart of the English game.

The crowds will never rival those of the Hundred. But there is no denying this competition is not just surviving but thriving.

The addition this year of Ben Stokes, whose presence in Durham’s team for their match against Yorkshire drew a record crowd of 4,859 to York’s Clifton Park last month, has helped as have some big overseas signings like India spinner Kuldeep Yadav at Yorkshire.

Yet there’s much more behind the phenomenon that’s being dubbed “Metro Bank fever” on social media.

“Everything good about English cricket,” is the emphatic verdict of Sussex coach Paul Farbrace after his team chased down 317 in the final over against Essex in front of 3,036 people at Arundel.

“Lots of families, good pitch, big crowd. It was a good mixture of people coming together, brilliant venue and it was a proper game of cricket. It was a really good advert for the game.”

But the sense of neglect from the ECB lingers. “We’d like a bit of help publicising it,” admits Essex chief executive Dan Feist.

A new audience

For the 11 counties not linked to a Hundred franchise, the four men’s home games in the One Day Cup are their only guaranteed cricket income for a month during high summer.

Those with stakes in the Hundred host at least eight days of cricket over the same period. The growing gap between the “haves” and the “have nots” in the English game is real.

“Only having four games has a big impact on revenue and engagement,” says Feist. “A few of us are saying we need a little bit more of a push coming up with a narrative around the One Day Cup – whether it is the future stars, the next generation, whatever it is. We’re having conversations about that with the ECB.”

The presence of so many families and children at the four games I attended was pronounced. It’s not only the Hundred that can attract a new audience.

Innovative pricing strategies have helped. Essex, for example, offered Under-18s tickets at £10 that automatically convert into a full membership for the rest of the season.

Yet a loyal “legacy” audience remains. Graham Ffitch, an Essex member since 1983, is one of 3,500 people at Chelmsford. “Why am I here? Because you follow the team,” he says. “Whereas in the Hundred, you’ve got no allegiance to any of them. They’ve changed their names again.”

Neil Priscott, Gloucestershire’s chief executive, is chatting to The i Paper on a balcony at picturesque Cheltenham College. Established in 1872, this is the oldest cricket festival in the world.

“One thing we know is members love this competition,” he says. “In Bristol we absolutely want to be part of the Hundred, but we’re not. Our two games in Bristol were decently attended, quite a lot of families as well. I probably wouldn’t say it’s a kickback against commercialisation but I do believe there’s latent demand and love for 50-over cricket.”

What was perceived as the One Day Cup’s biggest weakness – the lack of star power – has actually become its unique selling point.

David Mann, Hampshire’s chief executive, says: “Fans like to see the England players coming through.”
Farbrace says: “This tournament is allowing me to see what we’ve got in terms of young players. Not just the kids but the ones who are in the second team and their agents are telling me every week they should be playing first-team cricket. Well, here’s your chance.”

A ‘bloody ridiculous’ schedule

There are practical benefits, too, of a tournament schedule that Leicestershire’s Ian Holland last week branded “bloody ridiculous”.

In July, Sussex had a 1,000-mile road trip that took in games at Neath, Durham and Hove across five days. “You could say that’s ridiculous,” says Farbrace.

“On the other hand, I quite liked it. I got to see how the young players coped with the travel, playing three games in five days with the biggest triangle around Britain you could have. I was looking at them to see who turned up still wanting to play, who was excited rather than thinking, ‘f**king hell, here we go again’. For me, it was a brilliant lesson.”

Essex’s Noah Thain, 21, is the leading run scorer in this year’s tournament so far. “When I first started out, it gave me a chance to play professional cricket,” he tells The i Paper after his maiden professional century at Arundel.

“We lose a few boys to the Hundred but it’s certainly not just a development competition in our eyes.”

Key to the One Day Cup’s success this summer has been so many matches at smaller venues – with the 16 outgrounds used split across 13 counties. It’s an illustration of cricket’s reach and depth across the country – from Gosforth to Guildford, Rugby to Radlett, Sedbergh to Scarborough and Chesterfield to Cheltenham.

The atmospheres at Arundel and Cheltenham were certainly preferable to the Utilita Bowl, which had a dystopian feel as a fixture watched by 3,200 people at a 15,000-capacity ground played out at a venue festooned with Hundred branding.

The “EVERY. BALL. COUNTS,” and “BORN BRAVE,” slogans were jarring as a Durham team including Stokes – but with the former England captain neither batting nor bowling – hammered the hosts by nine wickets.

It also contrasted starkly with the feeling of warmth and deep-rooted club loyalty at Cheltenham on a day dedicated to former Gloucestershire and England fast bowler David “Syd” Lawrence, who died last summer after being diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in 2024. “I’m very hopeful we’ll raise a good amount,” says Priscott.

Yet hosting fixtures away from established venues is financially challenging. “There are a lot of costs in setting up this festival, a lot,” says Priscott. “We lost money in three of the last four years. This year we aim to make a surplus of £10,000. If we break even, we’ll take it. But for the health of the county, we think it’s important to play here.”

Finances are why Essex haven’t hosted a men’s match away from Chelmsford since 2016, when they last played at Colchester’s Castle Park. Feist has not written off going back. “It’s always being discussed,” he says. But unless Essex can make the maths work, it seems unlikely.

For now, the competition seems to have found its place in the calendar alongside the Hundred. But might it be moved?

“I’m not 100 per cent we’ve got it right,” says Mann. “It’s a problem we don’t play Championship cricket in high summer and my own personal view is it wouldn’t be the worst thing if we played Championship cricket alongside the Hundred.

“It just feels like we’ve marginalised four-day cricket. You’d have to play 50-over cricket some other time, probably at the start of the season.”

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But if you did that, those leading players at the Hundred would be missing Championship matches. “Cricket is a Rubik’s Cube in the fact you fix one side and you’ve actually caused a hassle the other side,” says Feist. “Scheduling is the big problem.”

Whatever happens, Mann is optimistic about the future. “It’s cricket at the end of the day,” he says. “You don’t have to be a fan of everything. There’s a place for every format. Like I said, I don’t think we’ve quite got it right in terms of domestic structure, but there’s not much point revisiting that for a while because we just can’t all agree.”

The One Day Cup staying exactly where it is will suit the growing number of fans who have embraced its moment in the sun this summer.

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