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The final scene of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is iconic. Our two anti-heroes are beaten up, bloodied and hiding from the police in an outhouse of a remote Bolivian village. Chased out of the US after a bank robbery gone wrong, they have fallen foul of the local authorities after continuing their larcenous ways in South America.

A lifetime of scrapes has left them almost oblivious to the possibility of death. Despite their desperate situation, they reload their guns and talk of conquering a new frontier, Australia, confident that their sharp-shooting skills will deal with the handful of cops outside.

However, we know they are outgunned. While they were plotting, we saw platoons of police assemble for the impending shootout.

In the final seconds, Butch questions their opponent’s numbers then smiles, reassures himself, and says “for a moment there I thought we were in trouble”. The screen freezes on the duo as they rush out guns blazing but a hail of shots ring out. We all know how this tale truly ended.

The 2021 domestic cricket season will be like no other in history. For the first time since the 19th century, the counties are not the primary focus of the campaign. The fixture list has been remodelled to accommodate a new short-form franchise competition, The Hundred. The tournament has been controversial from the start and many traditional fans refuse to acknowledge its existence even now. But it is here and it is happening and, by the end of the campaign, we will start to understand its long-term effects.

Right now, life is perfect for traditionalists. We are in the middle of two solid months of Championship games, all of which are streamed live for free. Add to that a raft of excellent podcasts plus a host of new blogs and red-ball fans have never had it so good. Even The Cricket Paper is back.

It is akin to that playful interlude at the start of the third act when a budding romance develops between Butch and the exquisite Etta, played by Katherine Ross. They playfully frolic on a bicycle to the soundtrack of Burt Bacharach’s “Raindrops keep falling on my head”. Yet, even then, we sense this special time is borrowed. Like county cricket, our duo’s obituaries have been written for decades but their options have dwindled dramatically and this opponent is different. It seems that, finally, the game is up.

Of course, no one can be sure that The Hundred will be as detrimental to the fabric of the county game as many fans fear. The ECB believe it will save the existing structure. Even if it does prompt the demise of domestic red-ball cricket, the passing will be slow and almost imperceptible rather than a bullet to the heart. However, by the time our last edition hits the newsstands in the Autumn, its presence is certain to have elicited fundamental change.

The new event is already altering the narrative. Writing in The Cricketer Magazine recently, television personality Richard Osman expressed a deep love for the county game, especially his native Sussex. But he also believed its future was fatally compromised by lack of finances so, alas, it should be put out of its misery and The Hundred franchises can take over red-ball cricket too. Those in favour of the competition might argue this is ‘proof of concept’, those against that it was always the underlying plan.

While the last year has been about holding on to what we have in our lives, the next 12 months will be focused on adapting to a new reality. In cricketing terms, this starts next week with the first significant reduction of lockdown. On Thursday, a round of County Championship games will have spectators for the first time since September 2019.

The moment will be emotional, euphoric and cherished by fans. But will it make them become more militant in the face of The Hundred or more accepting of the ‘new normal'? Maybe Covid-19 has hammered home that key life lesson – try to change before you have to.

Butch and Sundance were thieves, albeit charismatic ones. Robbery and violence were in their blood, there was no chance of personal development. When they try to go straight as security guards, Butch ends up killing a man for the first time in his life so they go back to bank jobs. Even Etta was not there at the end. She sensed the net was closing in and left the pair because she “would not watch them die”.

Let’s not be dramatic, 18 counties will be alive next season and Darren Stevens will probably be getting batsmen nibbling at his away swing for another decade. But the very existence of The Hundred shifts the balance. Should it be a success that may be permanent, should it fail then the game will have to change in another significant way because, make no mistake, something must be done to arrest its slump in the national consciousness. We can’t stay as we are. 

So welcome back readers, the season has been marvellous so far. Hopefully, by the time it ends, you will be double jabbed and able to smile at some of your lockdown frustrations over the winter.

However, county cricket’s ‘new normal’ may be very different.

This article first appeared in The Cricket Paper, get it every Sunday or subscribe here

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