From very humble beginnings, women’s cricket in Australia has gradually emerged as one of the trump cards of cricket as a sport. Perhaps, of all other sports, only football has realized the potential of promoting the game with the participation of the fair sex. But first things first….
Women have been playing cricket for a long time. But for a long time, this aspect of the sport remained unclaimed by spectators.
Over time, everything has changed very much; now millions of people around the world love to watch Championship matches of both women’s and men’s leagues. You will be surprised, but bets are in demand for both men’s and women’s leagues, and for convenience, fans install applications on their phones. If you are the same fan, you can also install such an application for convenience by clicking on this link – https://india.1xbet.com/promotions/ipl-betting-app.
1988, Australia. Women’s World Cup
In 1988, Australia hosted the Women’s Cricket World Cup. There were approximately 3,000 people in attendance at the final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where the tournament hosts competed. All the players were not professionals and were forced to work to earn a living and take vacations at their own expense to participate in the World Cup. However, gradually women’s cricket began to gain momentum.
For a long time, this type of cricket in Australia was represented mainly by the national championship in the format of one-day cricket. The New South Wales team has been crowned champions 13 times in 15 years, one of the great achievements in top-level sport in general. However, it was difficult to talk about any strong interest from the general public. So, several notes in the newspaper were typed in petite.
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The most important moment in the history of women’s cricket
Perhaps the most important moment in the history of women’s cricket came in 2015 when a fateful decision was made. From 2007 to 2014, women competed in 20/20 cricket in addition to one-day cricket. Games were usually played on the same grounds as one-day cricket competitions. However, for the 2014/15 season, it was decided to play some of the games ahead of the successful Big Bash League (Australian men’s 20/20 cricket championship). The women’s league final was also shown live on TV.
For the next season, it was decided to restart women’s competitions in the format of the Women’s Big Bash League. The level of excitement around this event has increased noticeably. Most league games were shown on television. Also, many representatives from different countries came to play in the league, including famous players (at least by the standards of women’s cricket). The number of spectators at the games has increased significantly.
The only problem was that the women’s league was still tied to the men’s league and in the finals, the games were played as a “warm-up” before the men’s Big Bash League matches. This meant that the girls did not receive the advantage of playing on their home field but often played on neutral territory or even on the field of an opponent who finished the season below them in the table.
The risk was worth it
Finally, in 2019, another, very risky, decision was made. The women’s Big Bash League was to be held separately from the men’s. And not only separately, but it should have started and ended earlier than the men’s! Will people come to the games? Will there be interest from TV viewers? The decision could have buried women’s cricket.
But the risk turned out to be worth it! The season went off with a bang. Spectators attended women’s matches unattached to men’s matches and tuned into televisions. Game reports and players’ names were front-page sports headlines. The main thing is that female athletes no longer had to feel like an appendage of men’s cricket. They could play the final matches at home, having earned this right during a grueling season. We still have World Cup cricket 2024 ahead of us, who knows what the women will show us this time?
What is important to understand
In some ways, this is not surprising. Cricket is a sport in which very tall height or extreme physical strength is not necessary. A beautiful cover drive does not become less beautiful because it was performed by a girl. A tense moment in a match, when you need to score a few runs and have one wicket left, does not become any less tense depending on the gender of the participants. Jumping for the ball in the outfield looks the same when performed by a man or a woman.
