Author: Syd Egan

WWT20 Preview – Can New Zealand End The Era Of Aussie Dominance?

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The WWT20 gets underway on Tuesday, with hosts India taking on qualifiers Bangladesh in Bangalore. But who will be lifting the trophy two-and-a-half weeks later in Kolkata?

If you’ve got smart money, it is probably on Australia, who have won the last 3 WWT20 tournaments, not to mention the World Cup in 2013 as well. Plus, if you were a conspiracy theorist, you’d have to think that there was a good reason why both “Meg Lanning” and “Machine” begin with the letter “M” – it just can’t be a coincidence!

However, recent form might suggest that the era of Australian dominance could be coming to an end. The table below shows the win percentages in the past 12 months for the top teams.

Team Played Won Win %
New Zealand 9 7 78%
England 6 4 67%
India 9 6 67%
West Indies 9 5 56%
Australia 12 6 50%
South Africa 9 4 44%

There is little room for doubt – New Zealand are the “form” team at the moment – and this is backed up by the more sophisticated rankings maintained by Women’s Cricket Blog.

The White Ferns recent success isn’t based on a single player either. In that past year they have had match-winning performances with the bat from Suzie Bates (54 off 53 v Australia); Rachel Priest (60 off 34 v India); and Sophie Devine (70 off 22 (sic!!) v India); and whilst her recent international form hasn’t been great, you can’t count out Sara McGlashan either, who hit 366 runs in WBBL, including a top knock of 79*, and has a highest international score of 84.

Their bowling is arguably their weakness, but whilst we might have said a year ago that women’s T20 was less of a batsman’s game than the men’s equivalent, if anyone is in a position now to prove that has changed it is New Zealand, and that is why they are our tip for the trophy in 2016.

Agree? Disagree? Vote now! (And Have Your Say below!)

EXCLUSIVE: Kia To Sponsor Super League

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CRICKETher understands that Kia are set to be announced as the sponsor of the up-coming Women’s Cricket Super League, which will be known as the Kia Super League, or KSL for short.

The Korean car manufacturer already sponsor the England women’s team, providing the players with cricket-white Kia Sportage’s as part of the deal.

Kia believe that the women’s game provides an ideal synergy with their reach into the so-called “soccer-mom” market; and this extended deal can be considered something of a coup for the ECB in an increasingly challenging sponsorship environment.

OPINION: Talk Is Cheap As Women Fly Economy To World Cup

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In an irony which we have reason to believe was not lost on our friends at the ECB, England’s top male and female cricketers found themselves promoting a campaign for gender equality less than 24 hours after flying to the T20 World Cup in somewhat less than equal circumstances.

The ‘Pledge For Parity’ hashtag which dominated Twitter on International Women’s Day was heavily promoted by the ECB; but while Joe Root and Eoin Morgan took a luxurious business class flight to India, Sarah Taylor and the women’s team were on a different plane… cramped up in economy.

It is important to note that the flights were paid for by the ICC not the ECB; and to recognise that this has happened against a background of the ICC having considerably increased their level of investment in this event, in terms of prize money and broadcast coverage.

Nevertheless, the ECB could have paid for an upgrade to the flights. Indeed, this is exactly what Cricket Australia did; with the Southern Stars flying ‘Business’* after pressure from the Australian government, which threatened to withdraw state funding from the game if more equitable travel arrangements were not provided for the men’s and women’s teams.

So should the ECB have followed Cricket Australia’s lead and provided the upgrades? CRICKETher accepts that these can be difficult decisions, and there is an argument that there are much better ways to spend the £30,000† it would have cost to even bump the players up to ‘Premium Economy’ let alone ‘Business’.

But at the very least, perhaps the ECB could use some of its much-vaunted influence at the ICC to see if something can’t be done about this next time, so that future ‘Pledges for Parity’ ring a little less hollow.

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* This piece originally stated that the Southern Stars flew ‘Premium Economy’ – this was corrected on 21/03/2016.
† Based on the list price, flying BA.

NEWS: WWT20 TV Coverage – Still More Matches… But Bad News For England Fans

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The announcement by the ICC of further expanded TV coverage of the Women’s World T20 in India is good news… except if you are an England fan.

The ICC has confirmed that 13 matches, including the semi-finals and final, will now be broadcast, and all 10 teams will have at least one televised game. (Previously just 10 broadcast matches had been promised.)

However, there is disappointment for England fans.

Sky had previously said that all of England’s group matches would be shown:

But it now seems that only the group games against Bangladesh (on Thursday 17th March) and India (on Tuesday 22 March) will be televised. (Sky’s updated schedule confirms this here.)

The full revised TV schedule is below, but check with your broadcaster to see which ones they are actually transmitting!

(Sky don’t appear to be showing all of them: Ireland’s only broadcast game – against Australia – is one missing from Sky’s schedule, for example.)

  • Tuesday 15 March – India v Bangladesh
  • Thursday 17 March – England v Bangladesh
  • Saturday 19 March – India v Pakistan
  • Monday 21 March – Australia v New Zealand
  • Tuesday 22 March – England v India
  • Thursday 24 March – Australia v Sri Lanka
  • Thursday 24 March – Pakistan v Bangladesh
  • Saturday 26 March – Australia v Ireland
  • Sunday 27 March – West Indies v India
  • Monday 28 March – South Africa v Sri Lanka
  • Wednesday 30 March – Semi-Final 1
  • Thursday 31 March – Semi-Final 2
  • Sunday 3 April – Final

NEWS: Berkshire Look To Future With New Coaching Team

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Berkshire have appointed a new coaching team for 2016, led by ex England Test batsman Aftab Habib, assisted by two former Berkshire players: Emma Boswell and Hannah Burr. CRICKETher met up with them this week to find out more…

New Head Coach Aftab Habib played two Tests for England in 1999; and after a successful county cricket career which included a Championship title with Leicestershire and two 1,000-run seasons, he made the move into coaching. He has previously run Women’s & Girls’ development in Buckinghamshire, and more recently coached the Hong Kong national side.

Assistant Coach Emma Boswell meanwhile is recently retired from the Royal Navy, having spent much of the past few years beneath the waves in a nuclear submarine; but still finding time to skipper the Navy’s women’s cricket team. She and fellow Assistant Coach Hannah Burr played together at Berkshire in the late 90s and early 00s, and will now team up again, working with both the 1st XI and the age-group squads.

Aftab Habib, Hannah Burr and Emma Boswell

Aftab Habib, Hannah Burr and Emma Boswell Meet to Plot Berkshire’s Season

Berkshire’s senior squad is likely to have a familiar look to it this season. Though sadly Aussie overseas Crinny Hall won’t be returning, the core of the team which came 4th in last years Women’s County Championship are expected to be reunited for the 2016 campaign.

Beyond the immediate present, Berkshire are looking to build a more sustainable foundation for the women’s game in the county, hoping to emulate some of the success which Sussex have had in this regard under the leadership of Charlotte Burton.

One target is to broaden the base of the women’s game, to the point where there is a genuinely competitive “selection” process for the squads at both senior and age-ground level. This will partly be achieved by strengthening links between the county and the clubs in the area which run girls’ sections.

Another objective is to create the next generation of female coaches for the women’s game, by encouraging all the players in the age-group squads to begin the process of earning their badges by working with the age-groups below them, with the hopes that the next cohort of players graduating from the U19s will have already have achieved their Level 1 and be well on their way to Level 2.

Of course, Berkshire don’t have the luxuries available to some of their rivals with First Class men’s county facilities behind them; but you only have to look at the fate of relegated Nottinghamshire and Lancashire last season to see that sometimes that’s not everything – something that Berkshire’s new team are determined to prove once again in 2016.

Worcestershire Women’s Contracts – A Move Towards A More Professional County Game

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For all the flash and fanfare that the ECB’s new Women’s Cricket Super League will bring, it is the Women’s County Championship which is, and will remain, the bedrock of women’s cricket in England. And it is very-much an amateur affair, in every sense of the word – the players aren’t paid, so they train when they want and they play when they want; and it isn’t unusual to enquire after an absent name on the teamsheet as to whether she is injured, only to be told she is on holiday.

Jason Yip and his team at Worcestershire are looking to change all that.

Worcestershire came third in Div 2 last year, going 4-3 in the 50-over competition; but there was a feeling they could have done better.

“We lost a game to Essex because we weren’t professional about the way that we were going about things. We had a few core problems; but the main one was availability – we went down there with just 11 players, including a fourteen year old and an injured player, because many of our team were unavailable or off on holidays.”

“So we asked the question: Girls, the losses to Essex and Durham cost you promotion to Div 1, so what do you want to do about this?”

What emerged from this discussion was that the players didn’t “feel” professional – taking themselves off on holiday was what they had always done, and they felt justified in this because they weren’t professionals. Might the answer be professional contracts?

Yip is quick to point out that contracts aren’t magic:

“Does a contract make you a professional? No! You are professional because you go through your practice, your performance, your review, and your evolution in a methodical and accountable way.”

But it was nevertheless clear that contracts could be an important symbolic step in making the players “feel” professional, and this was the genesis of what is now being announced by the Worcestershire Cricket Board: professional contracts for the county women’s team – a major first in the English domestic game.

It is important to understand that the contracts themselves aren’t about money. But nevertheless it was recognised that money was a potential issue, and so alongside the contracts, Yip is introducing new community participation programs within the county which offer a part-time employment opportunity for the players, who will be working in a variety of roles – from office and admin to coaching – tailoring their hours to suit their personal situations, such as fitting-in around their university studies, for example.

The pay isn’t stratospheric, but it is “a lot more than they [the players] would earn stacking shelves in Sainsbury’s”; and furthermore the programs themselves are self-financing, rather than being based on ECB grants or charitable donations.

Yip says:

“It is about showing you [the player] that we’ll meet you half-way on a whole number of fronts. In order to progress we need both the individual and the team to move their performance in a positive direction; and we’ll help you through this as much as we can; but with this comes ownership and accountability.”

It is certainly a fantastic time to be involved in the Women’s and Girls’ programs at Worcester, with further fixtures (hopefully plural!) planned for the Rapids’ women’s team at New Road, after history was made there last season; and a drive towards a more valuable level of participation, with girls schemes running across several weeks rather than just one-off sessions. It’s an exciting journey, and we’re already looking forward to catching up with Jason and his team later in the season to see how it is all going!

OPINION: Bradford’s Telegraph & Argus Write WCSL Piece… Manage To Make It All About A Man!

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Bradford’s Telegraph and Argus has written an article on the Women’s Cricket Super League; and it’s one of those pieces that you sometimes just have to call out:

Yes – it might be a Women’s Cricket Super League (the clue is in the word “women’s” chaps!!) but the Telegraph and Argus have managed to make it all about a man – the headline, the (only) photograph and the byline – all focusing on coach Richard Pyrah.

And quite right too: if you start giving women headlines and photographs, they’ll want the vote next… and then where will we be?

(To be fair, the piece does name 3 women… buried in the final paragraph… so really, we don’t know what we are snarking about!!)

WCSL Q&A – Players & TV

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Now that the ECB have announced the WCSL team names, people are starting to get excited, and they’ve got a few questions too. Here’s what we know in answer to some of the things we’ve been asked.

Who will be playing for “my” team?

Officially… we don’t know yet! The ECB have already allocated the 35 Performance (i.e. contracted) and Academy players to the teams – they know who they will be playing for, and so do the team managers and coaches – but the rest of us are waiting for an official announcement over the next couple of weeks.

Will the England players stay with their local county teams?

In most cases, yes… but rumour has it, maybe not all!

What about the “overseas” stars?

Around 60 overseas stars applied for the 18 roster-spots on-offer in WCSL. The hosts (franchises) are now negotiating with the ECB over who will go where. Whilst the England players were allocated by the ECB, this part of the process is host-driven – they say who they want, presumably after weighing up which England players they have (there’s perhaps little point in having Sarah Taylor and Alyssa Healy, for example) and this is then subject to ECB approval.

Where are the other players coming from?

The hosts will be selecting the remaining 5-6 domestic players themselves – probably drawing them mainly from their local county teams, subject to formal ECB approval.

Will it be on TV?

This was always going to be a tricky one. Sky own the rights to all cricket played under the auspices of the ICC in England and Wales; and they jealously guard their exclusivity, so realistically it was Sky or bust – there was never any chance that one of the “free-to-air” broadcasters would be able to show it. And although we understand Sky were reasonably happy with the viewing figures for last summer’s Women’s Ashes, this is seen as a much less commercially enticing proposition, so it seems unlikely that the league stages will be broadcast.

But… wasn’t the WBBL a big TV success?

Yes… but… that was based on “built-in” support for the existing (men’s) franchises and it was paid for by Cricket Australia, who fronted-up the bulk of the broadcasting costs. The WCSL just doesn’t have the budget to do this.

Might the finals be televised?

The finals will be played on a “showcase” day at Chelmsford, and it is rumoured that the ECB are still hoping that Sky might be enticed to get their cameras out for this, but it isn’t a given yet.

The men’s counties stream some games online – could they do this for WCSL?

The streaming of men’s county games is explicitly built into the contract between the ECB and Sky, and is only permitted when there isn’t any other cricket being broadcast at that time. Streaming WCSL would require additional special dispensation from Sky; however, there is a precedent – Sky allowed the ECB to live-stream the England/ India ODI series in 2014 – so it isn’t out of the question.

All answers provided in good faith, to the best of our knowledge.

If we’ve got anything wrong, we will more than happily correct it – you know where we live 😉

BREAKING: Super League Team Names

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Here they are…

  • Lancashire Thunder
  • Loughborough Lightning
  • Southern Vipers [Hampshire etc.]
  • Surrey Stars
  • Western Storm [Somerset, Gloucestershire, etc.]
  • Yorkshire Diamonds

A couple of interesting notes:

  • Lancashire have been allowed to keep their semi-official “County Championship” name, although it isn’t supposed to be the same team, and there is no guarantee in theory that they will have the same players.
  • Surrey will brand themselves as “Surrey” rather than “London”; which will no doubt draw-in supporters of Surrey’s men’s team… but may also exclude cricket fans north of the river!
  • Loughborough have been permitted to extend their existing “Lightning” brand, which is already used by their Superleague [sic. – one word!] netball team.