Our girls on the front foot
EACH SATURDAY The Chronicle team talks about the big issues in sport locally, nationally and internationally. Glen, Jason and Sean share some of their views in the hope it will generate some discussion among The Chronicle’s readership.
Tell us what you think about today’s topic by emailing jason.gibbs@thechronicle.com.au or send an SMS to
0437 875 203. Today The Chronicle sport team shares their thoughts on how Cricket Australia should act following the success of our national team in the Twenty20 Women’s World Cup.
JASON GIBBS: The success of the Twenty20 Women’s World Cup only proves what we already knew - Cricket Australia needs to do more for women’s cricket.
During the early stages of the tournament, I had some fairly major concerns.
The scheduling of matches was odd - Australia versus New Zealand on a Monday afternoon at Junction Oval being a prime example.
But in the end, the quality of the product shone through.
More than 86,000 people packed the MCG for the final a record for a standalone women’s sporting event in
Australia and the largest crowd at a women’s cricket game globally.
When the Socceroos qualified for the 2006 World Cup there was a massive spike in junior player numbers and there’s no doubt the success of our female cricketers is driving similar growth.
CA needs to strike while the iron is red hot. GLEN McCULLOUGH:
Officials need to jump in as quickly as possible and get as much traction as possible out of the Aussie girls’ wonderful World Cup achievement.
I’m the first to admit 10 years ago I wouldn’t even think of watching a women’s cricket match at any level.
In fairness it was still early days for a our female players, but in reality that was obvious — it was ordinary. But look at them now. I was glued to the telly on Sunday night and revelled in the talent and class of our girls. I’m particularly impressed with the image players from all nations are portraying for their sport and for me that is probably the most appealing aspect of the game’s evolution.
Players like that absolute star Elysse Perry appear wonderful role models and what kid wouldn’t want to be her, not to mention the impression the girls are creating with mums and dads. Go girls!
SEAN TEUMA: The World Cup could’ve been a complete flop, and the answer still would’ve been that Australia should invest more in women’s cricket.
There’s no doubt that things have improved at a grassroots level, but there is still a lot that can be done to help build up the profile of the women’s game.
The success in terms of a monster crowd at the MCG and strong television ratings should resonate with Cricket Australia officials that people are interested in watching the game and making the effort to get out to games.
This carries on from the success of the WBBL which continues to build, and I think the more money invested into creating the next generation of women’s elite talent, the better.