No takers for women’s cricket despite strides
CENTURION: EVEN AS AUTHORITIES HAVE CLUBBED GAMES TOGETHER, GIVING OUT ONE TICKET FOR THE DOUBLEHEADER, THE STANDS IN WOMEN’S GAME HAVE BEEN EMPTY
One rule here sums up why women’s cricket is still subservient to men’s cricket and it will take a while before if it comes out of its shadows.
Any request to the women’s team manager Tripti Bhattacharya for an interview with India women cricketers over the growth of women’s cricket is being diverted to the media manager of the men’s team. It is the protocol, says Tripti Bhattacharya, the manager of the women’s team. “We have to follow it.”
The South Africa women have no such restrictions and the decision is made by the lady media manager of the women’s team. It should be noted that the media manager of the South Africa men’s team is also a lady.
At a time when there is talk about growing significance of women’s cricket, especially after how cricketers like Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Veda Krishnamurthy became household names thanks to their performance at the World Cup which was watched by over 20,000 people at the Lord’s and millions around the world on TV, especially at home, this looks very odd.
Over these last two women’s games, one thing is quite clear --there aren’t many takers for women’s cricket.
Even as the authorities have clubbed the two games together, giving out one ticket for the double-header, the stands in women’s game have been completely empty.
On Sunday at Wanderers in Johannesburg, while the men’s game was full of fans, mostly Indians, the women’s game earlier in the day was played out in the midst of near-empty stands. It perhaps showed that despite all the hype few Indian fans actually bother to come down to watch the match.
It is a similar case with South Africa women’s cricket although the Proteas fans have been outnumbered by Indian fans in the men’s game too.
After Sunday’s game, South Africa women’s skipper Dane Van Niekerk talked about how the game is changing.
She pointed out that knocks like the one played by Chloe Tryon, in which she hammered a six that cleared the men’s boundary by a distance, will bring in a lot of fans. Her pace bowler Shabnim Ismael too revved up some pace, at one point hurting Veda Krishnamurthy with a quick delivery.
England, Australia, South Africa, India and Pakistan all have central contracts for women.
Though there has been criticism that women get very little as compared to men there is a feeling that the criticism is unjustified as there isn’t yet much interest in the women’s game.
The last three women’s games of this series were televised only because they have been clubbed with men’s games. Heavy production costs don’t allow all women’s games to be televised.