Women set to get down to business
When the White Ferns board their flight to Ireland at the end of the month, they’ll do so in style.
New Zealand Cricket has upgraded its travel policies for its women’s cricketers, meaning any long-haul travel will now be in business class.
The Black Caps have flown business class to overseas matches for years, but as recently as November, when they played Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates, the White Ferns flew economy.
Recently, NZ Cricket’s travel policy has changed as part of wider improvements following Sarah Beaman’s damning 2016 Women and Cricket report.
‘‘After the Women and Cricket report came out, we’ve been attempting to improve engagement with women’s cricketers,’’ NZ Cricket spokesman Richard Boock said.
‘‘[The travel policy changed] in the past few months. It’s in line with our increased investment in women’s cricket.’’
Beaman’s independent report had found 90 per cent of cricket clubs did not have women’s only teams, and more than half of clubs didn’t offer women’s cricket at all.
The organisation was urged to improve the number of women in governance positions, and lift the number of women in coaching and umpiring.
Beaman told Radio New Zealand in November that NZ Cricket had ‘‘responded incredibly well’’ in the year since the report. But that month, the White Ferns had quietly travelled to Dubai in the economy cabin.
While the White Ferns’ memorandum of understanding does not require the team to fly business class, it’s an improvement NZ Cricket has now committed to. The news has come as a surprise to the White Ferns players.
Allrounder Amy Satterthwaite found out about the upgraded flights when contacted by Stuff, and said it was ‘‘fantastic’’ news for the players. ‘‘Flying business will really help when we get to the other side. We’ve got some tall timber in the team and it will be very beneficial for them to have that extra room.’’
Satterthwaite was one of the White Ferns players who flew business to the Women’s Cricket World Cup in 2017, at the expense of the International Cricket Council, and said the benefits were huge.
The ICC only sent the women’s teams to the World Cup in business class because of an uproar over its treatment of women’s teams during the 2016 Twenty20 World Cup.
For that tournament, men’s sides were sent business class while women were in economy. After NZ Cricket and other nations complained, the ICC vowed to provide business class flights for both sexes to ICC tournaments.