Women's World Cup deserves better than fixture farce

Preparations for the tenth Women’s Cricket World Cup in India have descended into farce, following a BCCI decision to make late changes to the schedule. Just a week before the opening matches new venues have not yet been announced to replace Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium and MIG Club Ground. As well as undoubtedly affecting the teams as they prepare for a tournament set to be more competitive than any previous ICC women’s event, there is also a great deal of uncertainty for broadcasters. Test Match Special will be broadcasting all of England’s matches live for the first time, and the Wankhede was the scheduled venue for the marquee televised games during the first week. There must now be some question marks over whether the matches will be televised at all.

And the reasons for switching the venues are highly questionable. The Wankhede Stadium is being taken out of use primarily to allow Mumbai to use it for the Ranji Trophy final. Whilst its possible that crowds will flock in to see Sachin Tendulkar playing first-class cricket in his home city for quite possibly the last time, an ICC event which has been in the schedule for years should surely take precedence. Admittedly, the Wankhede was not an ideal venue to be chosen in the first place: for this tournament it would have been best to choose smaller venues which see less cricket, and where attendances might be higher. Meanwhile, there is little sense in the decision to prevent the Pakistan team playing in certain cities. Less than a month ago their male counterparts toured India with no trouble: now it seems that a few unhelpful protestors are being allowed to stop a Pakistani team going to Mumbai.

This uncertainty really isn’t good enough for a global event being hosted in a cricket mad country. In light of recent political developments in India, where the gang rape and murder of a student in Delhi led to mass protests against Indian attitudes towards women, this tournament should have been a perfect opportunity to demonstrate what women can do. The standard of women’s cricket is constantly improving, and on the basis of recent results this will also be the most competitive women’s event in years. England and Australia will as ever go in as favourites, but England haven’t always  been successful in Asia, and Australia’s recent series with New Zealand was close fought. The hosts must also have a chance, possessing Mithali Raj, one of the world’s leading female batters. With her classical style Raj has struggled to make an impact in Twenty20 events, but is one of the most prized wickets in ODIs.

Some people are likely to dismiss the women’s game as a low quality irrelevance amongst the big-hitters of the IPL and the male international game. Of course, it is indisputable that the quality is not the same as in the men’s game. But that shouldn’t stop people from watching and enjoying it. As a prime example of how sport which isn’t elite male sport can be enjoyed, just look at the London Paralympics last summer. After nervously looking in for the first couple of days, people quickly started seeing what the athletes could do rather than what they couldn’t. Whilst the Olympics were always likely to go well, the Paralympics were the success story of the summer, transforming perceptions of both disabled sport and disability in general. The same attitude should be taken towards women’s cricket. Whilst no female player can yet hit the ball like a Chris Gayle or MS Dhoni, or bowl as fast as Dale Steyn, that doesn’t mean that their skills are necessarily any less worth watching. Lydia Greenway fields as well as just about any player (male or female) in the world, Sarah Taylor’s batting is beautiful to watch, and a lot of the spinners on show could teach a few male cricketers a thing or two.

I do believe that this tournament could yet be a big success. If the Indian public can be galvanised to turn out at least for the matches in which the host team is playing it will make the tournament feel like an event - there must be little more annoying for international performers than playing in echoey stadiums in their home country. Meanwhile, with little major international cricket scheduled over the next few weeks the cricketing media, at least in England, are likely to give the tournament some column space. But at the moment the administrators are allowing the female game’s showpiece occasion to turn to farce. The players and supporters deserve better than that.