England’s World Cup win: The transformation of women’s cricket
England’s World Cup win: The transformation of women’s cricket: If you’re going to win the Women’s World Cup, it might as well be the biggest ever staged. When Heather Knight got her hands on the ultimate prize in women’s cricket on an emotional Sunday afternoon at Lord’s, it marked a triumph not only for England, but the sport itself.
For Knight, kissing the silverware is a world away from four years ago, when she was clinging on to a place in an England side that failed to reach the final.
But her personal transformation, and her team under coach Mark Robinson, is nothing compared to that of the women’s game from a 2013 World Cup that was barely befitting of the name.
Held in India, mainly Mumbai, it hardly registered with the locals in a nation where cricket is loved like no other.
Its very staging came under threat over a row about the presence of the Pakistan team, who were eventually shifted to the other side of the country – 1,000 miles away in Cuttack – and forced to sleep at the Barabati Stadium.
The women were due to play at Mumbai’s iconic Wankhede Stadium, only to be evicted to make way for men’s matches. Facilities at venues were shoddy and publicity non-existent.
Although global TV audiences were up, matches were played to near empty stadiums, despite entry being free of charge.
“It was shocking in India,” former England batter Ebony Rainford-Brent told the media. “In a cricket-crazy country, you would expect to see something – posters, adverts – but there was nothing.
“The only people in the grounds were a few family members. It was almost like the cricket wasn’t happening.”
Now, the World Cup doesn’t just seem like a different event, but women’s cricket is an entirely different sport.
The final at Lord’s was a fitting conclusion to a tournament that has catapulted women’s cricket into the national and international consciousness.
What began with a marketing campaign on the London Underground and in cinemas ended in a sold-out Lord’s and the most-watched game of women’s cricket in history.
Across the tournament, all matches were shown live for the first time, with more than 50 million watching the group games alone. Over the course of the event, the International Cricket Council expects an 80% increase in worldwide viewership.
More than one million users followed England’s final victory on the on different websites, while the hosts’ nerve-shredding semi-final victory over South Africa was also front-page news. In the host cities – Bristol, Leicester, Derby and Taunton – 30,000 people visited fan zones.
“Everything you could think of to promote the tournament has been done,” added Rainford-Brent. “The investment and energy that has gone into has been incredible. To finish with a packed Lord’s ticked the final box.”
The audience is a new one, too, riding a wave that perhaps began with last year’s launch of the Twenty20 Super League, a competition that attracted an average attendance in excess of 1,000, larger than the inaugural season of its football equivalent in 2011.
At the World Cup, 50% of ticket-buyers were women, while 31% of those in attendance were under the age of 16. About 13,000 tickets were given away to schools and every child at Lord’s on Sunday received a plastic bat as a souvenir of the incredible final.
Marie, from Surrey, was at the game with seven-year-old daughter Lucy and said: “Lucy’s dad played cricket but she has become more aware that women play too.
“We’ve heard a lot about women’s cricket on the radio and now she is more aware that there are opportunities for her in the future if she wants to play sport.”
Tom, from London, brought daughters Connie, five, and Cissie, three, to their first game of cricket.
“I thought it would be a fun game for them, with lots of entertainment going on around the edges,” he said.
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