Monday, February 18, 2013

15 Things We've Learned From This Women's World Cup


1. Trying to predict the result of a women's cricket match is now as impossible as predicting anything the Pakistan men's team will do, ever.

2. Australia's Southern Stars are indisputably the best team in the world (I write this through gritted teeth). On the back of their victory in the women's Ashes in early 2011 and the World T20 a few months back, they are now number one in all formats of the game. And after the way they've played in this tournament (more gritted teeth), they deserve it.

3. The BCCI doesn't give a damn about women's cricket.

4. The West Indies have arrived. Sure, they'd caused a few upsets before this tournament. But they've now beaten two of the top three teams in the world in the 50-over format for the first time, and fought their way to a World Cup final. We'll see them in another one before long.

5. Eshani Kaushalya's name. Enough said.

6. Charlotte Edwards is a legend. She's now made more ODI runs than anyone else ever in the women's game and has equalled the highest number of centuries ever scored by a woman in ODIs. When she does go, England will miss her. A lot.

7. It's possible to play in the team that finishes fourth in the tournament and still outclass everyone in the 3 teams above you. But only if your name is Suzie Bates.

8. It's also possible to be 17 years old, bowl like a superstar and look like a supermodel. (And make a ton of women the world over hopelessly jealous.)

9. If you support your team financially they do well. If you don't, they get knocked out even when the tournament is being played in home conditions.

10. Choking happens in women's cricket too.

11. If you give it enough exposure, people will realise that women's cricket is just as entertaining and just as much of a joy to watch as men's cricket. End of story.

12. Unfortunately, according to the ICC, it is still an either/or decision between securing TV coverage of women's cricket and securing local publicity. Or, in other words, it's not their fault (almost) no one showed up to watch.

13. The Super Sixes format is only of use to people who enjoy conspiracy theories. (No, Australia didn't lose on purpose. Get over it.)

14. True equality means simultaneous rubbish umpiring in both the women's and the men's game.

15. Ellyse Perry doesn't really need two legs.

5 comments:

  1. I think the ICC folks made a good call in making Holy Ferling 12th Man in their Team of the Tournament. I can see why she got a lot of attention. (Believe me... I can SEE!) But I can also see why Australia didn't risk her in the final - alongside the superstar stuff, there were a few other moments when it looked like she didn't know one end of the ball from the other. She'll be a daemon in 2017 though! I wonder if she'll come to England this summer? (Or will school/ exams get in the way?)

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  2. Yeah,yeah another day another english blogger blaiming the bcci for all the faults in their life.No wonder ecb losing the veto power in icc still hurts them.As for the womens team okay they didn't do so well and at home.So what ?? How many times has the men's world cup happened in england and the ecb team won it ? A big fat zero.Take that !!!!

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    1. Well, it's fair to blame BCCI..England,Aus and NZ are paid better..they get better attention and also their respective boards organize plenty of domestic matches and series for girls...just google and you will find the truth...BCCI hardly organizes domestic series for women...its one and only railways which does that and only railways have offered jobs to these ladies.... They are paid meagerly...

      Visit BCCI website...just search for Poonam Raut and c her b'day...its
      Born : Oct 14, 2011 India
      Current age : 1 years 130 days

      also in the photo or video icon look for women fotos...none...BCCI took over women cricket since 2005 nd till now they hav no fotos to upload...while the website is flooded with men cricket details,fotos,videos nd bla bla bla...this is the way they treat women cricketers...

      Also before this world cup,Indian women team was made to play 2 or 3 series..tat too one in the beginning of 2012 nd other at the end...how much experience one can gain from so less matches..how r they supposed to maintain their momentum??

      Just bcoj this article is written by an English women ,doesn't mean she is taking out her grudes..sometimes ppl shud look inside them nd find out mistakes...rather than wait for others to point it out..

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  3. Syd, notwithstanding Ferling's occasional control issues, she still took 9 wickets at 10.55 (er: 3.65) in 4 games. Compared to Brunt (12 @19.08 er: 3.80) in 7 games and Colvin (9 @23.55 er: 3.39).

    And none of them deserved to be in the side of Sthalekar (128 runs @ 25.6, 9 wickets @20.33 er: 2.71).

    As with the selection of Kaushalya, there is a strong bias towards games England played in, and the players that played well against them. I suspect most of the selection committee didn't see as much of the world cup as they ought. (They clearly didn't get down to Cuttack to see Marizanne Kapp; another with a strong statistical case)

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  4. @Russ - fair point. As we say in England: 'the table doesn't lie'. (Though it sort-of does re. Hol-Col, who isn't about wickets.)

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