Competitive Women's Cricket
The popularity of men’s contests in football, hockey, and cricket has historically been higher than that of women’s tournaments in these sports. On the other hand, this is not a valid reason to avoid doing research on the history of women’s cricket. It is equally as entertaining and thrilling to see women compete in contests. All that is required is to have a look at a few of the most memorable episodes. This article provides a concise summary of all the most notable moments from the competitive women’s cricket.
Competitive Women’s Cricket:History
Cricket is a versatile team sport. Both men and women can play it. The Reading Mercury reported the first recorded women’s match on July 26, 1745:
“On July 26, 1745, the greatest cricket match between the 11 Bramley Handmaids and the 11 Hambledon Handmaids took place near Guildford. The women from Bramley had blue ribbons on their heads, while the women from Hambledon had red ones. They ran and caught as well as men do. The Hambledon handmaidens won the match with a score of 127: 119”
The White Heather Club was the first recorded competitive women’s cricket club, and it was established in Yorkshire in the year 1887. Mr. E. Michael, a French-American businessman, established the Original English Lady Cricketers in the year 1889. The squad was comprised of thirty members. This women’s club was the first to visit the United Kingdom with exhibition matches from 1890 to 1892. There were around sixty games that were played throughout the nation during this time period, and each game received a significant amount of attention (an average of two thousand people attended each game). Regrettably, the manager of the team took all of the money that the girls had earned from the exhibition matches.
In Australia, the first women’s cricket league started in 1894. Almost at the same time, in the city of Port Elizabeth, South Africa, the Pioneers Cricket Club, a women’s team was formed.
Competitive Women’s Cricket: International Games
Women’s cricket became more and more popular every year. The game was distributed in many countries. Because of this, to coordinate and generalize all women’s cricket, in February 1958, the International Women’s Cricket Council was formed between the sports associations of 5 leading countries:
- Australia;
- England;
- New Zealand;
- South Africa;
- The Netherlands.
The IWCC lasted 47 years until it merged with the International Cricket Council in 2005. It was done to form a single cricket organization for its management and development.
The first-ever women’s test game was played in December 1934. Brisbane, located in Australia, was the place of the match between the national teams of England and Australia. The game was won by England by a score of nine wickets. After that, women from New Zealand joined them the next year.
There are ten nations that are now participating in the competitive women’s cricket. Throughout the course of time, the number of participating countries has increased. There are around 141 women’s test matches scheduled for the year 2020, which is a very disappointing number. The International Cricket Council (ICC) gave Test and One-Day International (ODI) status to all full-fledged women’s teams in the year 2021. The schedule for upcoming test matches may be found on the official website of the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Since 1973, women have been competing in the One Day International tournaments (by the way, this format has become more popular than the test or first-class format). The ODI Women’s World Championship also started in 1973. In 48 years, it was held 11 times. In total, the international tournament was won by three teams:
- England – 4 times, the last in 2017;
- Australia – 6 times, most recently in 2013;
- New Zealand – once in 2000.
The next draw will take place in the New Zealand city of Christchurch in 2022.
Since 2004, women have competed in Twenty20 International tournaments. The popularity of this status is growing every season. In 2009 the 1st T20 World Championship was played. Currently, seven international draws have been held:
- England won the championship in 2009;
- Australia became the champion five times (the last in 2020);
- The West Indies won 1 victory in 2016.
The next T20I World Championship is scheduled for 2023.
How do women compete inside a single country? One such example is the establishment of a brand-new Women’s Big Bash League in Australia in the year 2015, which has eight teams and a Twenty20 status. Since the year 2016, England and Wales have been hosting the Women’s Cricket Super League, which consists of six teams and has a Twenty20 status. Additionally, the competitive women’s cricket may be seen in India in the year 2018. Over the course of the Women’s Twenty20 Challenge, there are three teams competing.
As an aside, the England and Wales Cricket Board made the announcement in 2018 that they will be establishing a new competition called The Hundred. In order to accommodate COVID-19, the date of the competition was subject to continuous change. It has been said on the official website of The Hundred that the first draw will take place in the year 2021, more specifically between the dates of July 21 and August 21.
