The Other Twenty-20 World Cup

[mr_malk]

I'm not sure what percentage of my cricket-following friends routinely keep up with Women's Cricket, but I've just been keeping track of the [Edit: semi-final final group stage match] of the Women's T20 World Cup, between England Women and Australia Women, and I have to say, Sarah Taylor is just phenomenal. England Women have quite a wealth of

Comments

[mr_malk]

Coverage of women's cricket in general is pretty damned poor if you ask me. Occasionally, you get a highlights thing crammed into 5 minutes of ah hour of televised cricket highlights mostly concentrating on a men's match that finished early. If a women's international T20 happens to be taking place at the same venue as a county T20, the local radio crew will sometimes condescend to commentate on it.

Granted, there don't seem to be a full complement of truly competitive teams at the top level, although perhaps I'm being unfair...

Claire Taylor was a huge loss... but then again, I can name quite a few real stand-out figures who have retired from women's cricket in the last few years, that you would expect to leave big gaps (Clare (not to be confused with Claire) Taylor and Clare Connor being the first two to spring to mind), but they do seem to have real depth of talent. Which is nice.

I have resolved to make specific efforts to get more involved with youth cricket in the next 12 months, and as my girls are if anything more enthusiastic about it than my son, the opportunities they get to play (not at the top level, I'm not deluded, just in general) will become more of an issue to me. Connected to that though, I'd like it to be easier to show them what the top level of the women's game looks like, because they are genuinely interested.

[undyingking]

I think it's true to say that not all 8 teams at the current tournament were serious contenders. But I think each time it's been held the competition has got slightly wider. You would still pick Eng vs Aus for the final from day 1, but both semis should be tough games, and it wouldn't be a horrifying shock if West Indies or even New Zealand were to sneak through. The Pakistan team has (I think) only recently becoem professional, and they narrowly beat India the other day which must have been a real boost.

It's great that your daughters are interested! -- hope that the highlights on the ECB site are enough to inspire them for the time being…

[mr_malk]

Actually, the fact that India Women went out at the bottom of their (admittedly pretty strong) group was a surprise to me. India would definitely be one of the teams that I would name as contenders, all else being equal. Perhaps over-reliant on one or two stars though.

The ECB highlights vary. The Eng/Aus game doesn't seem to be up there yet, although there is an impressively in-depth post-match press-conference with Charlotte Edwards and Sarah Taylor. This compares to footage of the Eng/Ind women's match which is less than 3 minutes in length, with no commentary of any kind, and frankly looks like the sort of thing a club side might stick on its website if they were short on disk-space. The coverage of the recent ODI and T20s in England was rather better, so it may be related to what footage was made available by the Sri-Lankan cricket authorities. Poor show though. Still. TMS for the finals, which is definitely worth something.

[undyingking]

There's this:
http://www.ecbtv.co.uk/video/20121002/england-women-v-australia-women-highlights_2276248_2936327
but it's pretty hopeless tbh.

[mr_malk]

Yeah, that's the sort of thing I was talking about above. Pathetic, isn't it?!

[undyingking]

both semis should be tough games

Hmm, or maybe not so much. Disappointing showing from both NZ and WI really. Big-match pressure got to them?

[mr_malk]

I thought WI did well in the field, and kept Aus to a managable score (although from their early position, I think the Aussies will not have been too disappointed with their total) WI were never up with the run-rate though, and every time they tried to push it, they lost a wicket. NZ on the other hand were just stifled from the word go. 94 was never going to be enough against England's batting lineup, and they barely had to break into a trot to chase the Kiwis down.

Looking forward to the final though. Both teams should be up for it, and as their game a few days ago was close and relatively high scoring, it should be a good one. The Aussies would have to play very well to roll England though. I think the England Women will be a lot sharper in the field in the final than they were in that match.