Decision to keep Women’s World Cup a standalone event was a game changer: David Richardson

The enormous success of the ICC Women’s World Cup has taken the Women’s cricket to another level. The event was enjoyed by a number of fans around the globe as the viewership for the same surged from the last one. The Indian team led by Mithali Raj did exceedingly well, reaching the finals of the mega event after 11 long years.

They won four games on the trot before losing the next two which almost ended their campaign. A win against the Kiwis led them to the semifinals, where Harmanpreet Kaur played the inning of her life to take India into the finals. On the big night, though, India ended up being short by 9 runs as England were crowned champions for the fourth time in their history. The ICC’s decision to promote the event as a stand alone entity coupled with India’s march into the finals helped the event to be a celebrated success.

“ICC events, like the Women’s World Cup provide a platform for players to step up and inspire a generation and we have certainly seen that this summer. Players like Raj, Knight, Beamont, Lanning and van Niekerk are now household names and role models for young children around the world,” Richardson said over mail.

Surge in overall viewership especially in India, Australia

All 31 games of the tournament were broadcasted live which reached more than 50 million people around the globe. There was 80 % more viewership of the 8-team tournament from the 2013 edition and a stark rise of 47 % in Indian audience and three times increase in defending champions Australia’s audience. The video content of the ICC also had 75 million views.

“I think it (World Cup) has had and will continue to have a significant impact on the women’s game. Because we invested into televising all 31 games it means more people than ever before have had the opportunity to watch the women’s game and become fans. We now have players who have become household names and they can inspire the next generation of players and fans. We need to work with our Members to ensure we’re captialising on the success.”

“Like any ICC event the planning process was thorough but for this event we also focused on how we made it a ‘game changer’ and the key decision there was to broadcast all 31 games for the first time ever giving cricket fans around the world the opportunity to watch the event,” the former South Africa glovesman said.

“India must capitalize on the success’

Indian Women’s Team has received a lot of praises following their marvelous performance at the big stage. The cricketers received various awards after their return to India. The reception of the team was outstanding, something which must be capitalized on according to Richardson.

“All Members have a huge role to play in the growth of the women’s game and of course India can be the trailblazers for this. The reception their team has received both throughout the event and since their return has been phenomenal, they are heroes and we must capitalize on that,” he said.

Eyes on World T20 in 2018 already

After the success of the World Cup, the Women’s World T20 scheduled for next year is the stepping stone in promoting the women’s cricket further. Richardson was keen on taking the women’s cricket to the next level. At the moment, two T20 leagues – Women’s Super League and Women’s Big Bash League – are in existence in England and Australia respectively. We could see more of such leagues in the near future.

The ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 was a stand alone event being held after the Champions Trophy. In 2018 the ICC Women’s World T20 event was always scheduled to be stand-alone and earlier this year the ICC Board took a conscious decision to separate the two events in 2020 in Australia. This is because we strongly felt that the women’s event can stand alone and flourish in what is a mature market and enable the game to grow further being in its own spotlight with prime-time games.”

“We continue to focus on delivering our strategy for growth of the game and that includes women’s cricket. Over the last couple of years, we have invested in the ICC Women’s Championship giving members more opportunities to play each other and the second edition of this gets underway in October. This summer’s World Cup set the standard and we will look to continue building on that in the future,” Richardson signed off.