Women’s Cricket: Three Big Announcements in Last Four Days

Cricketing fraternity would be really delighted the way recent events are unfolding at the international as well as national level. A joint bid made by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and International Cricket Board (ICC) for the inclusion of Women’s T20 Cricket in the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games has been approved by the majority of the associations.

Which means, Cricket will be among the 18 other Sports at Common Wealth Games 2022. The only time cricket was featured in CWG was back in 1998, where South Africa (Men) won the gold. It was a 50-over affair then.

Manu Sawhney, Chief Executive of the International Cricket Council lauded this move. “This is a truly historic moment for women’s cricket and for the global cricket community, who were united in their support of this bid," he said.

Riding on the success of recently concluded 2018 Women’s World T20, It was a great occasion to take the game globally with a better vision. Inclusion in Common Wealth Games will surely assist the game grow on many fronts. Like, global recognition to the game, women’s participation in sports, future role models and a dress rehearsal for the Olympic medal will certainly be at stake at Birmingham 2022 Common Wealth Games.

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#2 A New Cricket Stadium and Day-Night matches for the Women’s Cricket

It’s very rarely that women’s team play cricket under the floodlights. Last time the Indian team played against England in 2018 Women’s World T20 semis, they lost quite convincingly. To say the least, they aren’t accustomed to the norm.

Talking about the new developments, BCCI, the national governing body for Cricket in India, has announced a five- match T20I series against South Africa Women in the month of September to be played under the floodlights. The South Africa Women tour of India will comprise of 5 T20Is and 3 ODIs. The five-match T20I series is scheduled to start on September 25 and run until October 5. Dates are yet to confirm by BCCI for the ODI series which will be played at Baroda (Vadodara).

Out of five, three T20I matches will not clash with the men's

Struggling to get international status Lalabhai Contractor Stadium owned by the Surat District Cricket Association, is finally ready to host Women’s five-match T20I series. A new venue for the International cricket and a great relief for the cricket fans in Surat.

Also Read: Significant Rise in Performance after One-day debacle : Saurashtra Women

#3 Poonam Yadav Nominated for Arjuna Award

Joining the elite list of former and current women cricketers, Poonam Yadav, India’s pint-size magician described by Cricinfo, is nominated for prestigious Arjuna Award. Apart from her, Indian all-rounder, Ravindra Jadeja is the only cricketer who is also nominated.

She has been a consistent performer for India across the formats. Ranking 3rd in the T20Is and 9th in ODIs bowling chart. She was the joint highest wicket-taker for India with Radha Yadav in the 2018 Women’s World T20. Poonam was the highest wicket taker in ODI series earlier this year when Indian Women toured New Zealand and just a wicket short of the highest wicket-taker in the T20I series.

Poonam Yadav bowling during a match (Photo: Cricinfo)

Soon, she will be joining the rich-list of Arjuna awardees which comprises of Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur, Anjum Chopra, Jhulan Goswami, Anju Jain, and Indian Captain, Mithali Raj.