NB: This is an
edited version of my earlier post in the light of a conversation with
Adam Mountford (TMS producer) earlier this morning. I removed the
original of my own volition.
First Twenty20:
England beat New Zealand by 8 wickets (with 50 balls remaining).
Scorecard here.
England have just
whopped the Kiwis by 8 wickets, having bowled them out for 60. It's
the kind of performance I had in mind when I wrote my latest Cordon
piece, on the recent frustrating decline of New Zealand Women.
I'm still trying to work out what the difference was between the
England of the 3 ODIs and the England of last night; I'm sure Martin
Davies will have some thoughts. (Although if he or anyone else
wants to suggest that it was due to dropping Jenny Gunn, they can
think again.)
What have we learned
from last night, though? I'm not sure very much that we didn't already
know. England's best bowler at the moment is Heather Knight by a
country mile (as Syd
Egan has already pointed out). Anya Shrubsole can bowl like a
tigress when she wants to. England, and especially Sarah Taylor, bat
well when they come in and aren't under pressure to make a big total.
The middle order weren't tested like they were in the ODIs.
There is one thing that
needs saying, though, and I'm going to say it: The media coverage of
this tour thus far has, bar TMS's efforts, been appallingly bad.
Cricinfo has no
ball-by-ball coverage whatsoever and posts the scorecards only after
the match has finished. Ditto BBC Sport.
Sky have wall-to-wall
coverage of the men's World Cup for the next 2 months. They are
making a song and dance of the fact that they are covering every ball
of the women's Ashes this summer, and yet they have made no attempt
to provide any televised coverage of this series whatsoever, not even
providing updates from the ground – which could surely have been
done fairly easily?
There are no members of
the written press at the games at all (despite the fact
that New Zealand must currently be absolutely crawling with cricket
media). Martin
Davies, an independent blogger, has been the only person in the
press box at every game. Written coverage on Cricinfo has quite
obviously been done entirely from the scorecards.
And there is no live
stream of any of the games – not even from one static camera behind
the bowler's arm, as we had during England's tour of the West Indies
in October 2013.
Last year, after the
World Twenty20, I wrote a
piece for the Cordon about the decision not to broadcast any of
the group games. When are we going to stop missing out on the best,
most iconic, and most exciting moments in women's cricket, I asked?
The answer appears to be: not any time soon. It is all incredibly
frustrating for fans of the women's game.
The efforts of the BBC
to cover the series should be applauded. Of course it's disappointing
not to have ball-by-ball coverage of every game – but as Adam
Mountford, TMS producer, explains: “We have gone out of our way to
provide as much coverage of as many games as we possibly can.
Unfortunately some of the matches conflict with the men's World Cup,
and we have a deal with Radio Sport New Zealand and ABC to cover
all of the tournament matches. This was agreed over a year ago,
before the women's international schedule was announced.”
“But despite the
clash, and the fact that our team to cover this World Cup is half the
size of the one which covered the last men's World Cup in 2011, we
have worked incredibly hard to make sure that members of our
commentary team were present for the first few games of the series,
to provide ball-by-ball coverage and live updates.”
It is part of a
longstanding commitment by the BBC to showcase the women's game in
recent years: we have had coverage of every ball of the last three
Ashes series; and they are the only UK news organisation to have
provided coverage of the last three women's World Cups. Not just
that, but their coverage has been excellent – some of the best the
women's game has ever had. Charles Dagnall in particular, despite
freely admitting that he knew very little about women's cricket
before the 2013 World Cup in India, has proved an insightful and
entertaining commentator who, most importantly, has done his homework
when it comes to knowledge of the game and the players.
The problem is that the
BBC's commitment is not being mirrored by other broadcasters. It is
also not being backed up by the cricket boards, who should surely be
providing live streams of matches which are not being televised. If
we want more people to follow and care about women's cricket, then it
needs to happen, and sooner rather than later.
During tonight's
Twenty20, the
announcement came through that Cricket Australia will definitely
be running a Women's Big Bash League, alongside the men's version,
over the 2015/16 season. This is extremely exciting news. Yet if the
tournament is to be a success, it will depend partly on it gaining
coverage in the Australian and international media. On the basis of
this series so far, I'm concerned.
The BBC has led the
way. Others need to follow.
