After two excellent semi-finals the climax to the tournament provided more fantastic entertainment with the result in doubt to the last ballIt is the women who know how to enthral. After two riveting World Cup semi‑finals elsewhere here was a final that had a capacity crowd nervously glued to their seats one moment, then leaping out of them in delight yet still never knowing which side would prevail until the final ball was bowled. Somehow the men’s games this summer have been disappointingly one-sided by comparison.This was not the decorous Lord’s of seasons past. The fans were chanting and gasping at every twist and turn. In the final overs each ball provoked raucous cheers from one set of fans or...
Women’s cricket has made overdue forward steps since the last time England hosted the World Cup in 1993 and the tournament feels in robust shapeWhen the Australian fast bowler Cathryn Fitzpatrick retired in 2007, having enjoyed a successful 16 years of international cricket, she was asked where she sees the women’s game in 10 years. “On TV,” was her reply.It was the type of no-nonsense response you would expect from someone who took 180 ODI wickets with the sort of pace that still strikes fear in those playing the game. But not even in Fitzpatrick’s wildest dreams could she have envisaged that 2017 would bring the first Women’s World Cup in which all matches will be broadcast. “I was just...
At heart, Heyhoe Flint, the women’s cricket pioneer who died recently, did not dream of overturning the establishment – she wanted to be part of itWhen she was a girl, Rachael Heyhoe Flint used to play cricket with her brother and his friends in the street outside their house. One day, midway through a particularly intense match, they were interrupted by a policeman who said they were blocking the road. He took down all their names and addresses in his little book. All, that is, except hers. “This was too much for me,” she remembered years later, “I reached up, tapped him on the shoulder and pointed out that I had been playing cricket, too.” The policeman looked down and...
Captain Charlotte Edwards left and Tammy Beaumont seized her chance, with the emergence of new faces leading nicely into the Kia Super LeagueYou may have seen them on your commute to work: vibrant posters of five stars of international women’s cricket. Flanked by Suzie Bates (New Zealand), Dan van Niekerk (South Africa), Stafanie Taylor (West Indies) and Ellyse Perry (Australia) stands the England captain, Heather Knight, in the foreground. “It was actually a bit of a shock when I saw a larger-than-life version of myself,” Knight admits. While scattered sparsely around London’s 270 tube stations, there happens to be one at Knight’s local stop, providing a constant test of the limits of her ingrained humility. Eventually, when out in London with...