It’s been the greatest year in the history of women’s elite cricket, according to Cricket Australia, which just released its third Australian Cricket Press For Progress Report.
The report, which tracks Cricket Australia’s aspiration to become a gender equal sport, underpins the sport’s effort to be openly accountable in their progress.
The 2019-2020 period was a history-making time for women’s cricket and will always be remembered for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup final, which was played between Australia and India in front of 86, 174 fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in March.
According to the report, the year has also been marked by an increase of women holding positions on Australian cricket boards, with a milestone of 32 per cent women reached. This is the first time the crucial 30 per cent barrier has been broken and means boards are well on track to meet a 2022 target of at least 40 per cent women.
Now, the ten CEOs of the sport across the country, are putting the call out to their peers in all sporting codes to publicly declare and track progress to creating better opportunities for women and girls. In doing so, they hope to protect and capitalise on the momentum gained for women’s sport, and make other sports accountable.
The cricket CEOs have committed to being transparent about their progress, and not to shy away from sharing the areas where more needs to be done, especially in the face of COVID-19.
“With all sports impacted to varying degrees, we call on our peers to join Australian
Cricket in publicly sharing their commitments to create better opportunities for women and girls in sport. Now is not the time to revert to ways of old,” the CEOs write in the report’s introduction.
“It is an opportunity to reimagine our sector, with decisions to be made that will shape sport in our country for decades to come.”
Interim CEO of Cricket Australia Nick Hockley said the organisation is committed to carrying the momentum for the women’s game forward, despite the new challenges and uncertainty COVID-19 has brought.
“As we move into the fourth year of the Australian Cricket Strategy, this is not time to become complacent. As we continue on the path to being a truly gender equal sport, there is still significant ground to be covered to reach the bold targets we have set ourselves as leaders in this space,” he said.
“We also know the impact of the pandemic will provide challenges like no other this season. However, our commitment to becoming the leading sport for women and girls is undiminished and we are particularly excited about the upcoming launch of our new female participation strategy and the international series against New Zealand.”
Other notable achievements for women and girls included in the report include the first standalone season of the Women’s Big Bash League, that now has its own window in the Australian sporting calendar. The WBBL final sold out for a second year running.
In community cricket, more than 1,600 all-girls cricket teams have been created over the past three years, with women and girls now representing 32 per cent of total cricket participation.
There has also been a focus on developing elite talent pathways for young women and girls in cricket. A key win in this space has been securing an ICC Women’s Under 19 World Cup and a realignment of national underage championships to support this.
Much of the progress that has been made at Cricket Australia has been spearheaded by Sarah Styles, the Head of Female Engagement. Styles will be departing the organisation next week, but her impact for women and girls is evidenced by the many milestones highlighted in the report.
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