Women's Ashes - Points of Order

The schedule for next summer's Women's Ashes has been announced, together with some significant tweaks to the format.

So... here are the deets:

Date	Format	Venue	Win	Draw
July 21	ODI	The County Ground, Taunton	2	1
July 23	ODI	Bristol County Ground	2	1
July 26	ODI	New Road, Worcester	2	1
August 11-14	Test	The Spitfire Ground, Canterbury	4	2
August 26	T20	Essex County Ground, Chelmsford	2	N/A
August 28	T20	County Ground, Hove	2	N/A
August 31	T20	SWALEC Stadium, Cardiff	2	N/A

There's actually quite a lot to digest here, so let's break it down!

It's great that the schedule has been announced so early - fans do need time to make their travel arrangements and book their hotels, so it is fantastic that the ECB are at last recognizing that their are women's cricket fans who want to plan ahead!

Not only that, but all of the games are taking place at proper county grounds, designed to cater for bigger crowds. (Sorry Wormsley - you are lovely, but...) Sadly, there's no Lords on the agenda; but you can't have everything I guess; and I accept that there are some draw-backs (not least financial ones) to half-opening the Home of Cricket for women's games, even if it is The Ashes.

Now on to the changes in format!

Firstly, the Test has been moved to the middle of the series. My understanding is that this was mostly driven by TV scheduling, and the need to find a window which didn't clash with any of the men's games; but I think it is nonetheless a positive move in terms of not front-loading the Big Points.

And secondly... about those Big Points: the Test will now be worth just 4 points, rather than the previous 6. The value of the Test will be argued long and hard by fans, as it has been by the administrators, so I'm told! And the bottom line is that most of us agree that the Test probably should be worth 6 points "philosophically"; but practically this makes the series too unbalanced and I think 4 is therefore a good compromise.

Finally, SKY have announced that the whole caboodle - Test and all - will be broadcast live and in full. I'm not SKY's biggest fan, but you have to give them some credit here, as well as the ECB for nudging away at them to take up the rights they've paid for and give the game the exposure it deserves.

South Africa Face India Test

The BCCI have announced that in addition to their Women's International Championship ODI face-off, South Africa and India will play a one-off Test this November.

This will be the first time since 2007 that a women's Test has been played which didn't involve either England or Australia, so it is pretty big news - women's Test cricket looked to be in a critical condition two years ago, but the efforts of the EBC/CA have breathed new life into it, and now the BCCI/CSA are following-suit.

Of course, whether the BCCI's motivations are entirely altruistic is a question which sometimes has to be asked!

Were I a cynical man, I might suggest that India stand to benefit most directly from playing their strongest format first, and tiring the Women Proteas small squad out over 4 days, prior to their crucial 12-Pointer* WIC series.

But I'm not a cynical man... not today anyway! So for now, let's just celebrate the addition of another Test to the women's international calendar, and wish good luck to all involved!

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* Although only 6 points are a stake, because India and South Africa are effectively battling it out for 4th place in the WIC, there are 6 points more for the winner, but also 6 points fewer for the loser - hence the term "12-Pointer". (See here for a definition of the more traditional term "6-pointer" as applied to football.)

South African Stars to Play Domestic Cricket in England in 2015

South African all-rounder Dane van Niekerk will play domestic cricket in England next summer.

Dane van Niekerk will be our 2015 overseas. As an opening bat/ leg spinner she is one of SA's brightest young talents pic.twitter.com/DqNgkkZD1j
— JG Meakins Women (@JGMeakinsWomen) November 1, 2014

21-year-old DvN is one of the brightest up-coming talents in world cricket right now. A genuine all-rounder, who would be picked for South Africa on her batting or her leg-spin bowling alone, she shone in the T20s in England back in September, top-scoring for the Women Proteas, with over 100 runs in the three-match series, and bowling beautifully, getting real turn and healthy economy.

Her scorecards from South Africa's recent series in Sri Lanka were similarly exciting. With TWO Man of the Match performances - one a 4/17; and the other a 70 not-out, off just 68 balls - she basically took home the T20 silverware single-handed!

And... rumor has it that DvN isn't the only South African star heading to England next summer either - more on that one soon hopefully, when it's official too!

Equal Prize Money Is The Right Thing To Do...

... Even If It Is "Economically Absurd"!

Prior to yesterday's Women In Sport conference at Lord's, The Boss tweeted:

"Equal prize money for our sport is economically absurd but might be overdue for others."

Overlooking the "special pleading", is she right?

The BBC's recent survey of the prize money "gender gap" doesn't show cricket in a particularly great light - the World Cup (sic!) winners get £47 thousand... the Men's World Cup winners get £2.5 million!

Would it be "economically absurd" to close this gap? It is certainly a BIG gap, so I guess closing it might be considered "absurd"... but surely it's something we should, at the very least, have an aspiration to move towards.

It is worth saying at this point that I'm NOT arguing that Lottie be paid the same salary as Alistair Cook (sorry Lottie!) nor still (as some have suggested) that there be some bizarre (and frankly unworkable) requirement to equalize their sponsorship deals.

But equalizing the PRIZE MONEY could be done over time - where there is a will, there is a way; and (as I suspect The Boss knows too, in her heart of hearts) it would be The Right Thing To Do™.

West Indies & Australia Top Women's International Championship

With the first round of matches now completed, it's West Indies and Australia leading the way in the Women's International Championship.

TEAM	POINTS
West Indies	6
Australia	6
England	5
South Africa	3
Sri Lanka	3
India	1
Pakistan	0
New Zealand	0

It's early days, of course, but it is already looking like the really interesting battle will be for the final, 4th place, World Cup qualifying slot.

The second round begins next month, with West Indies travelling to Australia, which should be an exciting series.

England meanwhile head to New Zealand after Christmas. Home advantage can be a big factor in women's cricket, as it is in "The Other Game" - West Indies whitewashed New Zealand at home; but just six months ago, the boot was on the other foot as they lost 0-3 in New Zealand. So New Zealand will be hoping to get some points on the board against England, and I think that series will be competitive too.

In the other round two match-ups, Pakistan face Sri Lanka at home; and South Africa travel to India.

Sky, Exclusivity & Bundling

Believe it or not, I don’t have a problem with paying for cricket! Despite my campaign for the 2017 Women’s World Cup in England to be made available on Free-To-Air TV, I’d be delighted to reach into my wallet for a half-decent stream of England Women’s up-coming tour to New Zealand; and although I’ll almost-certainly be at the games, I’d otherwise be happy to pay Sky to watch next summer’s Women’s Ashes in England.

But… I do have two major issues with Sky Cricket: exclusivity and bundling.

Exclusivity

Sky quite literally "own" cricket in this country - there will be no live cricket shown on Free-To-Air TV next year, meaning kids can’t/ don’t watch, and the game is slowly painting itself into a very nichey corner.

But this isn’t the biggest problem with exclusivity: it’s that even when Sky don’t want to show the games, no one else is able to do so. To be fair, Sky gave the ECB special dispensation to live-stream 3 women’s ODIs last summer, but really it needs to be codified into the contract, so that if Sky don’t want to show (to quote just one example) the group stages of the Women’s World T20, someone else can.

Additionally, it is vital that some cricket (men’s and women’s) is made available Free-To-Air - and the World Cup seems a reasonable place to start with that - after all, the football World Cup is an ‘A Listed’ event, and that doesn’t seem to have caused it to have collapsed into financial penury and irrelevance!

Bundling

A Sky subscription with Sky Sports costs around £45 a month. That’s a lot of money when you add it all up over the year; but at least it goes to fund grass roots cricket… right?

Right?

Well… sort of!

Sky do pay the ECB a chunk of cold, hard cash, some of which goes to grass roots cricket; BUT... of your £45 Sky sub, less than a fiver (a lot less) actually goes to cricket - most of it goes to football, for which Sky pay over a billion pounds a year - an order of magnitude more than the £100m they pay to cricket. So while your Sky subscription is supporting grass roots cricket… it’s supporting Wayne Rooney & Co. a lot, lot more!

This is where the government and the courts might need to step in once again. Sky really shouldn’t be able to get away with this - making the purchase of a monopoly product (cricket) dependent upon the purchase of another (near) monopoly product (football) is surely bordering upon market abuse?

So, here's the deal Sky: I'd happily pay £15 a month, to watch all the England internationals - men's and women's. Under such circumstances, almost everyone would be better off - Sky would have another subscriber; the ECB would get their cut; and I'd be able to legally watch cricket at home. The only person who wouldn't be better off is Wayne Rooney, but... frankly... who's Wayne Rooney?

TV Listed Events Gender Biased

The Ofcom Code on Sports [PDF] governs a list of sporting events which have to be shown on Free-To-Air TV in the UK. The idea is to ensure that the "crown jewels" of sport remain accessible to all; but sadly this list is woefully out of kilter with the times and indisputably gender-biased.

Of the 11 A List events which have to be shown live, 5 are mixed events, 6 are men's events, and none are women's events

Despite the fact that all 6 of the men's events on the A List have a women's equivalent, the women's event is excluded - cast out, with little or no accessible coverage. For instance, this year's (Women's) Rugby World Cup Final - magnificently won by England - was not shown on Free-To-Air TV, depriving 6 million girls of the opportunity to be inspired by the likes of Emily Scarratt and Katy McLean.

The secondary B List of events for which highlights have to be shown is similarly skewed - 3 mixed events, 6 men's events, no women's events,

Any right-thinking person would have to agree that this is a disgrace; so let's get it changed by demanding that the 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup is added to the A List!

Click here to sign the petition and make a difference to women's sport!

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A List - Mixed Events

1. Wimbledon Finals
2. The Olympics
3. The Paralympics
4. The Grand National 
5. The Derby

A List - Men's Events

1. FA Cup Final
2. World Cup Finals
3. UEFA Cup Finals
4. Scottish Cup Final
5. Rugby League Challenge Cup Final
6. Rugby World Cup Final

A List - Women's Events

1.  

B List - Mixed Events

1. Wimbledon (Except Finals)
2.  Commonwealth Games
3. World Athletics Championships

B List - Men's Events

1. Home Cricket Tests
2. Rugby World Cup (Except Final)
3. Rugby 6 Nations ("Home" Nations Matches)
4. Cricket World Cup (Semis + Final + England)
5. The Ryder Cup
6. The Open Golf*

B List Women's Events

1.  

* Technically mixed, but...