Women cricketers on par with the men in Australia- analyzing the state of the Indian and English boards

The Australian women's cricket team, aka the Southern Stars, have finally been recognized for their efforts in a sport that Australia has championed for the past decade. Cricket Australia has been the founding board to have taken this path-breaking step towards promotion of women’s cricket, by giving the women's team equal pay.



 



But this is not the only way by which Cricket Australia started their mission:



 



The initial path for creating a strong women’s cricket base was including cricket(Sports) as a part of academics. Secondly, they promoted cricket among kids, spreading awareness by direct interaction with the international cricketers and students.



 



Thirdly, after the base was created, the time was right for identifying budding talents. A grand tournament was organized, where local players from each state were selected for the team, to showcase their talent. Also, women (especially former female international cricketers) are members of the Australian cricket board, making their opinions heard and implementing decisions in direct comparison to their counterparts.



 



Another major step was providing the world-class infrastructure and facilities to everyone; right from budding cricketers to those who make it to the national side. This made sure that the talent was nurtured and that they grew well as sport-people with good coaching from the young age.



 



Also, Australia is a well-developed country, it became increasingly focused on equality in every field possible; may it be politics, media or sports, which has made it stand among the top countries globally for freedom and equality to women.



 



Central contracts, equal to that of the men counter-parts, means much more than equality; the very effort put up by each cricketer, men or women is equal, so it makes perfect sense for the remuneration to be equal too. The concept of equal pay was propagated in a systematic way Down- Under, thus paving the way for the future generation. Children have also started recognizing Australian women cricketers and their popularity is no less than male cricketers - which acts a delight to all cricket fans worldwide.



 



Like Australia, current World champions England, have also aimed to reduce the difference between the men and women's teams. Though they have not been given equal pay yet, it has begun to identify the budding talents through recently concluded tournaments like the Kia Super League, which gave local players a chance to exhibit their talent, playing alongside and against the best players of the world.



 



The world’s richest board- BCCI (Board for cricket control in India) has taken control over the Indian cricket association a couple of years back and is now in charge of the women too. The infrastructure and facilities given to the female cricketers are good, but women cricketers hardly play any matches for months at a time.



 



The reach of women’s cricket at the grass-roots is far less due to the rigid patriarchal system still prevalent in the country. Women, though are part of the board, but their voices are often unheard. Mindsets must change in a country like India as that is crucial for recognition. In India, there is also a major disparity in central contracts for female cricketers, compared to that of their male counterparts, and the board recently even ruled out for IPL for women cricketers as of now.



 



All countries must start encouraging sports as a part of academics. Some of the women cricketers of the under-developed countries have given up cricket, as it is an expensive, and not a very lucrative game as a career.



 



Boards like BCCI, Pakistan cricket board (PCB) and other boards should recognize women’s cricket as a sport and encourage players in such a way that nobody would compromise the sport for inaccessibility. Central contracts, equal pay, premier leagues, more frequency of matches is the only way forward.



 



The Women’s CricZone team salutes Cricket Australia for bringing a reformative approach to the field of women’s cricket and we expect such revolutionary steps to be taken by the other cricket boards as well in the near future.