RISING STARS OF WOMEN’S CRICKET - Taare Zameen Par !!

In the recent Women’s Premier League (WPL) none of the stars shone brighter than Sophie Devine!

On March 18,2023 we witnessed match no 16 on a pleasant Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai. Royal Challengers Bangalore (franchise RCB) were taking on Gujarat Giants. The 2023 WPL is the women’s version of Indian Premier League comprising five franchises – Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capital and UP Warriorz being the other three.

The match had electrifying moments as bottom of table RCB had to save its Titanic from sinking. Set to score 188 runs off 20 0vers (120 balls) it was Sophie Devine’s glorious evening. And what an evening it was!! She blasted her way to 99 off only 36 balls smashing nine fours and eight sixes (picture above). The match was wrapped up in only 15.3 overs, and the crowd was dumbfounded.

When Sophie fell for 99 (one more run and that could have been an epic hundred) the whole of Brabourne Stadium was stunned into disbelief – in one moment heartbroken for Sophie Devine - but in the next erupted into rapturous applause for what everyone believed was a performance none of us would forget in a hurry.

How it all started. Women’s Cricket started in a very sketchy manner. I was not amused when Andy went through the pages and it startled me to no end sifting through, what an arduous journey the ladies had to endure!

History: Early matches in women’s cricket were not necessarily genteel affairs. A match, on 13 July 1747, held at the Artillery Ground between a team from Charlton and another from Westdean and Chilgrove in Sussex spilled over into the following day after it was interrupted by crowd trouble. Contemporary records show that women's matches were played on many occasions between villages in Sussex, Hampshire and Surrey. Other matches, often held in front of large crowds with heavy betting on the side, pitted single women against their married counterparts. Prizes ranged from barrels of ale to pairs of lace gloves. The first county match was held in 1811 between Surrey and Hampshire at Ball’s Pond in Middlesex. It would make us laugh now but cricket deliveries were bowled underarm. The roundarm bowling action was pioneered only in the early 19th century by Christiana Willes, sister of John Willes, to avoid the ball becoming ensnared in her skirts.

Cricket has traditionally been seen as a male sport, despite the fact that women have played the game for just as long as men.

In 1963, England captain Len Hutton famously said during a charity match against a women’s side that women playing cricket was absurd, like a man trying to knit. Views like Hutton’s were once common, which has meant that women have often been absent from official histories of the game

But Women’s cricket trudged along. To everybody’s good the International Women’s Cricket Council was formed in 1958 to coordinate women's cricket which was now being played regularly in Australia, England, New Zealand, India, South Africa, the West Indies, Denmark and the Netherlands. Test cricket evolved with countries like Australia, England, India, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies playing Test matches between them. This evolution has accelerated more recently since the introduction and major influence of the media, increased professionalism, and the start of more international competition.

The recently concluded Women’s Cricket World Cup held in New Zealand was clear evidence of how much women’s cricket has progressed in recent times, both in terms of quality and in terms of women’s cricket as a brand. The viewership has been galloping by leaps and bounds bringing in more money, increasing the quality of sport and its display. Gone are the days when the girls played just for the love of the game. Now they play for pride and affluence - the love of the game remains deep inside though.

The women in cricket are now staunch professionals and are pitching hat for hat with men.

As for the Cup, India, as an emerging nation in women’s cricket, too was part of the World Cup 2022 and it was their 10th appearance in the ICC Women’s showpiece. Having never won the Cup before India faltered this time too as the glittering memento of triumph eluded them one more time.

New cricket and the emerging stars. The WPL 2023 is the right platform to get hold of the modern stars of women’s cricket. The extent of stardom is guided by many aspects, one of them is skill. We have our own Harmanpreet Kaur – the skipper of Indian team (picture below in blue) as well as of Mumbai Indians followed by Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia et al. Smriti Mandhana, sadly, does not figure here as she has been awfully short of the leadership role given to her by RCB; and the woes have further mounted due to her utter batting failure.

But take Meg Lanningof Delhi Capitals for example. She leads from the front (picture above right in green shaking hands with the New Zealand skipper Sophie Devine) and her leadership qualities have been instrumental in Australia winning the 2022 World Cup. Merizanne Kappof South Africa and Alice Capseyof England lend a good foil to Meg. The mercurial HayleyMatthews of West Indies and Mumbai Indians (picture above left in brown with Sophie Devine of RCB) has been brilliant with the bat as well as with the ball. With Harmanpreet and Natalie Sciver-Brunt (picture below in yellow) she has plotted many victories for Mumbai Indians!! Be wary of Meg, she has found ways to keep this WPL trophy in her bag!

Oh wait, there are more. Australians Ellyse Perry (RCB) and Tahlia McGrath (UP Warriorz) have been routinely sweeping bowlers off their feet. No bowling power is enough when these two are on song.

Top notch maestros these.

A thing to cherish. Before WPL we had seen the stars and their exploits in the Big Bash - Australia and The Hundred - England. The extremely successful outing in Mumbai has forced Meg Lanning to concede that the WPL is a better platform than the Big Bash! Whoa!!

Quite a statement Meg.

True, women’s cricket has arrived. For India and for world cricket at large, it has started as it should always do, as it always seemed like it must. With Mithali Raj or Jhulan Goswami, seeing a boundary wasted, a gasp and a groan like a fallen warrior holding her head in her hands replaying that moment, admonishing the girls in the dugout, becomes routine, the pressures of modern-day cricket are nothing more than that of inside a cooker; though repeat games have gleefully given a chance to rewind, to do it all again, to make it right.

The WPL, like all others, will become one of the most awaited in the annual cricket cycle. For many – as the event carries itself forward in time - it’s a chance for catharsis, collective therapy or just some good, old fashioned imbibe of techniques to come good – depending on the circumstances.

WPL and the Indian women. Aspiringsuperstars in world cricket - I see very few who fit the bill - the Indian Women seemingly need to become a Sophie Devine or a Tahlia McGrath. After going through quite a number of WPL matches and the India – South Africa World Cup knock out in 2022 one has to say this: the bunch of South African girls, and the Aussies alike, looked of a different ilk, the defeat that India took – that was India’s chance not just to prove that it could go toe to toe with an elite team, a champion team, but to beat one; to claim a place not just in the ICC sparkle of a Final but to set up an Australian defeat, spirited and inspired, to glimpse a path to lifting the coveted Cup, open and inviting at its door!!

Australia remained on course to become the only team to retain the World Cup in as many outings. It has had the air, throughout the tournament, of a team that suspects it knows how all of this ends. It is that, for India, which will make the pain even sharper: that for the first time, here, as they stared down Australia, England and South Africa, and found nothing to fear, they had dared to believe things might be different!!

Once the critiques had subsided, though, once culpability being assigned and internalised, another emotion will come to the fore. More than anything, India will look back with regret.