Closing the gaps - the need for women's cricket

They may be the minnows of the CricInfo Women's World Cup but Ireland, the Netherlands and Sri Lanka contributed their own special character of commitment and colour to the tournament. And they did it under conditions that confirm the women's game, particularly outside the top four or five teams, as the poor relation of world cricket.

Sri Lanka has 25 women's clubs of which 15 are active. Ten are affiliated to the Women's Cricket Association of Sri Lanka and it was from players under the association's wing that the initial squad and final team for the World Cup were chosen. Four or five clubs are affiliated to a rival association. The secretary of the association and manager of the team in Christchurch, Mrs Chandra Muniweera, describes the split as "politics."

She told CricInfo that the performance of the Sri Lankan men's side had attracted young women to the game. However, cultural problems placed barriers in front of girls wishing to take up the game. Some of the girls' schools in the country did not encourage involvement in the sport.

John Wills and Greg Curtain, coaches of the Ireland and Netherlands teams respectively, also note the haphazard way in which players come to women's cricket. Wills said the players in Ireland came from relatives of male players, girlfriends of players or from schools. However, only about eight or nine schools encouraged pupils to play the game.

In the Netherlands, it is worse. Curtain said there was no cricket in the schools, the players coming from contact through friends, word of mouth, other sports or via families with a tradition of cricket. The problem of no school cricket was not just a problem for the women's game, it was the same for men's cricket. "To build up the youth," Curtain said, "you've really got to go into the big soccer clubs or, with the women, to the big hockey clubs, and make them more aware of the game; provide a few free coaching days just to get them interested. It's not very easy."

In Ireland, the women's clubs are usually affiliated to men's clubs. They play a 20-over match during the week and a 40-over match at the weekend. For the Ireland team for the World Cup, the selectors chose 24 players, mixed them into sides that provided balance and for two weekends early in the season created in effect a super league. The players were moved from team to team, reflecting the difficulty of a lack of depth.

Wills is not helped by some players living outside the republic. Of the squad at Lincoln, two are based in England. They pay for coaching there and Wills receives reports on their progress. The squad, divided into senior and development sections, trains every Sunday afternoon from September through to the end of April. The England-based women are expected to come over a couple of times a season for a check on their progress. They pay their own fares. Ulster players - two of them in this squad - travel to Dublin each week for the training sessions.

Curtain said the structure in the Netherlands also operated on a club basis with eight teams in the first league. They played 45-over matches every Saturday during the season, which ran from May to the end of August. In preparation for the World Cup, a squad of 22 was put together based on performances at club level and a team was entered in a lower-grade men's competition.

Wills also had some women playing in lower-grade men's competition. "Irish women should play with the men," he said. "They must play in a 50-over structure each week and they cannot do that in their own structure."

He said there could be some conflict with the clubs. "But Irish women have to decide whether they want to take the next step, whether playing for Ireland is sufficient achievement in itself or whether they want to progress Irish cricket."

Mrs Muniweera also believes the male link is necessary for the development of women's cricket in her country. She said ICC influence had to be brought to bear on the Sri Lankan authorities to encourage the men's and women's organisations to merge. "Then we would have a future." As it was, the women did not have the funding or the sponsorship to organise tournaments to give the players the necessary experience.

To raise funds to send the Sri Lankan team to the World Cup, the association president, Gwen Herat, canvassed for sponsors, managing to attract support from Lanka Tiles as the main sponsor with assistance form CIC Paints and the National Bank. Raffles were run to raise money to outfit the team. As a result of those efforts, the players did not have to find money.

The Irish would have had their usual fund-raising pressures if it had not been for a lovely gesture. Wills said that normally costing was done at the beginning of the season and each player was told how much they would have to pay or raise - expected this year to have been around 1000 Irish pounds. Then funding ventures would be pursued from which the players would get a credit, a percentage going to them, a percentage going to the union. Also clothing had to be bought. Through business contacts, they usually ended up with a sponsor for each article of clothing, "for which we are eternally grateful."

However, Wills said, this year was an exception. A senior member of the Irish Women's Cricket Union had indicated she would bequeath 10,000 Irish pounds to Irish women's cricket. She decided to advance the bequest when it became clear that amalgamation with the men's governing body was in the wind. "That made a big difference to the girls," Wills said. And they boosted the coffers by 6000 pounds through selling a brochure covering their preparations for the World Cup.

Of the amalgamation with the men's administration, due in February, Wills said it would give the women access to facilities, coaching, travel funding and ground allocation. Women's cricket, he said, took very low priority. Some of the women had to play from 8.30 in order to get off grounds by 2 pm to allow the men access. "It's hopeless. We have no right, no power, to go to a club and say we need a ground for internationals. It will formalise ground allocation both for internationals and junior internationals."

When they did get onto the pitches, Wills said, they usually found them prepared in a way that favoured the bowlers. Also, because of the climate, the ball did not tend to come on. Thus there was an over-emphasis on the seam bowler, putting some restrictions on the batsmen and therefore the overall development of batting and cricket. "You can't back yourself because you don't know what is going to happen. They're not bad tracks, they're just not fast batting tracks."

Curtain does not have the same problem with ground allocation. And the tracks his players face are usually matting or composite pitches. However, they do have to contend with long outfield grass because the grounds are used for football and hockey.

The Netherlands side were getting international experience, touring Pakistan in April. "They've been invited over there so that is excellent," Curtain said. And they will take part in the European championship in August at the end of next season. "Those sort of games are absolutely vital to their development. They need as much of that type of competition as they can get. The local competition at home is not strong enough for the better players to develop their skills further."

The Netherlands organisation has had informal contacts with the leading playing nations. Curtain is a New Zealander who has been on an 18-month contract. Two players have been in New Zealand and one in Australia but at their own initiative. However, he agrees with Mrs Muniweera. The Sri Lankan manager said the standard in her country would improve if the International Women's Cricket Council set up a programme under which Sri Lankan players could be sent to Australia, New Zealand and England for training.

Said Curtain: "A formal arrangement for the Netherlands players to have an off-season to Australia and New Zealand would be a huge advantage in the development of their skill levels."

It was that discrepancy in skill levels that saw all the teams fall short of their aims for the tournament.

Sri Lanka: They expected to win four matches, against Ireland, the Netherlands, South Africa and England. Two out four was not bad, enough to secure them a place in the next World Cup in South Africa in 2004.

Said Mrs Muniweera, "We did not fulfil the high hopes because the lack of match practice meant the batting fell short of requirements. We found collecting runs difficult, reflected in the run-out rate."

Ireland: The goals at this tournament were to qualify for the next World Cup - they finished sixth last time and wanted to move up to fifth. The cream on the cake would be a semi-final spot. "That," said John Wills, "meant beating one of the top teams on their bad day and our very good day." And they wanted to judge themselves on good tracks against the top sides. "Usually they come to us on our grounds."

In the end, they went home very disappointed with the result, having it all fall apart when chasing a small total against Sri Lanka but with the satisfaction of showing against India what they were capable of.

The Netherlands: "We hoped to beat Ireland and the Netherlands and gain that sixth position," Curtain said. "We had our chances. Against Sri Lanka, we bowled well and fielded well but we didn't bat very well. Against Ireland, we didn't bowl very well and didn't field very well but we batted very well. So we need to get combinations together with more consistency to be able to beat them. Once they beat Sri Lanka and Ireland, I think it will be a huge step in their self-belief.

"One thing they have learnt on this tour is to never give up."

And the last word should be left to Curtain: "The standard of women's cricket in the world has improved tremendously in the major cricketing nations over the last two or three years."

Which means closing the gaps is the sport's biggest challenge.