Anyone watching the Women’s Cricket World Cup?

[ButterPiesAreGreat]

Thought I’d start this, as I am watching when I can.

Amazing win for England today. Went to the gym and SA were 9-1, come back an hour or so later and they’re all out for 69!

Still think Kate Cross should be in the squad but as she has then helped Lancashire to win two trophies this season, I suppose I can’t complain.

Yes! Me! @ButterPiesAreGreat

Missed most of today's sadly.

I watched Bangladesh upsetting Pakistan yesterday. It's great seeing countries where women weren't traditionally given prominence play and umpire and commentate etc. The crowd was disappointingly small.

Can only see the winners being Australia or India or hopefully England can pull themselves together a bit more than in recent times with Lottie in charge and NSB.

Yes I like Kate Cross.

I think Alice Capsey and Sophie Ecclestone are looking fitter.

Sophie has not had a great summer, but she did have a couple of injuries and probably needed some time to get back into it. I never thought she looked particularly unfit but she’s taller than some of the other cricketers. However, it clearly hit a nerve when Alex Hartley made those comments and I was quite disappointed in her actions during the Ashes especially as both have been Lancashire players.

I like Lottie but I’m not 100% happy with the way she’s managed some things. I think the way that Kate Cross was treated over her central contract being stopped was awful. Some say it’s because she’s friendly with Alex Hartley but I’m not sure why you would not take someone with such experience, who’s clearly in good form, and a very good competitor to a World Cup.

Don't think we can take a lot from today other than our bowling was great! Tammy B and Amy J did a great job of batting but they were not really pushed. SA were very disappointing today. They looked very flat.

I feel that Sophie has had a lot of pressure on her with her world number 1 status.

I always think top sports professionals have such a hard time having to deal with such expectations so young. I feel for them with the impact on their mental health. And travelling so much. Franchise cricket may bring great remuneration (potentially) but it's a punishing schedule.

Pleased to see Tammy back in the one day side.

The Hartley/Ecclestone situation was upsetting and showed some immaturity. Alex Hartley is in that tricky situation of having recent knowledge of the team but she has to say what she thinks and not just heap praise.

It would a very poor decision if Cross had been dropped because of being friends with Hartley.

Incidentally I was thinking about the Afghanistan women and how they should be in the mix. I read a few months ago that some of them had managed to escape to Australia and were playing there.

I think Laura Wolvaardt's form has suffered since being captain. Hopefully it will pick up because I want the competition to be as strong as possible.

I know everyone rates Wolvaardt but I don’t particularly. If her head is not in the right place, she does not bat well. She played for the Originals (and basically that is how we lost Kate Cross to the Superchargers) and she was not great.

This is what she said about losing her contract.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/crmex0wpjk4o

Personally i think it says as much about you how you handle situations like this as much as developing and bringing players in. I believe she is also on standby for this World Cup which makes it all the worse.

I’m not really watching as I’m only slightly interested in cricket, but both my teen boys are watching - the past few years they’ve been paying just as much attention to the women’s games as the men’s ones. The Hundred was the main starting point for this. I know it’s controversial in cricket circles but it’s been outstanding for waking people up to women’s cricket.

Yes I'm in 2 minds about the hundred. I've had a soft spot for the Blast because it kept me going through lockdown with the repeats on Sky Sports but the hundred does benefit from being on with the men's game.

The hundred is a bit of a funny one. Trying to be appealing to a younger audience but tried to change the rules for the sake of it. Covid messed it up for the first season, and iirc the weather wasn't great for season 2.

Despite all the money coming from India soon I was listening to some of an interview in the break in today's match on the radio with, I think the head of Indian cricket or someone (😬 I missed the parts because I was driving) saying that Indian men and women are not likely to be playing in the hundred or (m)any other franchises. Which is disappointing to hear. But not surprising.

I was just remembering when Alex Hartley was playing her last season for Welsh Fire iirc (2023) and she was one of the players who was miked up for the game. It's one thing having a fielder on the boundary chatting to the comm team during a game but they actually talked to Alex as she was coming in to bowl the ball. I think she surely stopped before she started her run up but I remember her saying something about always being very nervous and it helping with that to talk!! Mind you Alex certainly has the gift of the gab!!

TBF, I do love Alex and I’m so pleased she’s in a good place now. I love that after she said something on the No Balls podcast, Lancashire named a floodlight after her at EOT. 😂

Oh yes, very much controversial. DD wore an Originals shirt to a Lancs one day match and you should have seen some of the looks she got, particularly from the ones wearing “Abolish the Hundred” t shirts.

Personally, I enjoy all forms of cricket. I’d enjoy it more if the Originals didn’t blow it every season. For the men, one batter second in the run charts, two or three bowlers at or near the top of bowling stats and still can’t make the knock outs. And the women, the over reliance on an overseas player who veers between brilliant and awful.

Indian male cricketers cannot play in overseas franchise tournaments and still play in Indian tournaments of any form nor play for their country. So they never appear in big tournaments. Ravi Ashwin had just signed up for the Big Bash. They are more lenient with the women because the women’s IPL is only very recent. Indian women have played in The Hundred - Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet, Jemima Rodrigues and I think Deepti Sharma have all played.

With so much Indian investment in The Hundred, I would be surprised if no Indians play in future editions. Maybe not the men until they retire from Indian cricket, tho I can see the big investors putting pressure on BCCI to change that, but the women certainly.

Love the Blast too, even if Lancs fortunes have not been great but hoping the new format will mean we keep access to our overseas for the whole tournament.

I'm lucky (😬😬) coz Oval Invincibles are my team! I'm a big fan of Sam "Bilbo" Billings. Always seems very modest. But he must have something about him to be such a successful captain!

Shame today's match was washed out. (Although presumably that disadvantages Australia on the points front which is handy from the England point of view)

India v Pakistan in a few hours

Not the biggest fan of Billings but maybe it’s just the team and the way they apparently go about business in the background, and some of the behaviour on the pitch leaves a lot to be desired.

Livi hit the nail on the head when he called them the Unbearables because a lot of people really hate their arrogance. It’s a fine line between confidence and arrogance and it was crossed a few times this August.

Is it a north - south issue?

Arrogance is the last thing I'd say about Billings but maybe I'm just looking on the pitch and how he interviews.

Did you see the Currans playing in the Hundred? Did you see Tom Curran call what is supposedly a friend of his “a fat slob”?
Definitely not a north - south issue as I’m a southerner living in the north. It might be a “Surrey getting away with murder” issue though.

Women's cricket makes me very happy. I don't have TV so watching highlights on ICC website. Following this thread now!

Nice to see Heather Knight there. Who's replaced Kate Cross?

I've watched some of the five minute or so daily highlights. Noticed a lot of sweep shots and early wicket losses followed by middle order batters to the rescue.

Signed up to Sky today. I'm looking forward to India v Australia tomorrow. Today's match looked at first it might have been close. I had forgotten about the don't tell me to silly mid-off advert from the summer so I'm quite stressed!

Great win for England today. Got lucky with the dropped catch. And then Sri Lanka looked to make a go of it when up steps Sophie Ecclestone. What a spell!

Sad that they're pushing Emma Lamb down the order, she does so much better when opening. She didn’t win the PCA Women’s Player of the Year at number 6 in the batting. (We always follow her career as not only is she Lancs, we used to belong to the same gym and we used to see her there).

The final can't possibly top today's semi-final. An incredible match.

I've watched highlights of many of the games. What it shows is the superiority of the 50 over game instead of the nonsense of T20 or the game with cricket equipment, the Hundred.

It's a great format allowing great ebbs and flows to the game. I'm lucky that I can devote hours to watch it though.

I fell off this thread as have elderly parents who had hospital visits and my mind, being preoccupied, forgot about it!

Who's going to win then? South Africa or India?

I would say India as they have home advantage but we shall see!

I like all the forms of cricket myself! 😀