At least 1 million more girls will play cricket in the next year as an innovative campaign to drive the promotion of the women’s game.
On the eve of international women’s day, the International Cricket Council launched 100% Cricket, an annual campaign dedicated to the promotion of women’s cricket to capitalize on the momentum garnered during the ICC Women’s World T20.
100% Cricket will exhibit the skill, athletic prowess, passion and intensity of the players and bring everything fans love about the sport to life. It will challenge perceptions, build heroes and create excitement as we head into the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2021 in New Zealand.
The campaign demonstrates the ambition of the entire sport to accelerate the growth of the women’s game and capitalize on the record-breaking momentum that has been created over the fortnight.
ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney has championed the development of the campaign, he said: “I believe that we are at an inflection point for the women’s game. In the last three years, we have made significant strides in our efforts to grow and develop the game and have publicly stated our long-term commitment to reach parity across men’s and women’s cricket.”
“We want to build a long-term sustainable foundation for women’s cricket and build a product that fans want to watch, that kids want to take up, that sponsors and broadcasters want to be part of. Increases in prize money, broadcasting all games, the introduction of a U19 Women’s Cricket World Cup, the scale of our ambition as we aim for a world record attendance for women’s sport at the final on International Women’s Day at the MCG and now 100% Cricket are all part of this bigger plan.”
“100% Cricket is a platform to drive the conversation around the women’s game between the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup and the Women’s Cricket World Cup we’ve got coming up in New Zealand next year. We are also challenging everyone to get involved and make their own pledge to support 100% Cricket and #IDeclare the action they will take to drive the growth of the women’s game. As part of this, on behalf of the ICC #IDeclare that we will work with Members with the ambition of bringing 1million new women and girls to the game in the next 12 months. But everyone can #IDeclare to do their bit whether it is to mentor a woman in the game, play cricket in the backyard with their daughters or to attend a women’s match. Use the hashtag and tell us your declaration. Together we can all make a difference and grow the game.”
The ICC’s endeavor to bring 1 million new women and girls to the game as part of 100% Cricket will be delivered in partnership with Members through a range of initiatives including:
A new school and community group participation program, an accelerated growth program delivered to targeted Members, support to Member programs focused on growing women’s cricket, and cricket for Development programs targeting women and girls.