The last mega ICC event that took place before the outbreak of novel coronavirus was ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. The final between India and Australia saw a crowd of around 87 thousand in the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The traditional eyes, that would normally dislike anything female, were discussing the early dismissal of Shafali Verma and the sheer domination of Aussies. It is no wrong to say that women’s cricket has got the momentum that is strived for. The numbers of viewers on television suggest the same. There has been a manifold increase in the number of watchers tuning their TV sets to watch women play cricket.
In a recent study, Australia’s favorite sporting teams are dominated by female professionals. The new research may burst a few bubbles of orthodoxies who link sport only to masculinity. It was done by the market research company True North. They measured fans’ emotional connection for 13 Aussie sporting national teams. As many of us would expect, the Aussies loved their World Cup-winning cricket team most.
🚨 No.1 Team
Australian Women’s Cricket team generated the greatest levels of pride, trust, enjoyment, respect, and bond amongst fans as per the latest market research and we are not surprised at all 😉
More power to @AusWomenCricket and the team for making it possible 🙌 pic.twitter.com/L6Yq2USleb
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) June 17, 2020
The Matildas were second. They are Australia’s women’s rugby sevens team. The popularity of Netball Diamonds seems to rise as well. Similarly, in men, the T20 side was most popular and stands at number 5. Interestingly, the research was conducted in March and April when the whole sporting fraternity was taken aback by the pandemic. The report, however, acknowledged that Australian men were more well-known.
The women, although, took the men by surprise among respondents who were familiar with the sides. According to George Maynard, director of True North, said the female professionals performed very strongly because the people respected them and their hard work. Maynard further added that there was “a bit of glow” surrounding female cricketers.
Well done @AusWomenCricket not just top of the World cricket rankings but now the team with the highest BenchMark EC Score™ in Australia 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/A2RmWNU8Ly
— True North Research (@_TrueSport) June 16, 2020
They enjoyed a World Cup win in front of ninety thousand people. Some regarded the same as the watershed movement for the game. It is heartening to see female cricketers and cricket paving its way into the hearts and memories of people. The only task for a sport is to get the masses behind it.
It is perhaps the most difficult too. The research may only talk of recent events and highlights but the positive results are a product of umpteenth souls who dedicated themselves to the game with sheer dedication and passion.
Loves all things female cricket