ICC launches campaign to promote women’s cricket

PTI, Mar 8, 2020, 1:23 PM IST

Melbourne: The International Cricket Council on Sunday launched a 12-month campaign dedicated to the promotion of women’s cricket to build on the momentum of the ongoing T20 World Cup here.

The campaign titled “100% Cricket” will showcase the skill, athletic brilliance, 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,” an ICC media release said.

The campaign, launched on the occasion of the International Women’s Day ahead of the T20 World Cup final at the MCG, 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 last two weeks.

“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 cricket,” ICC Chief Executive, Manu Sawhney said.

“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,” he added.

Sawhney said that the campaign will drive the conversation around women’s cricket between the ongoing T20 World Cup and the ODI World Cup 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,” he said.

“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,” he added.

The ICC’s pledge to bring one million new women and girls to the game as part of ‘100% Cricket’ will be delivered 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 the game and development programs targeting women and girls.