Inclusion Thread: Somerset Appointment

 

01/05

Somerset Appoint Knight

18/04

Also rans criticise the ECB

Women's Tier 1 Counties announced

So are The Blaze and the other regional hub names being allowed to burn?

ECB Announced

05/04

Cricket State School Investment Pledged

CMSC Report

22/03

Signing at all grounds

19/03

Essex bid

Who will be next? Who's left that hasn't ,made a bid to host Tier 1 Women's cricket from 2025?

13/03

Glamorgan bid for Tier 1 Women's cricket

12/03

Scottish Game Sexist

09/03

Northamptonshire bid for Tier 1 Women's Cricket

Leicestershire bid

A Super 1's story

Female coaches in men’s game should be the ‘norm’.
BBC News,
Friday, 16 February 2024.
PTG 4433-21527.

Essex all-rounder Cath Dalton hopes her Pakistan Super League (PSL) fast-bowling coaching role with the Multan Sultans franchise will help break new ground.  Now Ireland international Dalton, 31, who credits former Nottinghamshire and Essex bowler and coach Ian Pont as a role model and  hopes that the current generation of female coaches in all sports will make women coaching in men's sport the norm.

Dalton joins up with Multan Sultans this week and hopes that she can prove to be a role model by being successful in the PSL. "It is a big step but hopefully not the only step that happens”, Dalton said. "You want to break a barrier, and it fills you with a lot of pride that you've done that.  But you want it to be the pathway for other females to break into the men's profession because there's so much knowledge and understanding out there in women's sport and women's coaching, it needs to be the norm”.

MCC’s latest World Cricket Committee musings attract little media interest.
PTG Editor.
Wednesday, 14 February 2024.
PTG 4432-21521.

The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) released details of the latest musings of its well-credentialed member of its World Cricket Committee (WCC) via its web site last Friday, but the response of the game’s media community around the world has been, to put it mildly, underwhelming.  A sweep of the web pages of almost 50 cricketing sites, some of them very prominent, finds one reference in an Indian newspaper that ran the MCC’s media release verbatim and without comment or analysis.

So what did the WCC, which last met in July (PTG 4246-20750, 12 July 2023) and did so this time at the Newlands ground in Cape Town over two days late last month, have to say?  Their media release is divided into four sections titled: Strategic funding; New growth markets; Revenue sharing model for tours; and matters related to Climate Action Framework initiatives.

In terms of strategic funding, the WCC says the record media rights deal negotiated for broadcasting International Cricket Council (ICC) events from 2024-2027 has delivered global cricket "a generational opportunity" over the upcoming four-year period. However, what has also become clear is that, "despite this significant capital injection", many are doubting if it will deliver tangible universal gain. Whilst some have prospered, many ICC Full and Associate members are clearly struggling".

The WCC says that although "short-term financial certainty” is guaranteed in the international sphere, it warns that beyond that the game "will likely face fresh challenges to sustain this level of investment, in what is expected to be a more constrained media rights market”.  As a result the "global game now needs to be prudent with its spending in order to prioritise the advancement of current strategic objectives, whilst future-proofing the game’s growth targets and financial health”.  

It questioned whether enough of newly gained revenue has been directly apportioned to strategic growth imperatives, and concern was raised about whether women’s cricket specifically, at both competition and development levels and given its strategic importance to the game’s growth, was receiving sufficient funding across the board.  As a result the committee reiterated its call to ICC Full Member nations of last July to "ring-fence a significant amount from their enhanced four-year ICC distributions to support the growth of women’s cricket". 

The WCC paid homage to India saying the game "owes a debt of gratitude to India, with its insatiable thirst for cricket driving the wealth in the global game”, but that "the reliance" upon that country for most of the revenue stream "belies the fact that the game needs to identify new markets to ensure its global growth, at a time when media rights beyond the current cycle are by no means guaranteed”.  It says with this year’s men’s T20 World Cup in the USA and Caribbean and the build up to the 2028 Olympics in the USA, "the acceleration of the USA as a growth market for cricket would seem a natural consideration”.

In terms of revenue sharing models for bilateral tours, the WCC also says it has long been aware of the game’s "global economics being heavily imbalanced and detrimental to touring teams who bear the cost of travel, whilst all revenue is retained by the host body based upon a historical expectation of ‘quid pro quo’ touring arrangements”.  Cricket West Indies chief executive Jonny Grave highlighted the issues involved in an interview he gave last month (PTG 4410-21431, 20 January 2024). 

The committee says evidence emerging of this now creating inequalities the committee calls for this model to be reconsidered, with analysis to be conducted on the impact of home bodies absorbing these touring team costs as a way of redistributing income and adding greater context to all future bilateral cricket. In its view such an analysis "should form part of a broader audit of the current costs of the international game called for following the previous WCC meeting in July 2023” .

It was noted that the WCC’s meeting occurred "in the immediate aftermath of two fantastic men’s Test matches played in Brisbane and Hyderabad, which excited supporters of the Test match format, yet also left them ruing the absence of a possible third match decider in the Australia-West Indies two match series. As a result it recommended men’s Test series be played across a minimum of three matches during the next international Future Tours Program (FTP) from 2028 onwards.

The committee also feels "the imbalance of the current FTP unfairly impacts some nations by restricting where valuable content can be played in calendar windows”.  It says from the commencement of the next cycle in 2028, "it would be preferable for a more equitable split of matches to provide a more balanced opportunity for nations to access key dates and opposition”.

The Cape Town meeting was chaired by Kumar Sangakkara, and included the likes of Suzie Bates, Clare Connor, Kumar Dharmasena, Sourav Ganguly, Jhulan Goswami, Heather Knight, Justin Langer, Eoin Morgan, Ramiz Raja, Ricky Skerritt and Graeme Smith.  MCC President, Mark Nicholas, was also in attendance.  Sangakkara said via a media release: “It’s time for courageous leadership and a united vision for the global game. Whilst the opportunities for cricket are enormous, the challenges are equally great and there must be a stronger sense of collegiality amongst Full Members and all stakeholders for cricket to thrive".

As is normally the routine, the committee is to meet again later in the year, possibly around the time of a Test match at Lord’s so that those attending can also enjoy that experience.

Lord’s gets its first female grounds person.
The Cricketer Magazine.
Friday, 9 February 2024.
PTG 4428-21504.

Meg Lay has etched her name into the history books as the first female grounds person to join the staff at Lord’s.  The 27-year-old New Zealander has spent the past two years working on the ground staff at Gloucestershire and was the only female member of a grounds team on the circuit of international venues in England and Wales when she helped prepare the pitch for England Women's One Day International against South Africa two Julys ago.

Since then, she has blazed a trail through the male-dominated industry – a report commissioned by the Grounds Management Association (GMA) in 2019 found that women accounted for just three percent of the sport turf industry – going on to win the newcomer of the year award at 2023 GMA Awards and forming part of an all-female ground staff team during the Women's Ashes Twenty20 International played at Edgbaston last year.

Posting on X (formerly Twitter), Lay said: "Not sure I'll ever get my head around this one. Words don't quite do it justice how excited I am to be joining the ground team at Lord's at the end of the month”.  Speaking last year, Lay, who played age-group cricket for Canterbury in New Zealand, explained how she moved to Bristol in 2023 and planned to find casual work to support her travelling. With no expectation of getting the role, she applied for a groundskeeper position at Gloucestershire "because I thought it'd be fun to do a summer”.

However, after her application proved successful, she has since described it as "the best job in the world", although the lack of women in the industry did take her by surprise.  "I knew there were no women at Gloucestershire but I didn't realise it was male-dominated”, she said. "With the growth of women's cricket, you would think there would be a lot of women on the ground staff as well.  For there not to be any others… it should be fifty-fifty. It's such a good job, and I'd love more women to put their hand up.  I want to make sure that I'm visible so that people can see that there is a pathway here. In my experience, everyone has been great. If people see that I'm doing it, they feel like they can as well”.

01/02

Women's Game Reorganisation from 2025

29/01

Heather Knight Opts for Internationals

Yet another clash between international and franchise series.
Matt Roller.
Cricinfo.
Saturday, 27 January 2024.
PTG 4418-21468.

England's women are facing a choice between club and country, with a clash looming between the final stages of the Women's Premier League (WPL) in India and a bilateral Twenty20 International (T20I) series in New Zealand.  The Board of Control for Cricket in India confirmed this week that the WPL final will take place on the evening of 17 March in Delhi, with the first of five women's T20Is due to be played less than two days after that in Dunedin, so it is logistically impossible for players to feature in both matches.

It is understood that the England and Wales Cricket Board has told players involved in the WPL that staying in India until the tournament is complete will mean they are not considered for selection for the first three T20Is in New Zealand. They are expected to name squads for the tour next week.

Seven England players are due to feature in WPL 2024 while England head coach Jon Lewis has the same role in one of the franchise sides.  The players involved are understood to have weighed several factors in their respective decisions. Their WPL salaries are around three million Rupees ($A54,900, £UK28,415) for a four-week season, and while some players are certain starters for both their franchises and England, others have had to consider their prospects of featuring in either side.

The decisions are complicated further by the sharp recent increase in England women's match fees, which were equalised with the men's team last year (PTG 4280-20897, 1 September 2023), and the proximity of the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh later this year. 

The ECB took a hard line with players when a similar clash arose in December with two players both missed the final of Cricket Australia’s women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) in order to link up with England's squad in Mumbai ahead of a T20I series which started four days later, though neither player featured in the first T20I.  That stance contrasts with the one taken by New Zealand Cricket, who allowed one player to miss a T20I against Pakistan in order to feature in the WBBL final. Three New Zealand players are expected to be involved in this year's WPL

Top pay for women’s Hundred series increased to £UK50K.
BBC Sport.
Saturday, 20 January 2024.
PTG 4410-21430.

The top women's players in the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) women’s Hundred series will now earn £UK50,000 ($A96,245) for a month’s work after the ECB committed an extra £UK1.54 million (£UK800,000) to the competition, with $A £UK100,000 ($A192,500) of that going to each of the eight teams. The top women’s salary in 2023 was £UK31,250 ($A60,155), having started at £UK15,000 ($A28,875) in the tournament's first year in 2021.  Those on the lowest salaries will receive £UK8,000 ($A15,400) in 2024, an increase of £UK500 ($A960).  The men's wages are unchanged, with the top at £UK125,000 ($A240,630) and the lowest £UK30,000 ($A57,750). 

The Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket report recommended parity in the competitions by 2025 (PTG 4254-20788, 23 July 2023(, but the ECB did not commit to that. The £UK50,000 ($A96,245) is still much less than that paid to some in India's Women's Premier League, with highest-earner Smriti Mandhana commanding roughly £UK320,000 ($A616,020) at the inaugural auction in 2023. The top fee paid in the Women's Big Bash League in Australia is not known, but the average retainer, as of last April, is close to £UK28,000 ($A54,000).

The dates for the 2024 men’s and women’s Hundred series are yet to be confirmed but it is expected to take place from late July to late August. Fixtures are expected to be unveiled on Tuesday but the Hundred season is expected to clash with England men's Test side facing West Indies and the final week of the Major Cricket League in the United States (PTG 4376-21296, 20 December 2023).

South African U-19 captaincy issue rumbles on.
Ben Rumsby.
London Daily Telegraph.
Wednesday, 17 January 2024.
PTG 4406-21415.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) is facing calls to intervene in the “antisemitic” stripping of David Teeger as South Africa captain for the Under-19 World Cup, however, the ICC has indicated it will not get involved in the matter.  The South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) has written to the ICC demanding it take action against Cricket South Africa (CSA) for removing Teeger as skipper for the tournament over comments he made shortly after the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel.

Last week cited unspecified advice warning of the threat of protests likely to focus on his role as captain after he expressed support back in October for Israeli soldiers (PTG 4371-21272, 14 December 2024).  The decision, made in the same week the South African government launched “genocide” proceedings against Israel at the International Court of Justice, provoked a toxic row and accusations CSA had been put under political pressure.

The ICC has now been dragged into the saga by the SAJBD, which also plans a protest outside CSA’s headquarters on Thursday.  It said in a statement issued after talks with the government body on Tuesday: “At a meeting held today, [CSA] categorically failed to provide credible evidence that there had been any real security threats to the upcoming Under-19 World Cup tournament on account of David Teeger being captain of the SA team. This, together with CSA’s vacillating and contradictory responses to the questions put to them reinforces our understanding that the excuse provided for Teeger’s removal as captain, namely ‘security concerns’, is trumped up and bogus".

“The only explanation for why a young Jewish cricketer was arbitrarily stripped of his captaincy must therefore be plain antisemitism. There are good reasons why credible sporting bodies desist from political interference. This should have been the case with CSA, but unfortunately, it was not. Rather, we are seeing high-level political interference with a sinister, discriminatory agenda” (PTG 4403-21400, 13 January 2024).

An ICC spokesperson said: “Team selection including captaincy is an issue for members and not the ICC.  An international federation is not constituted to intervene in team selections”.

Why the ICC should let Khawaja have his dove and thank him for asking.
Editorial.
Melbourne Age.
Wednesday, 3 January 2024.
PTG 4391-21353.

Like church and state, the prevailing sentiment is that politics and sport should remain separate. This separation has been crucial to upholding the purity of athletic competition and ensuring that, at its best, the playing field offers an opportunity for all people, from all walks of life, to share a space that is free of the many issues that can divide us off the field.  Yet, history has shown us that there are moments when the intersection of sport and politics becomes inevitable. 

Driven by their convictions, athletes sometimes feel compelled to use their platform to highlight societal issues that matter deeply to them. Australian Rules footballers Adam Goodes and Nicky Winmar have played exemplary roles in highlighting and confronting people about their treatment of First Australians.  Australian sprinter Peter Norman famously carried out an act of solidarity during the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. In one of sport’s best-known images, Norman, wearing a badge of the Olympic Project for Human Rights, stood on the podium with African-American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos, whose raised fists brought global attention to the struggle for civil rights in America.

It should not be surprising, then, that the war in Gaza, which has understandably ignited much passion and protest, should find its way onto the sporting field.  One of the leading Test batsmen in the world and the first Muslim to play cricket for Australia, Usman Khawaja has been vocal about how the deaths of so many children in Gaza have affected him deeply. In a bid to highlight the plight of Palestinians, Khawaja proposed wearing shoes during the first Test in Perth with the words:“Freedom is a human right” and “All lives are equal”. The International Cricket Council (ICC) put paid to that idea, insisting that his shoes were a political statement under its guidelines and therefore banned (PTG 4371-21271, 14 December 2023).

While Khawaja chose not to defy the ICC by wearing the shoes, he did take to the field with a black armband, which earned him a Code of Conduct charge from the cricket body (PTG 4378-21305, 22 December 2023).  Not to be put off, Khawaja made a fresh application to the ICC to adorn his shoes with an image of a black dove holding an olive branch during the Boxing Day Test. This was also rejected. Again he complied, but unwilling to completely put up the white flag, he went to the crease with the names of his daughters on his shoes (PTG 4383-21323, 25 December 2023).

Cricket understandably wants to prevent its players becoming billboards for causes that may conflict with its own values. It is reasonable that the ICC guards these things closely. And The Age acknowledges that although the symbols Khawaja has proposed have not been overtly pro-Palestinian, there can be no doubt about the message he is trying to send.  But at a time when others are using extreme and polarising tactics to spread their message over Gaza, such as lurid displays of fake dead bodies outside the offices of Members of Parliament and disrupting events such as Carols by Candlelight, we should be grateful there are people like Khawaja who clearly hold strong views but are determined to express them in a moderate and respectful way.

As Khawaja himself pointed out in his submission to the ICC, other cricketers have been allowed to play with symbols on their bat without sanction. Marnus Labuschagne had a Bible verse, Nicholas Pooran had a cross and Keshav Maharaj a Hindu symbol. Surely a dove on a player’s bat carries no greater potential to offend.

Khawaja has put forward strong arguments for his actions to the ICC and Cricket Australia, which supports the Test batsman. Unlike a politician, journalist or corporate leader, whose public words on such issues have a direct impact on their work or that of their organisations, Khawaja’s stand will not affect his ability to see off the new ball at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Wednesday. And it will not, in the eyes of any fair-minded person, call into question the integrity of any cricketing body that approves it.

‘Over 20’ EOIs received for four CA female match referee training spots.
PTG Editor.
Sunday, 24 December 2023.

PTG 4382-21318.

Over five years after its original announcement about the matter, Cricket Australia (CA) has again moved to recruit female match referees, and applications to take part in the program have already been received.  The national body is offering the opportunity for "up to four females" to participate in its Match Referee Talent Pathway Program, the initial phase of which will run from mid-January through to the end of March, those chosen receiving "a small honorarium in recognition of the time they invest during the program”, 

In an understandable move given the nature of the issue, requests for Expressions of Interest (EOI) in the program were circulated earlier this month via an ‘internal’ process that included CA and State and Territory Associations' own structures and systems.  The deadline for submissions was last Sunday and it is understood EOIs from over 20 individuals had been received by that time.  The successful applicants are expected to be notified early in the New Year.

CA says those chosen will be provided with a "structured development program, mentoring, management support, access to training materials, and match observation opportunities alongside current match referees".  They will be supported as they train and prepare to potentially become a member of CA’s match referees’ panel in the future.  The intention in the first phase of the program in January-March is for participants to only officiate within the State that they reside, however, should travel interstate be needed, all necessary travel and associated costs will be provided by CA.

Those who submitted EOIs “must”, said the call for submissions, have: Knowledge of professional cricket; Demonstrated leadership experience; Experience in stakeholder management; Knowledge of cricket Laws, Playing Conditions, Policies, and interpretations; Ability to maintain a professional demeanour when interfacing with colleagues, players, and support staff; Ability to work in a fast-paced and pressured environment; Collaborative team player; A self-starter attitude and proactive nature; Proficient with administration tasks and report writing; Sound IT skills; while a knowledge of umpiring skills and techniques is "highly desirable”.

Many of those 'must haves' suggest that only individuals who have either played the women’s game at international level, or at minimum have considerable experience in CA’s domestic women’s T20 or 50 over competitions, are likely to make up the four who are eventually chosen.

Wicketkeeper leaves field after deflected throw strikes her in the head.
Stuff New Zealand.
Tuesday, 20 December 2023.
PTG 4376-21292.

Auckland wicketkeeper Elizabeth Buchanan had to leave the field after misjudging a fielder's throw and being struck above the eye by the ball in the opening game of New Zealand Cricket’s women’s ’Super Smash’ competition against Canterbury on Tuesday.  Buchanan, who had been standing back to a medium pacer, was wearing a cap and not a helmet, the strike producing an immediate and sizable welt on her forehead.  

The 17-year-old had her view obstructed by Canterbury batter Jodie Dean, who was running between the wickets, as the ball came rocketing towards her at an awkward height, however, it also appeared to have been deflected off Dean’s helmet on the way.

The second over of Auckland’s innings saw Canterbury appeal against opener Anna Browning, who after playing a shot and seeing the ball bouncing towards her stumps, appeared to knock it away with her hand to safeguard her wicket.  On-field umpires Damian Morrow and Wayne Knights referred the matter to third umpire Glen Walklin, but Browning was given not out after replays from several angles showed that, despite clearly trying to do so, she hadn’t actually touched the ball.

21/11

Trans-"women" banned from Women's Internationals

T20 Launch 2024

Dissent, audible obscenity, earns WBBL players fines.
PTG Editor.
Saturday, 11 November 2023.
PTG 4339-21142.

Two players in separate Cricket Australia’s Womens’ Big Bash League (WBBL) fixtures played on Wednesday were fined for their actions during play.  Harmanpreet Kaur of the Melbourne Renegades was fined a quarter of her match fee for showing dissent at an umpire’s decision during her side's game against the Melbourne Renegades in Adelaide, and over in Melbourne the Stars’ Kim Garth lost half of her earnings from the match for using an audible obscenity while playing against the Sydney Sixes.  The two guilty findings for what were classed as Level One offences, bring to seven the number on CA’s Code of Conduct Register for the 2023-24 season (PTG 4328-21090, 1 November 2023).  

10/11

Derbyshire take the pledge

NZC appoint first woman chair, announce $NZ10.7m surplus.
Stuff New Zealand.
Wednesday, 8 November 2023.
PTG 4337-21134.

Diana Puketapu-Lyndon will become the first woman in the history of New Zealand Cricket (NZC) to fill the role of chair in place of Martin Snedden who still has a year to run as a director on the board.  Snedden, who announced a $NZ10.7 million ($A9.9m, £UK5.2m) surplus for 2022-23 at this year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Wednesday, decided to stand down to allow deputy chair Puketapu-Lyndon a smooth transition into her new position as it was “simply the right thing to do”.

Puketapu-Lyndon was first appointed to the NZC Board in 2017 and is now the second-longest serving director. She is Chair of the New Zealand Olympic Committee, a Chartered Member of the Institute of Directors, and a Fellow Chartered Accountant.  She brings a wealth of commercial and sporting administrative experience to the position, including two stints as chief financial officer in New Zealand’s America’s Cup sailing campaigns, and one as a Director of the World Masters Games.

Snedden said the strength of the financial performance made him confident NZC was moving in the right direction and that: “After years of having thin reserves, NZC is now rebuilding those to levels that will significantly protect our business and our members. The financial result means NZC has been able to further increase contributions to the Major Associations and community cricket, for the betterment of the game at all levels”.  Meanwhile, former New Zealand Cricket Players Association board chair Scott Weenink has been appointed as NZC's chief executive.

Warner Stand at Lord's may be renamed owing to slavery links.
Nick Hoult.
London Daily Telegraph.
Thursday, 2 November 2023.
PTG 4329-21095.

The Warner Stand at Lord’s could be renamed owing to Sir Pelham Warner’s historic links to slavery as the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) reacts to a damning report into discrimination in cricket.  Bruce Carnegie-Brown, the MCC chairman, says that the naming of the Warner stand is something the club “ought to keep under review” and that links to the slave trade are a “live” challenge which organisations have to be “very thoughtful” about.  “It’s something I’d like to take away and for us to keep under review as a club. Seeing Stuart Broad have a stand named after him at Trent Bridge shows the merit of connecting younger audiences to some of the current greats”, he said.

Warner, who died in 1963, was known as the Grand Old Man of English Cricket and his association with the club spanned almost 70 years. He played 15 Tests for England, served as chairman of selectors and managed the Bodyline tour of 1932-33.  The Warner Stand has stood at Lord’s since 1958. The current building was revamped at a cost of £UK25 million ($A47.5m)  and reopened in 2017 by Prince Philip. It hosts a restaurant called Pelham’s, with sweeping views of the playing area.

Warner was born almost 70 years after the abolition of slavery but his family derived its fortune from sugar plantations in the Caribbean. His grandfather, Colonel Edward Warner, owned tobacco and sugar estates in Trinidad and Dominica, which were worked by slave labour from Africa. The Warner family were paid compensation by the Government following the abolition of the slave trade.

In 2020 in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, the club reviewed its art collection and removed portraits and a bust of its first secretary, Benjamin Aislabie, who directly earned money from the slave trade (PTG 3155-15613., 11 June 2020). It was announced in 2021, before Carnegie-Brown started as chairman, not to rename the Warner Stand because Sir Pelham never profited personally from the slave trade.  However, the report from the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket, which landed on the eve of the Lord’s Ashes Test this summer and was critical of MCC, brought the issue back on the agenda.The club’s members were described in the ICEC report as “out of touch, elitist and unrepresentative of both the wider population and those who play cricket”.

Carnegie-Brown is also chairman of Lloyds of London which publicly apologised in 2020 for its “shameful” role in the slave trade.  “We did a review investigating the MCC and its involvement in slavery and actually it is really benign in that respect:, he said.  “There is very little link to money that came into MCC or Lord’s that derived from slavery. I had a much bigger challenge at Lloyds of London, where we clearly underwrote slave cargoes going across the Atlantic and are making a response around that next month. So these challenges are live and we have to be very thoughtful about them”.

27/10

New Scotland CEO

26/10

Yorkshire Trustee removed after discriminatory social media posts

We'll never know now, who, what or how as the individual has been removed, as well as the offending posts, so only they can learn from it. 

Seven new WBBL umpires, two of them women, and an uncle-nephew pairing.
PTG Editor
Melbourne Age.
Thursday, 19 October 2023.
PTG 4318-21056.

Cricket Australia (CA) is to use 41 umpires, 6 of them women, and 9 match referees, none of them women, to manage the 56-match round-robin stage of its 2023-24 Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) series, the first game of which is due to get underway in Sydney on Thursday.  Women have been assigned 15 of the 112 on-field spots (13 percent) and 6 of the 21 TV  jobs (29 percent); just one match will see two women standing together; 42 of the 56 games (75 percent) will see two males on-field; while TV spots will be filled by those who have experience in that area as members of either CA's National Umpire Panel (NUP), second-tier Supplementary Umpire Panel (SUP), or the International Cricket Council’s third-tier umpires’ panel. 

Three members of CA’s top NUP make single cameo appearances as TV umpires, all seven from its second-tier SUP have multiple games on and off-field, with the rest of the on-field roles coming from all 31 members of the six State Umpire Panels (StUP); but the four on the Australian Capital Territory panel are not there as no games are scheduled for Canberra (PTG 4310-21022, 9 October 2023).  All eight of CA’s National Referees Panel will be in action across the tournament, while recently ‘retired' member Steve Bernard will also be in the mix, overseeing six matches, all of them in Sydney (PTG 4310-21021, 9 October 2023)

Victorians Lisa McCabe and Clare Haysom are the only females appointed to stand together across the 56 games; seven of the StUP members are to stand at WBBL level for the first time, Sam Burns (Tasmania), Mitch Claydon (NSW), Peter George (South Australia), Haysom (Victoria), Kate Holloman and Ahmad Khan (Western Australia), and Mattheus Wessels (Queensland); three former first class players Claydon, George and Wessels, have been allocated matches; and in a first for the competition (or for many higher-level series anywhere), an uncle and his nephew, Tasmanians Simon and Sam Burns respectively, are to stand together in a match in Hobart (the latter on his birthday).  

17/10

Black History Month at Trent Bridge

Pakistan’s female umpires again limited to fourth umpire roles in women’s ‘A' series. 
PTG Editor.
Wednesday, 18 October 2023.
PTG 4316-21049.

Female umpires have again been limited to fourth umpire duties for the nine white ball matches involving the women’s Pakistan A, West Indies A, and Thailand teams that are to be played in Lahore starting next week.  The four women chosen, Saleema Imtiaz, Sabahat Rashid, Humairah Farah and Afia Amin, who are members of the Pakistan Cricket Board’s new Women’s Umpire Panel  (PTG 4217-20635, 15 June 2023), are part of a Playing Control Team group that involves first class umpires Faisal Afridi, Muhammad Asif, Waleed Yaqub, Shozab Raza, Nasir Hussain, Abdul Moqeet, and Rashid Riaz.  

Amin and Imtiaz were given fourth umpire only roles in the men’s white ball series between Pakistan and South Africa in August (PTG 4273-20871, 17 August 2023).   Imtiaz and Farah made their women’s Twenty20 International debuts in last year’s women’s Asia Cup series in Bangladesh (PTG 4015-19733, 3 October 2022), but the other two are yet to stand at international level.  For the coming nine games, Nadeem Arshad, Muhammad Javed Malik, and Kamran Chaudhry, all men, will be overseeing games as match referees.  

Meanwhile, over in Spain where Irish and Scottish women’s sides are playing a five-match white ball series, three One Day Internationals (ODI) and two Twenty20 Internationals, it looks like an all-male Playing Control Team is involved.   The first ODI on Tuesday saw Aidan Seaver and Roly Black on-field, Mark Hawthorne the reserve umpire and Philip Thompson the match referee.

Ten months on skipper to serve WBBL slow over-rate ’time’.

Lachlan McKirdy.
Code Sports.
Monday, 16 October 2023.
PTG 4315-21044.

Sydney Sixers captain Ellyse Perry will be watching Thursday’s Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) season opener from the sidelines as she serves her one-match suspension for slow over rates during the 2022-23 season.  Perry was handed the ban after the Sixers were one over behind during their loss to the Strikers in last year’s final in early December, however, it was the side’s third such offence of that season which meant under WBBL Playing Conditions it automatically triggered the skipper’s suspension PTG 4064-19950, 6 December 2022)

Perry is one of the competition’s biggest draw cards and not having her involved in the first game of the season is a blow for crowds and stakeholders. The Sixers did not formally appeal the decision as they were behind on their overs. However, they did dispute with Cricket Australia (CA) the ability for a ban to carry over from a previous season. CA confirmed they are content with the decision given it is clearly stated in the Playing Conditions.  Perry said simply: “It’s in the competition rules”.

Alistair Dobson, Cricket Australia’s BBL general manager said: “We’d love to have her out there, she’s awesome and in great form at the moment.  But we operate within a competition that has rules and regulations and it’s an unfortunate by-product of last season”.  Perry’s teammates were also fined $A250 (£UK130) each for their third infringement in the final – a large discrepancy to the captain’s one-game ban. No details have been released about the two occasions Perry’s side was censured for slow over-rates.