The International Cricket Council (ICC) has launched 100% Cricket a 12-month campaign dedicated to the promotion of women’s cricket to build on the momentum of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020.
The campaign was launched on International Women’s Day (8th March) ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney 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 an 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 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.”
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.
The ICC’s pledge to bring 1million 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:
The campaign demonstrates the ambition of the sport of cricket to accelerate the growth of the women’s game and capitalise on the record-breaking momentum that has been created by the latest women’s T-20 World Cup.
The ICC T-20 Women’s World Cup in numbers….
701m Group stage video views (beating 100m views for the 2017 women’s world cup in its entirety)
TV viewing minutes in Australia (hosts and winners of the tournament) spiked by 1600% while the runners-up India saw a 213% spike in viewing minutes.
The first 12 matches of the tournament saw 2.46bn viewing minutes in India (compared to 787m viewing minutes for the equivalent games in the 2018 tournament).
The most watched match in the UK was England versus the West Indies with an average audience of 245,000 on Sky Sports.
The tournament was broadcast in almost 160 territories through live and highlights television coverage, while live digital coverage on streaming platforms (e.g. Hotstar in India) reached more than 200 territories.
The final attracted a tournament record 86,174 spectators at the famous Melbourne Cricket Ground (compared to the previous highest final crowd in 2009 when 12,717 watched England beat New Zealand in Sydney).
John Stephenson
