The 2024 T20 Women’s Cricket World Cup, which began on 3 October, was faced with major challenges in the lead-up to the tournament. Due to civil unrest in Bangladesh, the official host country of the tournament, the competition was moved to the UAE.
The change of location has seen Sharjah Cricket Stadium and Dubai International Cricket Stadium host the matches throughout the tournament.
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Understandably, it is both too early and too difficult to quantify what this change of location will have on the women’s cricket landscape in Bangladesh, however, the overarching feeling in and around the cricketing world is that it is a real shame that Bangladesh women won’t be able to experience the benefits of hosting a World Cup, not yet anyway.
From hosting the tournament, Bangladesh would’ve benefited from the huge boost in investment and participation, particularly from the grassroots level. They would’ve been playing in front of a home crowd, with young girls able to watch their role models, boosting the level of girls’ cricket participation in Bangladesh.
Unfortunately, the tournament being held in the UAE will not have the same effect. The last ICC tournament held in the UAE was the men’s T20 World Cup in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The tournament failed to attract many fans, not only because of the pandemic but the location of the tournament. Women’s cricket has grown over the last few years and has been able to generate large crowds, something that women’s cricketers have also envisioned. It might not be a great look for the sport if there are predominantly empty stadiums to watch the matches.
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By GlobalDataThere were major worries before the tournament that this year’s edition would mirror the men’s tournament a few years ago. However, there have been some positive signs that this may not be the case.
The India-Pakistan clash at the Dubai International Stadium on 6 October broke the attendance record for any group stage match in a women’s T20 World Cup. The Group A match attracted an attendance of 15,935. The previous best came during the 2020 edition when a crowd of 13,432 spectators attended India vs. Australia on 21 February at the Sydney Showground Stadium.
An India-Pakistan contest is generally going to draw a crowd in, but the other matches at this year’s tournament have not seen the same fan attendance, which was expected.
The previous T20 Women’s World Cup was played only last year, in South Africa, and was the most-watched ICC women’s event to date and created a long-term legacy for women’s cricket in South Africa.
Bangladesh is missing out on this, and with South Africa making last year’s final, the match saw brilliant home support. If India do not make this year’s final, the attendance will certainly be limited, and will certainly not be showcasing the sport as it deserves.
The local enthusiasm for women’s cricket is limited, therefore, with only a few weeks’ notice, most games have been played out in almost empty stadiums. As the new hosts, the UAE are, however, not one of the 10 teams involved in the tournament, so for the home side, seeing a women’s World Cup on home soil will be bittersweet, given that two decades ago, the country was not even able to put together a team of 11 female players.
Not only is fan attendance an issue, but the lack of data is also a problem for the competing teams. Since 2014, there have only been 22 top-tier women’s T20 Internationals in the UAE, as well as some World Cup qualifiers. Therefore, teams did not know how the pitches would play until the tournament started.
When the men played the World Cup in the UAE a few years ago, dew played a major role in the variable pitch conditions that they faced. However, there is a debate as to whether any meaningful conclusions can be taken from that. None of the big three women’s teams, England, Australia and India, have ever played an international game in the UAE.
The UAE was the best option to stage the tournament, especially as India rejected ICC’s offer to host. With this being said, this will be the first women’s T20 World Cup at a neutral venue, and Dubai has not hosted any of the 10 competing teams in a women’s T20 International previously.
The lack of data has made planning for the tournament quite difficult. The teams would have spent a year planning on playing on the pitches in Bangladesh, forming a side that would suit the pitches. However, all this work was essentially pointless.
Data has become a huge part of cricket, enabling teams to somewhat predict what conditions may be like for matches, so arriving at a tournament without the data that they would usually have, may have a huge impact.
On a positive note, the prize money for this year’s tournament is a true reflection of the progress and growth that the women’s game has experienced over the last decade. The total prize pot is an impressive $7,958,080, more than double that of the 2023 edition.
This significant boost ensures that the winners of the 2024 tournament will walk away with $2.34 million – a 124% increase from the $1 million that was awarded to Australia in 2023.
This year’s tournament is monumental for women’s cricket being the first women’s global tournament since the ICC announced equal prize money for both men’s and women’s tournaments.
This major increase in prize money reflects the ICC’s vision for parity between the men’s and women’s games but also further elevates the status of the women’s T20 World Cup as one of the premier events in the cricketing calendar.
The T20 World Cup final takes place on Sunday (October 20) with South Africa women to face the winner of today’s match between the West Indies and New Zealand.
