How the all-conquering women
taught the Aussie men a lesson
Female role models were
crucial when it came to
changing team culture,
writes Isabelle Westbury
‘T
his isn’t equality.
This is charity,”
was one of a
number of similar
comments which
greeted the news
that Australia women’s cricket
team would receive the same
prize money at next year’s World
Twenty20 as the men’s team
might expect.
“This makes no economic or
commercial sense, it’s simply
political. Very sad,” continued the
comment. Whenever women’s
sport makes the news there is a
small but persistent commentary
that accompanies it; that women’s
sport is propped up by men’s,
subsidised by male generosity,
charity even. Only this is not the
case in Australian cricket. From
where the sport was 18 months ago
to where it is now, Australia’s
women have not so much been a
part of the men’s transformation
story from cheating losers to Ashes
contenders, but integral to it.
In the immediate aftermath of
the ball-tampering incident in
March last year, the ensuing
culture review went out of its way
to state that women’s cricket in the
country remained “unaffected” by
the incident’s tainting of cricket’s
reputation. Instead, referencing an
attitude in the men’s game towards
the spirit of cricket as a “ ‘nice to
have’ not ‘need to have’, ” the
review said that the “women’s team
get it – and are great ambassadors
for the spirit of cricket”.
This all sounds lovely, but it also
reflected a stereotype of women’s
sport as a cuddly, less competitive
version of the men’s. Indeed, whenthe newly-appointed captain Tim
Paine started introducing
handshakes with the opposing
team as a pre-match ritual, many
past Australian male cricketers
voiced their displeasure,
perceiving it as a soft departure
from the hard-edged ruthlessness
that had brought them so much
success in the past.
Cricket Australia, however,
persevered. After all, its women’s
team were finding success on the
pitch while still managing to be
pleasant human beings. Here
were role models that those in the
men’s team, at the time, could
hardly be called.
“We had a benchmark – both in
terms of on-field performance and
playing in a manner that’s
consistent with the spirit of
cricket,” Cricket Australia’s
chief executive, Kevin
Roberts, told The Daily
Telegraph. “We ended up
looking really
closely at what
the Australian
women’s team
represent.”
These
sentiments were
soon underlined by
action. The
Australian women’s
vice-captain, Rachael
Haynes, was co-opted
on to a player-led review
alongside a number of
men’s cricketers. And then
there was the leadership
programme. Thirty senior
cricketers, coaches and
administrators within
Cricket Australia were sent
on the Harvard-style
course. Roughly equal
numbers of women and
men participated,including Haynes, and the
women’s captain, Meg Lanning.
Involving women, in all aspects
of cricket, from coaching, to
administration, to encouraging
more and more to play, it has been
seen as integral to changing the
way Australia’s men have gone
about their cricket. It has, almost
inadvertently, also proven very
helpful to the women’s team.
In the 2017 women’s World Cup,
Australia were knocked out by
India in the semi-finals at a time
when the women’s team were
reaching their own, albeit less
disastrous, breaking point. A
clique had formed, dividing some
of the higher, more intimidating
personalities within the team – the
likes of Lanning, Ellyse Perry and
Alyssa Healy – and, well, the rest.
A chance to pause, reflect and
approach some of Lanning and co’s
failings in an honest and
constructive manner led to a
more inclusive approach.
Newcomers have felt
welcome and the team
have played more as a
team, less reliant on a
few individuals –
much to England’s
disadvantage.
On the eve of the greatest
challenge of Paine’s career, it
is to role models and
behaviour, the values
upheld by Australia’s
women, that
Australia’s men’s
captain is turning to.
This is no small
coincidence.
Whether it is
immediately
beneficial, we will
see, but for Australian
cricket’s wider future,
the inclusion of
women, on and off the
pitch, is now seen as
imperative. Let us
hope it catches on.Big influence:
Australia captain
Meg LanningThe Daily Telegraph Thursday 1 August 2019 ** 5
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