Ambitions for women's game not diluted by impact of pandemic, stresses Tom Harrison

NICK FRIEND: The ECB chief executive stressed that despite the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the sport, it would not cause “any kind of dilution on our commitment” to the women’s game

Tom Harrison reaffirmed his commitment to women’s cricket on the day that England Women faced West Indies in the first international women’s match on free-to-air television in the United Kingdom since the 1993 World Cup final.

The ECB chief executive stressed that despite the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the sport, it would not cause “any kind of dilution on our commitment” to the women’s game.

He was speaking at the beginning of a significant weekend, with England’s 20-run win at Derbyshire’s Incora County Ground – sealing a series victory with two games still to play – to be followed on Sunday by the final of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy at Edgbaston.

Given the wider context around a campaign shaped by Covid-19, he added: “We feel like 2020 – when it could have been a year of oblivion for women’s cricket – has been a net positive, which is something we are very proud of.”

A 24-strong England squad began training in late June ahead of a belated international summer, which saw knockbacks when both India and South Africa were forced to withdraw from tours, while there was further disappointment when the 50-over World Cup, initially scheduled for next February, was postponed by the ICC for 12 months.

It means that 2022, as it stands, is due to feature an Ashes series, 50-over World Cup, T20 World Cup and Commonwealth Games, making it “the biggest year of women’s cricket that you could ever imagine – there are almost too many things to focus on”.

Harrison explained, however, that even when the women’s international summer appeared to be in crisis following South Africa’s withdrawal, he had been determined to ensure that Heather Knight’s side played some cricket.

“Right at the start of the pandemic, we were looking at the strategy for getting through this summer,” he recalled. “There are all sorts of different elements to the strategy: you have your financial realities, your ambitions with respect to participation and all the things we set about trying to achieve in Inspiring Generations.

^{The Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy has proven to be a huge success}

“At that point, it became very clear that we were going to need to commit very early to ensure that the women’s game had a portion of the summer where we could focus on it.

“There is an element of pride associated with that because we just couldn’t have a situation where we didn’t play any international women’s cricket.”

He added that there was pride, too, in managing to proceed with the governing body’s planned revamp of the domestic infrastructure even in spite of extenuating circumstances.

As well as launching eight new regional hubs and setting up the one-off Heyhoe Flint Trophy to provide an elite competition in a summer that might otherwise have seen no domestic cricket, 25 players were handed retainer contracts to take them through the summer.

Those deals, along with 15 others to be awarded at the end of the season, will become the first batch of women’s professional domestic contracts.

Rising importance of analysts symbolic of women's domestic cricket's changing face

“To get that up and running has been super-important to us, to try whatever we could to get something to say: ‘We said we were going to start in 2020, let’s start in 2020,’” he explained.

“It might not have been the start we absolutely wanted it to be, but we’ve got it up and running and it has started to achieve some of the things that we need so desperately to achieve for the women’s pathway.”

On how the economic effect of recent months might alter the ECB’s commitment to the women’s game, Harrison said: “There are different ways of achieving the result: you either do it yourself, which normally means you end up paying for a lot of things or you can enable things to happen through partnership, through working with others, through creatively challenging yourself to come up with a different way of achieving the same outcome for less money.

“That is some of the thinking we’re having to do across the board at the ECB. While none of our ambition around Inspiring Generations is being diluted by the pandemic’s impact on our finances, it does mean we have to be an awful lot smarter about how we deploy our resources – in terms of money, talent and people.

“That’s the work that we’re undergoing now. It’s a really difficult time at the ECB, with many people’s jobs at risk and going through this extremely difficult process. It is a really, really tough moment but our commitment to the women’s game remains as strong. You’ll see a continued commitment to growth in this part of the game, which is so fundamental to our future.”

^{Nat Sciver made 82 as England beat West Indies to secure a series win}

But while English cricket is clear on its own position, Harrison also accepted the “danger that women’s cricket development becomes isolated in the strongest countries at the moment”.

“With the stress on the finances of global cricket, you can see countries around the world really feeling the pressure not to invest into what they see as development areas as opposed to commercially generating areas,” he warned.

“I do think that’s an area of focus for the world game, and I do think the ECB will be a leading voice in saying that work needs to be done to ensure that the women’s game continues to be funded, and that funding generated from the women’s game goes into the development of the women’s game, which is not always the case.”

That situation extends to the subject of women’s Test cricket. Nick Hockley, Cricket Australia’s interim chief executive, has spoken in recent days, giving his backing to the idea of playing more women’s Tests.

And while Harrison agrees with Hockley – “it’s very clearly a key focus for our Ashes series”, he admitted that finding widespread support remains a challenge.

“I think the situation with Test cricket is difficult because it will be difficult to find the commercial support for Test cricket, so you’re immediately into a different place on where Test cricket for the women’s game fits,” he suggested.

“At the moment, it’s a key part of Ashes series; we’re trying to work out what is the right balance for women’s Test cricket. I think if you asked that question right now, you wouldn’t have too many international teams putting up their hands and saying: ‘This makes sense for us.’

“It certainly works for us and it certainly does for Australia. Outside that, I think we have to do a lot of work to work out how that fits into something that builds a narrative for the women’s game internationally.”

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