ICC’s broadcast partner ESPN STAR Sports is all set to take women’s cricket to the next level when it televises seven matches of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2009, which has started with the Australia and New Zealand match at the North Sydney Oval on Sunday.
Following on from its successful broadcasting of the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa in 2007 and the ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup in Malaysia last year, ESPN STAR Sports has ensured that a global audience of billions will get to see the best of the best in women’s cricket.
The broadcast schedule for the eight-team tournament will see all matches at North Sydney Oval televised, also including two other group stage matches, three Super Six stage matches and the 22 March final.
A full list of official broadcasters can be found at: http://iccwomensworldcup.yahoo.net/aboutwwc09/broadcast-coverage.html
All eight participating nations will have live television coverage of the tournament in their home countries and it will also be televised in countries like China, Fiji, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore and Tanzania.
ESPN STAR Sports and its licensees will service cricket’s traditional heartlands in South Asia, England Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and the coverage will also be seen across the continents of Africa, throughout the Middle East, Pacific Islands and in the nations of the West Indies.
In addition to this, ESPN STAR Sports will stream the games live on their website, www.espnstar.com, in certain territories and the service will be available free of charge. This ensures that this tournament will have a reach of well over 200 countries and can be viewed in mainland Europe and South America.
ESPN STAR Sports has lined up an experienced combination of men’s and women’s commentators for the tournament that includes former Gloucestershire and Glamorgan left-arm fast bowler Alan Wilkins, former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram, former New Zealand fast bowler Danny Morrison, former Australia women’s captain and lead run-scorer in women’s cricket Belinda Clark, former New Zealand women’s captain and her country’s most successful batter to date Deborah Hockley and former Australia batter Melanie Jones who scored 1,028 runs in 61 ODIs and also played in five Tests.
Clark, who scored 4,844 in a brilliant career, said: “It is great that ESPN STAR Sports is covering seven matches live which means the sport will go to a worldwide audience as never before.
“These are great and exciting times for women’s cricket and I am pleased to see that everything is being done for the promotion and development of the game. I am sure the players will remember of this tournament for a very long time.”
ICC’s news access licensee Sports News Television (SNTV) will also make available to its subscribers Video News Releases (VNRs) on all the seven broadcast matches. This will ensure that news broadcasters in around 100 countries will get access to highlights from the event for their news programmes.
The Women’s World Cup has been running for longer than the men’s version and was first staged in England in 1973. Australia has won the tournament five times in 1978, 1982, 1988, 1997 and 2005 while England has won the event in 1973 and 1993, and New Zealand in 2000.
The format of the event involves the teams being divided into two groups. Australia, New Zealand, the West Indies and South Africa are in Group A while India, England, Sri Lanka and Pakistan are in Group B.
The top three sides in each group go forward to the Super Six stage where each side then plays the teams which have qualified from the other group. The top two sides from the Super Six go forward to the final.
(Source: ICC)
