FAZEER ON WOMEN’S CRICKET IN WI

CCNTV6

Cricket analyst Fazeer Mohammed is concerned about the state of women's cricket in the Caribbean, saying the administrators are all about talk and less action.   He says while other countries provide more support to the women's game, it's just the opposite in this part of the world.

Transcript

00:00There has been a decline in the standard of women's cricket in the Caribbean, with the

00:04West Indies having it tough. Cricket analyst Fazir Mohammed says it all boils down to a

00:10lack of effort on the part of administrators in the different islands, resulting in the

00:15type of cricket that fans have been witnessing in this part of the world.

00:19I'll be honest and say that a lot of the cricket that I saw in the CPL, the women's CPL, was

00:23almost like watching cricket in slow motion because the standards weren't there to the

00:29highest level that you would expect. But again, it really comes down to finding that

00:35talent and insisting on the very highest standards. Because if you use Australia as the yardstick,

00:42we're some distance away. So what do we need to do? We need to stop giving lip service.

00:49We need to stop saying things and then not following up on it.

00:53When Mohammed was in England recently, he attended the Women's 100 competition. According

00:58to the well-respected analyst, the turnout at the matches was different to what he's

01:02observed over the years during women's matches in the Caribbean.

01:06Because I had the opportunity when the West Indies were in England for those three test

01:10matches to see a day of the 100 being played at the Utilita Bowl in Southampton. And the

01:18women's game was first and the ground was almost full. But it was full with a different

01:24type of audience. It was an audience of women, children, families. What the authorities are

01:31doing with the 100, they are using it as a springboard to grow the women's game, but

01:36also introduce new audiences. So you have a different vibe, a different environment.

01:42After the West Indies ladies won the 2016 T20 World Cup, fans in this region still did

01:48not support women's cricket. So what does Mohammed think should be done to bring crowds

01:52to matches?

01:53You got to say, well, okay, what can we do to attract families? Because it's a different

01:58audience. What can we do to provide events and entertainment, whether it's bouncy castles,

02:04whether it's different forms of entertainment. Everything is not nonstop soaker. It has to

02:08be something else to bring the crowds to enjoy an entire day, an entire spectacle. It takes

02:14effort, it takes money, it takes sponsorship. But if you don't have the will, and if you

02:19feel just allow it, saying, well, free entry, and let's hope for the best. And then we saw

02:23what happened in the women's final. This is what's going to happen year after year.

02:28Mohammed believes it's time to invest in the women by identifying talent around the Caribbean.

02:33He says by neglecting women, 50% of the population is being ignored.

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