Hello and welcome to Stumped, your intercontinental hit of news, features, and debate
from the quirky world of cricket. I'm Alison Mitchell in London, where I've been knee deep
researching for an event that I'm gonna be working on that I have never been involved with before.
I'll tell you more about that next week. But in the meantime, I'm very excited for the Women's
World Cup starting over in New Zealand. Although, it's been pretty hard to concentrate on much,
what with the events going on much closer to home here in Europe in Ukraine, but I have to say Jim and
Charu, having you to speak to is a very welcome distraction. Yes, sport is a bit of a distraction
when these events occur. The distraction here is the water. If you're not amphibious,
you just won't survive. I mean, there's so much water in southeast Queensland, northern
New South Wales, floods everywhere. Even on the verge of Sydney, we've got floods at the moment.
We've had a bucket load of rain and they've already called all the cricket off in Sydney
yesterday for the weekend. So that's how bad it is. So hopefully it'll dry out at some point,
but at the moment the only time it stops is for the clouds to go away and get a refill and dump on us again.
Hello everybody, this is Charu Sharma for All India Radio. Glad to be here because we've
got the Davis Cup on this weekend - India taking on Denmark - and we're playing on a grass
surface here at the Delhi Gymkhana Club, where there was a special edition of Stumped sometime
back. The courts are being prettied up and readied for this wonderful contest. But, of course, plenty
of cricket too. India can't seem to put a foot wrong against West Indies earlier, and against
the Sri Lankans in white-ball cricket. And now it's a little bit of red-ball cricket here as well,
which is an important one amongst others for Virat Kohli. We'll see how that goes.
We are going to start this week's show with the women's 50-over World Cup, because it's getting under way in
New Zealand, 391 days after it was originally meant to happen. Of course, it was postponed due to the
outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Eight teams are taking part and only England, Australia and
the hosts New Zealand have ever lifted the Women's World Cup trophy. So, I wonder this time, whether
a new name could end up being on the trophy. I've been speaking to Andrea Nelson, who is the chief
executive of the ICC Women's World Cup and she's been telling me how she's feeling about the event
and the preparations put in place. Well Andrea, the World Cup has finally come around. Now that
all the preparation has been done, how are you feeling about things?
Look, it's been a journey longer than we expected at the outset and its had many twists and turns, and to finally be at the
action point of this tournament is... I cannot tell you how excited the team and I are to make it happen.
To see the athletes here in Christchurch and around New Zealand, that's just a real buzz for us.
How challenging has it been given that the original tournament was postponed due to the pandemic back in 2020?
When we set out to do this tournament, we talked about what we wanted to achieve and that
was to own our moment on the journey of women's sport and showcase New Zealand in that journey.
We are the first of three World Cups that are happening here, so it's a really exciting moment
in time. That really sustained us through what has been a really challenging couple of years,
you know. We initially were postponed, and for very good reasons due to the lack of the ability
of the teams to prepare and qualify... I said 2020, but it was 2021, of course, was the original date, wasn't it?
Yeah, 2021 and we would've been wrapped up last year. It's such an important event on the
woman's cricket calendar that it was important that the teams had the chance to prepare well,
and some of the teams weren't even able to gather at that point. It was the right
decision to postpone. New Zealand's been on its own journey. We've had a different Covid journey
to many other countries and so there've been many twists and turns along the way. So, as I say
I'm just so excited we're finally here.
What is the actual situation in New Zealand, Covid wise at the moment? What conditions will the players be
operating under when the tournament gets going?
Yes, so unfortunately, we are in our first real Covid wave that has happened here in New Zealand.
Previously the country undertook a more of a zero-Covid policy. Obviously, with the emergence
of omicron, we're currently experiencing a wave - the biggest New Zealand's ever seen - but broadly
speaking, it's not significantly different to the way cricket's operated around the world for the
last two years. Whilst here in New Zealand, it can be a bit of an unusual time and the players
are living in a managed event environment. So, we're looking after them in their hotels, they're
flying domestic charters, there's the ability to get out and about and do safe activities.
New Zealand is a lovely outdoor country with lots of space and lots of fun things you can do without
being in crowded environments. So, we're really looking after the teams wellbeing in that way.
In terms of the crowds, I guess the biggest impact for us is at the moment...
at the moment, I'm talking to you and it could change at any point, really. We are operating with
really reduced crowds, so we can bring people in pods of 100. They each need to have their
own sort of services, so it means the numbers are restricted right down to probably below 10% capacity...
And that's such a shame, isn't it when there was the record crowd at the MCG for the
T20 World Cup, and prior to that the 2017 World Cup, the final was played out in front of a sold
out Lord's. How are you, in a way, are you able to somehow compensate for the lack of crowds?
Well, I guess firstly, it's a long tournament and things change, so we are not necessarily
assuming that'll be the case throughout the event. We're working really hard to maximise the
number of people we can bring in. We were on track to sell out several games at this tournament,
not just the final. The White Ferns are obviously having a great run of form at the moment,
and the local interest is high, so we're working really hard with all of our partners here to bring
it to life for New Zealanders. We've increased free-to-air television broadcast of it, our
digital channels are working really hard. We've got billboards that will show the live scores,
and opportunities to do things online. So, we're really doing everything we can to grow that excitement,
but you know, I am an eternal optimist. So, as I speak today, I can't tell you for sure that we won't
have those sold-out crowds for you. Well, that's one of the things as an event organiser I'm keen
to ask. How do you plan for things which are outside of your control? As you say, things could
easily change between now and the midway point of the tournament and the end of the tournament.
I think Alison, at any point in the last two years what we thought would happen has changed
almost monthly, so the one big lesson I've learnt in this environment is you can't get too stuck on
your plans. You have to be really focused on what are you trying to achieve, and for us it is where
I started that owning our moment on their amazing global story of Woman's sport just taking off
across every code, but cricket really at the heart of that. You talk about Lord's. That was a game
changing event globally and the MCG, I was lucky enough to be there for the final. So, we need to
do honour to that history and take it to the next step in the way that we can. The environment we're
in, it might be great, or it might not be great. We just have to make the best of what we've got
and handed on to the next host to take it further. Do you feel this seems to have been a particularly
big year for women's sport, isn't it? Yeah, look, and I cannot tell you enough here in New Zealand.
Our Deputy Prime Minister who is also our Minister of Sport laid out when the government was first
elected, that women and sport was the number one priority for them, and it is
absolutely true in the way sport is developing here. We're a few years behind England in some
ways and professionalization of some of our codes, but we have three World Cups. We've got this one;
later this year, we have rugby; next year, we're co-hosting the FIFA World Cup with Australia.
That is going to be a total stick change. We're talking about super charging years of development
in woman's sport, but also cricket is such a leader in this space. The domestic competition,
the Super Smash, has been played out with double headers often with the women playing second on
primetime, free-to-air television and the impact that's had; I'll tell you, this summer when I was
playing cricket with my six-year-old nephew and he hit a six, he yelled out "Sophie Devine!"
Well, that shows you that things are changing. That's interesting because The Hundred is
going down that route in the English summer this season, with flipping some of those double
headers and having the women on second up. You've got vast experience in event planning
and major events because you've worked across the Olympics, football, rugby.
Have there been particular challenges or how different has the experience been of organising a major cricket event?
I think every event you work on has its own sort of challenges
and opportunities. I've worked in Rugby League and won the amazing things there with bring together
Pacific Island culture in New Zealand, which has such a strong part of the community, but
often not very visible. Through that tournament, I don't know if you saw over there, Tonga were just
a revelation. We had 5000 people turn up at one in the morning to meet them at the airport. It was
a month-long party across New Zealand, so you know that was the opportunity there. Of course,
the London Olympics I was so lucky that I was part of that from the bid,
right the way through to the end - with the exclusion of the two maternity leaves - I had two
children in that period. Every event is different. This one, I think it's safe to say the Covid
environment for every sports organiser and every sports administrator is a massive challenge and
anyone who says it isn't, I just don't believe them. Ultimately what I've really learnt from
it is you've just got to focus on what you can control and what you want to achieve, and don't
let the barriers get in your way. You've got to keep going. One of the significant things about
this tournament is the prize money being doubled by the ICC, compared to what it was in 2017.
That is a significant step, isn't it? Absolutely, and before 2017, I believe it was $200,000
and so the growth in that is phenomenal. That's where I think it's not just the prize money. Here
in New Zealand, we hosted the World Cup in 2000 and we won and at that home World Cup,
the girls were staying in student accommodation. They were balloted out. They were playing at great...
New Zealand doesn't have bad cricket grounds to be honest, they're all pretty fantastic,
but very small out of town or thick and browns. But now here at this tournament, the girls are
staying in water by star accommodation. They're flying business class to come in,
they're training at the best training facilities. They're playing at the best cricket grounds
and that comes about with cricket really investing in women's sport. You know it's not lip service
when you're actually putting that concrete investment in and it makes a massive difference to the
quality of the cricket I think we're going to see. That 2000 tournament and 2005 were both
played before the ICC took over the running of the game, so that significant rise over the years of
investment of the game moving forward. What do you want, Andrea, the legacy of this tournament to be?
We've got some really amazing physical legacies here in New Zealand and one thing I'm particularly
proud of and it was actually when I went for my job interview for this role, I talked about the
fact that female athletes often can't change at the facilities after they perform because the
toilets don't have cubicles, the showers don't have have walls and doors. As a result of this
tournament, all of the facilities at all of our venues are now female friendly.
That is fantastic! You'd Imagine that is in place anyway. Well, you'd think so, but at Eden Park were two cubicles. So,
if you imagine even the rugby team going on to play having to queue up or use the public loos. It
shows you sometimes it's the small things, and on top of that we've got new lights at Hagley Oval,
so the final will be under lights here in Christchurch. You might know Christchurch
was really significantly impacted by the earthquakes, and so to see
that rebuild it will bring international cricket here for generations to come. But
I think the biggest legacy is the profile of the sport, of the players; I'm the mother
of two boys and one of them is a total cricket nut. He sees no difference between you know
Kane Williamson and Sophie Devine. To him, they are the same. That's the legacy that I
think we can leave as an event and as part of the journey of woman's cricket.
If I can get you to put a cricket punditry hat on to finish with, you mentioned New Zealand winning in 2000.
It's the only time that a country other than England and Australia has lifted the trophy.
With your New Zealand heart beating in your chest, so you think they could cause an upset?
I think it would be an upset, but absolutely I think they can cause it. I've had the privilege
of getting to know the women of the White Ferns over the last couple of years and they're
incredibly impressive - a real combination of some longstanding talent and some newer up and
coming faces. They've got the advantage of knowing the grounds, they have been playing as you see,
four or one against India in the recent ODI series. They've been playing over the summer
at these ground, so if they're going to be able to pull it off, this the tournament they'll be
able to do it in. As a tournament organiser, I will welcome any winner, but as a Kiwi I
will of course be backing the White Ferns. Andrea, an absolute pleasure speaking to
you and best wishes for the tournament. We'll be following it, of course, very closely on Stumped.
Thank you, Alison. That's Andrea Nelson, the chief executive of the ICC
Women's World Cup. Just a few things Jim and Charu I want to pick up on what she was saying there. The first one is, I
suppose that question of legacy. But firstly, the way the tournament is distributed and how widely
it will be seen free-to-air on television in New Zealand noless, but around the world as well. Just
simply for New Zealand, Jim, it's going to be a huge boost for women's sport in the country?
Well, yes, as women's cricket has been in most countries where it's had success and it's not
just Australia, but also with India and Pakistan coming into it, the West Indies, England,
South Africa. Yes, it'll be a big boost and an even bigger one given that New Zealand squandered
an opportunity in men's cricket to beat South Africa for the first time ever in a Test series,
by being out played if we can put it that way with a strange looking bowling attack that didn't have
a spinner in the Test in Christchurch. Now all the attention in terms of cricket can
switch to what's happening with the New Zealand women's team, which clearly at home is going
be powerful. Just go on Sophie Divine's little warm up the other day against Australia
when they splattered the Australian bowlers and won the game by nine wickets chasing over
300, so that's all important. The tough bit for the profile of this tournament in New Zealand
is that Super Rugby started, so they've got a bit of competition there because rugby is
the number one ants pants game in New Zealand. But they've got their window of opportunity, and as
you said if it's on free-to-air tv, that makes a big difference.
Well, that's all we've got time for on this week's Stumped on All India Radio. Don't forget you can follow us throughout the week
on Twitter. We're @BBCWSSport and use #BBCStumped. And, of course, you can watch us on Youtube as
well. Just search for the BBC World Service's Youtube channel. My thanks to Charu Sharma and
Jim Maxwell and of course to you all for listening and watching. We'll see you next week. Bye bye.