Women's World Cup: Been there done that

Two years before the towering West Indian skipper, Clive Lloyd had clasped his hands around the World Cup to lift it in 1975; England skipper Rachael Heyhoe-Flint had already been there and done that in 1973.

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While today's women are slowly gaining increasing respect and media attention for their craft, in 1973, people barely knew that women played cricket. They soon learned of its existence, when businessman Jack Hayward, with a rather generous contribution of 40,000 pounds to the costs, concocted the first women’s World Cup. The concept soon grabbed positive attention, particularly when graced with royalty for the final at Edgbaston.

Princess Anne watched Heyhoe-Flint strike a fifty and take the match for the hosts against Australia. It gained political approval, too, with Prime Minister Edward Heath hosting a reception for the then world champions at 10 Downing Street.

“It certainly is something to be proud about, the fact that it was the women who played the first ever World Cup, “ said Nilima Joglekar nee Barve, who made her One-day debut for the Indian women’s team against England during the second edition of the World Cup. “The Indian women did lose out on the bragging rights since our national team participated in the second World Cup in 1978, three years after the men, but the important thing is that we women started it all.”

The inaugural World Cup had seven teams participating in it – England, Australia, New Zealand, International XI, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Young England. The second edition of the tournament was hosted by India and was played out between four nations – Australia, New Zealand, England and India.

“No word in any vocabulary can express or explain the emotions that one experiences when donning the national colours,” said Shubhangi Kulkarni, who interestingly, made her One-day debut during the 1978 World Cup against New Zealand. “The one thing I remember very vividly is that we were overwhelmed. We were up against the best sides in the world and the shorter version of the game was to be frank, a little alien to us,” added Kulkarni, the former India skipper.

Barve too reiterates the same. “We were babies when we played our first World Cup,” said 49-year-old Barve, who played just one match in the tournament that year. “We were a confused lot to say the least; all of us were going through a sea of emotions. On one hand we were proud of the fact that we were representing the country, and at the same time, we were overwhelmed by our opponents.”

The result-hosts India lost all their matches but they did gain a bag full of experience.

“Test cricket was more popular then.It’s not like we were the champions in that format, but we had picked it up pretty well,” explains 51-year-old Kulkarni. “The World Cup, played in the 50-over format, was a whole new ball game. We had to unlearn a lot to adjust to it.”

Barve points outs, “Since we were the hosts we got the opportunity to observe the top teams –England, Australia and New Zealand. And we certainly picked up a trick or two from our opponents.”

And the proof of that was India’s performance during the 1981-82 World Cup in New Zealand. It was in this edition that the Indian women registered their first win in a World Cup. The 79-run win came against the International XI side at Napier. In all, India won 4 out of the 12 games that they played. They beat the International XI side thrice and England once.

“The win over England was the most memorable,” said Kulkarni, who picked up three wickets for 19 runs as India won the match by 47 runs. “I remember the team had celebrated as though we had won the World Cup. It was the biggest upset of the tournament. That was the World Cup moment for me.”

Indian skipper Jhulan Goswami went through a similar sea of emotions when in 2005, India beat New Zealand to enter the World Cup final, which they eventually lost to Australia. “We were on top of the world. The atmosphere in the dressing room was electrifying,” explained the 27-year-old medium pacer. “I was bowling to Rebecca Steele and the moment I rattled the stumps the whole team came and hugged me. I don’t think anyone could believe that we had actually entered the World Cup final.”

In the subsequent edition of the World Cup, Jhulan was made the captain. “With captaincy came a whole lot of responsibility. But I enjoyed it. And the icing on the cake was we got to beat the world champions Australia and claim the third place,” said Jhulan.

Since the inception of the World Cup the women certainly have been more consistent performers in World Cup (see box).

“We have been consistent because we have been striving for recognition,” said Kulkarni. “It’s been a rocky road. We have been criticized for the lack of skill, for not being flashy, but it’s just not us. This is the case the world over. But then you have to remember that before Sachin Tendulkar there was Belinda Clarke,” said Kulkarni, who credited the transformation of women’s cricket to the merger of International Women’s Cricket Council (IWCC) into the International Cricket Council (ICC). “There has been a sea of change since. The Women’s Cricket Association for India (WCAI) too merged with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that brought in another level of professionalism to the sport. The players got better facilities and are now looked after,” added Kulkarni, who was the secretary of WCAI when it got merged into BCCI in 2006.

Jhulan too treads a similar line. But she points out to the lack of a proper domestic setup which is hurting the women’s game. “Since the merger we have got a number of facilities at our disposal but what the women’s cricket lacks is a proper domestic structure,” stated Jhulan. “Between the World Cup and the T20 Championship, we need more matches. If we have a domestic structure similar to what the men have, our country sure has the potential to generate more players. A firm domestic setup will go a long way in forming a World Cup winning team.”