Sophie Devine And Jemimah Rodrigues Suggest The Use Of A Smaller Ball And Shorter Pitches To Attract More Fans To Women's Cricket

Sophie Devine, New Zealand swashbuckling all-rounder, and India’s Jemimah Rodrigues have come up with interesting ideas to increase the popularity of Women cricket among the fans, something that they believe can possibly take the game to a new level.

Sophie Devine and Jemimah Rodrigues recently engaged in an innovation webinar organized by the International Cricket Council.

The White Ferns’ opener suggested the use of a smaller ball in women’s cricket as compared to men’s cricket. Women’s cricket already employs a smaller ball compared to what is used in men’s cricket but Devine feels a further trial and error could be worth a try.

“I think if we are stuck with traditional formats, we’d be missing out on a lot of new players, new kids, new athletes to the game,” Sophie Devine said during an International webinar organized by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Sophie Devine and Jemimah Rodrigues gave their suggestions on how to further increase the popularity of Women’s cricket

Devine, however, feels the size of the pitch should not be altered as it will allow fast bowlers to generate more pace and spinners to turn the ball more.

“I’m probably a big fan of looking at a smaller ball, but keeping the pitch the same size, where I think pacers are going to be able to bowl quicker, spinners are going be able to turn the ball more,” the all-rounder added.

Jemimah Rodrigues, on the other hand, is all for the usage of a shorter pitch. The Mumbai batswoman geeks that experimentation will help women’s cricket reach the next level and possibly attract a lot more fans.

“We can also be open to (a shorter pitch), try it out. If that is going to help the game improve and take it to the next level, then why not?” Jemimah Rodrigues said.

“We want to get more people to watch the game and more people to even join the game. So, yeah, I think it is a good idea.” she added.

Women’s cricket has seen a great surge in popularity in the past 3-4 years. This years T20 World Cup in Australia was a roaring success with almost 87000 people witnessing the grand finale between hosts Australia and the women in blue.

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