Women’s ‘The Hundred’ set to benefit from greater TV coverage in debut year

The Yorkshire chief executive believes that it is a sensible solution to the logistical challenges presented by Covid-19.

Prior to the pandemic, and the planned launch of the men’s and women’s competitions last year, the England and Wales Cricket Board had intended to use 20 different venues across England and Wales for the women’s event.

However, operational difficulties caused by the coronavirus, and the potential threat to the visibility and exposure of the women’s tournament, prompted a re-think, with the ECB favouring “double-headers” as a better way to go this year, ensuring greater broadcast coverage for the women’s game too.

It means that the Northern Superchargers men’s and women’s teams will both play their fixtures at Emerald Headingley, with Lord’s, The Oval, Old Trafford, Trent Bridge, Edgbaston, Sophia Gardens and the Ageas Bowl the other venues in operation.

The situation will be reviewed at the end of the year.

“I think it’s very understandable,” said Arthur.

“The good thing about having it at the same venues is that it does reduce costs.

“They’ll all be double-headers and I would have thought, by and large, that the women will play first, followed by the men.

“It provides the chance to showcase the women’s game to a much wider audience.”

Arthur, though, can see both sides of the coin.

There is a strong argument for returning to the original plan in 2022 – coronavirus permitting – to ensure greater geographical exposure for the women’s sport.

“I do think there’s a very strong argument for that,” he added.

“This is why it will be reviewed at the end of the year because, ideally, we want to take the women’s game, the best of the women’s game, around our region.

“We wanted to play games at York and South Northumberland, for example, which gives more people an opportunity to see live professional women’s cricket in our region.

“So I think there’s good arguments for both, although obviously the cost is very much coming into the thinking this year because of the impact that coronavirus has had in a financial sense.”

Arthur is a passionate advocate of women’s cricket and believes that it shone brightly in 2020.

There was no more heartwarming story in Yorkshire cricketing circles, indeed, than Northern Diamonds’ progress to the final of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, with coach Danielle Hazell and her players putting a smile on everyone’s face with some fine performances.

“We saw last year with the women’s regional professional cricket, where the Diamonds got into the final, how good it was,” added Arthur.

“The quality was so much better than the previous incarnation, and I think certainly by awarding professional contracts beyond the England squad it has given a great deal of hope and aspiration for many young girls playing the game.”

Commenting on the double-header model for The Hundred this summer, Beth Barrett-Wild, who is the head of The Hundred Women’s Competition and Female Engagement, also backed the pragmatic stance for this year’s launch.

“It has always been our intention to review the structure of the women’s competition on an annual basis to ensure we are maximising the scale and prominence the platform provides to profile the women’s game,” she said.

“It’s clear that the wide-ranging impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on the delivery of elite sporting events and society more generally necessitates a change to our plans from 2020.

“The move to an integrated eight-venue model with the men’s competition will simultaneously enable us to reduce our operational risk, protect the delivery of the women’s competition and optimise the opportunity to work with our broadcast partners to provide maximum visibility and exposure for the women’s game.

“We therefore believe that this is the best structure for the women’s competition in 2021.

“However, with the women’s game transforming and growing at pace, it is important that we remain flexible in our approach to evolving this model in the future.”

Support The Yorkshire Post and become a subscriber today. Your subscription will help us to continue to bring quality news to the people of Yorkshire. In return, you’ll see fewer ads on site, get free access to our app and receive exclusive members-only offers. Click HERE to subscribe.