‘Lack of respect’: Worrying 135-day reality facing Aussies as legends demand major shift

Fans of Australian cricket had a decision to make last Thursday evening.

The nation’s all-conquering women’s team played the third of three ODIs against New Zealand at North Sydney Oval.

But going up against the significance of the final day of Australia’s men’s team’s second Test against South Africa, a hectic match pushed into its fifth day by an early-week downpour in Gqeberha, was always going to make winning eyeballs a difficult task.

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“They’re playing at North Sydney Oval at 7:15pm … the Test begins at 7pm,” former Australian captain Alyssa Healy told foxsports.com.au,

“I mean, we’re even clashing against our own side that’s playing overseas. It’s disappointing.

“I think the fact that our girls are playing as well as they are and aren’t quite getting the spotlight here in our own country is really frustrating.”

Rain in Sydney would leave just 16 balls able to be bowled - doubly frustrating given the late start of the men’s match due to a downpour at St George’s Park which would have provided some clear air.

Healy’s sentiment is one that women’s cricket trailblazer Mel Jones supports wholeheartedly.

“I completely agree with ‘Midge’ (Healy), which might be the first time we’ve actually agreed on something,” Jones laughed.

“We know that we have probably the best sporting team in the world on our doorstep, and we’re not allowing that tag and their elite performances and amazing stories and capabilities and athleticism to be showcased.

“When you’ve got something like this, you want to show it off and you want to put it on the pedestal it deserves.

“And having a summer like this in which it has been really difficult for fans to come out and support this team is hugely disappointing.”

The disappointment, one shared among both former greats like Healy and Jones and the current playing group, is that Thursday night’s aborted clash with the White Ferns was the last time they will pull on Australian colours on home shores for more than four months.

That’s an entire summer – 135 days in all – without a single women’s international down under.

The concerns are palpable, with the gap coming at a time when women’s cricket has never been stronger, more popular, or better resourced.

They add to long-standing concerns from women’s players over the lack of consistency, especially compared to men’s staples such as the Boxing Day and New Year’s Tests, which consistently draw bumper crowds.

“We don’t want to be the sport that falls behind because we’re just getting it wrong,” Mooney told AAP earlier this month.

“We’re not getting crowds, it’s not marketed well. There is no big-ticket item where people go ‘the Australian women’s team play here [at this time] every year’.

“If we’re not front and centre of the summer it makes it pretty difficult when it’s meant to be a summer sport.”

A further problem involves the matches that are being played.

The two series in October – the current T20I campaign against New Zealand and ODIs earlier this month against Bangladesh – each featured a trio of matches played at the same venue: North Sydney Oval and Brisbane’s Allan Border Field respectively.

“Even a minor detail – you’re having the three ODIs in Brisbane and the three T20s in Sydney – there’s not even an opportunity for the whole of Australia to see a team that’s just come off a World Cup win,” Healy told foxsports.com.au.

“And that to me is really disappointing.”

The reasons behind this summer’s fixture are multifaceted and complex.

The ICC threw a curveball in June earlier when it abruptly moved the inaugural Women’s Champions Trophy from mid-year to February 2027.

The lucrative Women’s Premier League — the IPL equivalent — has been steadily encroaching further and further towards the start of the year since its inception in 2023, and will in 2027 run from 14 January to 7 February.

This league is the reason last summer’s women’s matches in Australia, including a one-off Test, ran from February to March, after the WPL had finished.

Its presence cut deeply into the January window that had seen at least three internationals played every year since the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the Women’s Big Bash League beginning later this month and running through to the start of September, Ellyse Perry, Beth Mooney and the nation’s biggest stars still have plenty of cricket on home soil ahead of them.

The difficulties caused by that crowded crowded schedule - and the importance of giving the WBBL its own space - is an element Cricket Australia wishes to make abundantly clear.

“Cricket has led women’s sport on player wages and high performance opportunities and we are heavily invested in showcasing our world champion team and fantastic players,” was the response from a CA spokesperson when asked by foxsports.com.au.

“We fully understand our players want to compete at times that draw the biggest possible crowds and viewing audiences and create excitement around the game.

“The increasingly crowded international schedule has created considerable challenges and the last-minute rescheduling of the Champions Trophy meant we had to adjust this season’s international fixtures at short notice.

“We also believe the standalone WBBL tournament provides the best opportunity to showcase the world’s best T20 league, particularly to prime-time evening audiences.

“We are committed to working with both the ICC and our local venues and broadcast partners to ensure women’s cricket has the best possible stage to attract fans, grow its audience and inspire even more participants.”

Regardless, the lack of international women’s cricket in Australia this summer will be stark – made even starker by the men playing just four Tests and heading to India on a blockbuster tour in January and February.

And for Jones, it’s only half an excuse.

“You look at scheduling and it’s the most difficult job in cricket at the moment, I think, because we are inundated with overlapping fixtures,” she told foxsports.com.au.

“We all understand that and we all understand it’s a tough ask to try and allow everyone to have their space. But you’re starting from the top down, aren’t you?

“You’ve got your two premier sides, the men’s teams and the women’s teams. There needs to be a more concerted effort to ensure that situations like this don’t occur. And that’s not just Cricket Australia.

“There were probably other circumstances around it that played into it, but when you just look at it as a punter and a fan of the game, you just go, well, that’s really disappointing.

“It’s a little bit of a lack of respect of the number one team in the world and not giving them space to shine.”

The clash between the New Zealand matches and the men’s South Africa Test being partly due to the latter’s late scheduling, having only been locked in February, also doesn’t pass the pub test for Jones.

“I would have thought that it’s probably more a case of, it’s going to be harder to shift it than not,” she said.

“But then you go back to South Africa and you say, well, you’re late on your scheduling!

“I’d love to know the kind of pushback on the men’s side of things once the women’s were locked in.”

The public outcry has resulted in Cricket Australia chief Todd Greenberg publicly vowing to explore alternative opportunities and get “creative”, with the ICC’s Future Tours Programme locking in a February and March-heavy home schedule in coming years.

Not until December 2028 do Australia play home matches in the height of summer – three ODIs and three T20Is against Ireland.

Among ideas floated are women’s T20Is being played as night matches immediately after men’s Tests during the peak December window, or shifting the WBBL to run alongside the men’s tournament rather than preceding it.

A change is certainly appealing to Healy, wherever it comes from.

“I know the schedule seems to be locked in for the next three years, but I think there’s ways that we can adjust it to make sure that we’re maximising exposure to those girls,” Healy said.

With international cricket, men’s and women’s, facing an uncertain future as worldwide franchise cricket grows ever more powerful and widespread, it needs all the help – and airtime – it can get.