Young India cricketer Jemimah Rodrigues is open to innovations that could in turn bring in more eyeballs to the women’s game. She stated that men’s and women’s cricket cannot be compared and few changes could help in increasing the popularity of the sport worldwide.
“To be honest, I would go with, you know, like let’s not compare it (men’s and women’s cricket) that much. Because, you know, at the end, you have got to accept the fact that there are slight differences between the two,” Jemimah told ICC during their fourth installment of the 100% webinar series.
“But, yeah, I mean, 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? You know, kind of get a thought to it, think about it, because at the end of it, we want to promote the game.
“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. I think, you know, you can be open to it,” she added.
Meanwhile, New Zealand skipper Sophie Devine feels the traditional size of the cricket pitch shouldn’t be tinkered with. However, she did suggest changes with respect to the size of the ball.
“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,” Devine, who was New Zealand’s highest run-getter at this year’s T20 World Cup, said.
“So, I think it’s really an exciting idea to say that we might be able to encourage people along that make it tailored towards the female side of things.
“It’s always good to have a little trial and error and see what works. 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,” she added.
“Hopefully, the ball should fly a bit further as well whereas still keeping the traditional length of the pitch.”