Bangladesh Test and Twenty20 skipper Sakib al Hasan and a few other members of Marylebone Cricket Club’s cricket committee on Friday backed women’s Twenty20 cricket to be part of the next Commonwealth Games, scheduled to be held in Birmingham, England in 2022.
‘As a Bangladeshi, I can tell there are plenty of girls, who want to part of cricket. If we create heroes for them they can idolise them and become a good cricketer,’ Sakib said after attending a MCC’s cricket committee meeting in Bangalore, India.
The announcement came marking the ongoing pursuit of gender balance and equality for women in the world on International Women’s Day, which was observed across the world on Friday.
Former New Zealand women’s captain Suzie Bates, who has been a member of the MCC cricket committee since 2017, termed this proposal as a game-changer.
‘Multi-sport events like the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics attract and inspire a different audience, so it’s an enormous opportunity for women’s cricket to win new fans..,’ Bates said.
Former Australian leg-spin maestro Shane Warne also showed his full support to MCC’s proposal.
‘The inclusion in the commonwealth game is fantastic. I mean women’s cricket is getting better and better, it’s getting stronger and stronger,’ he said.
Cricket has been included in the Commonwealth Games before, with South Africa beating Australia in the men’s 50-over competition at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1998.
The sports vying for inclusion at Birmingham 2022 alongside cricket are archery, shooting, para-table tennis and volleyball.
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