Womens Ashes Format

The 2013 Ashes in the Womens game had a new format in place. Previously the Womens Ashes was only a single Test Match, however this time there were all 3 formats played which ended up counting towards who retained or regained the Ashes winners status. A certain number of points were given for winning a Test and a certain number of points were awarded for winning a limited over international.

6 points were awarded for winning a test whereas 2 points for every limited over international. ECB head of Womens Cricket, Clare Connor felt this would be a welcome change in the Ashes format because many of the girls do not play much multi day cricket and by staging games such as the T20s on the days where England’s men are playing their respective T20 fixtures would attract crowds and a greater audience.

The support England received was tremendous, even for the lone T20 fixture at Chelmsford which was not a game where the male counterparts were playing on the same day as part of the ticket. Television coverage of some of the limited over matches was also a huge plus. Winning Captain Charlotte Edwards regards winning the 2013 Ashes at home as one of her career highlights along with the World Cup and World T20 double of 2009. Even for the matches which didn’t come on Sky, there was radio coverage for the Test Match and also coverage on ESPN cricinfo for the ODI at Lords.

One area that Clare Conor raised concerns about was the number of points awarded for a test match victory which may need addressing in the future as this could disadvantage the losers of the match significantly before the one day games are even played or provide limited advantage in the next part of the tour should the one day games have been played at the beginning in future schedules.

England will be looking to retain the Ashes in Australia in early 2014 before they head to Bangladesh for the 4^th ICC Women’s World T20 championship.