66
DELIVERING WORLD-CLASS EVENTS // ICC Women’s World Cup 2017
BELOW: Chamari
Athapaththu of Sri Lanka in action during the match against Australia.
OPPOSITE TOP: Tammy Beaumont with The Player of The Tournament award.
OPPOSITE MIDDLE: Laura Wolvaardt hits out during the semi-final.
OPPOSITE BOTTOM: Mithali Raj reads a book ahead of her innings during the match between South Africa and India at Grace Road, Leicester.
number of reminders of their class with three thrashings of the Windies, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Most comprehensive was the eight-wicket demolition of the latter, in which the Kiwis chased down 145 in 15 overs, thanks to Sophie Devine’s 93 off 41. The nine sixes contained in that knock were a record for women’s ODIs.
The Windies, coming into this tournament as ICC World T20 champions and finalists at the 2013 edition, will also have been disappointed not to make it into the knockouts, but its campaign was not without merit – the highlight being a spectacular 70-ball hundred by Deandra Dottin against Pakistan.
Pakistan was the only team to leave without a victory, but could at least take heart from having run South Africa close in its first game, and pushing Sri Lanka hard in its last, while Sri Lanka’s victory against Pakistan was the least it deserved for a promising tournament.
The Sri Lankans gave India a scare, getting within 16 runs of the eventual finalists, while against Australia, Chamari Athapaththu put on an exhibition of power hitting, smashing 178 not out and breaking a slew of records along the way. Her innings was the highest ever made against Australia in ODIs and the second-highest in all Women’s World Cups, while her tally of 69 per cent of her side’s runs was also a record for women’s ODI cricket.
On the field, this was a landmark tournament, especially with bat in hand – it saw more runs, hundreds, fifties, fours and sixes than any Women’s World Cup before it, and all at a higher batting average and strike-rate too – but
perhaps what was most remarkable was how the competition was covered and followed.
The most obvious example of this was the sold- out final at Lord’s, but more than 180 million people around the world are estimated to have watched the tournament at some point, with global viewing hours up by almost 300 per cent on the 2013 edition.
Much of this increase can be attributed to India, where an estimated 156 million people tuned in, with viewing hours increasing by 500 per cent since 2013. South Africa and England too saw massive growth: in South Africa, viewing hours increased by 861 per cent, while in England, the final was the most watched televised cricket match of 2017 – more than any game in the ICC Champions Trophy, and more than any of two marquee series against South Africa and the Windies.
The tournament was broadcast more extensively than ever before. The ICC ensured that every game was available for viewing either online or on TV, with each match commentated on by members of the ICC’s team of pundits.
Digitally too, the 2017 ICC Women’s World Cup saw huge growth. The hashtag #WWC17 was tweeted over a million times, more than any other hashtag for women’s sport this year, while the hashtag #WWC17Final was the most tweeted ever for a women’s sport final. Across ICC digital platforms there were over 100 million video views, while on ICC’s official Facebook pages, the event content delivered one billion impressions and reached 67 million unique people/fans.
The tournament was path breaking in many ways as the Spidercam was used at Lord’s for a world event final for the first time, 10 matches had Decision Review System and captains’ emojis were used for the first time in any global sports event.
Furthermore, almost 50,000 articles across print and online were published relating to the tournament during its four weeks, with the ICC’s official website serving as a central hub for stories, scores, features and reports; the site received over two million unique views, and 9.5 million total page views during the competition.
“Chamari Athapaththu put on an exhibition of power hitting, smashing 178 not out and breaking a slew of records along the way.”
Total web sessions grew by more than four times from 2013 to 2017 – with 44 per cent coming from India – while efforts to branch more into mobile also proved effective – 70 per cent of website views came from a mobile device, compared to 55 per cent a year ago. Just as important as the raw numbers are the demographics, and with 18- 34 year olds driving 80 per cent of all web usage, there is clear evidence to support the assertion that the women’s game will continue to grow exponentially in the future.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114
