DUBLIN – Last week’s Ireland Women v Scotland Women T20I series enjoyed 476,000 views on its livestream coverage and according to Cricket Ireland CEO Warren Deutrom, it is just one measure of the growth of interest in women’s cricket across Ireland, but the aim is to turn these viewers into participants over coming years.
The series saw four T20 Internationals contested at Stormont, with a full-commentary, multi-camera livestream service. Besides, these were also the first international fixtures for the Ireland Women’s team in 625 days, and the first Irish international women’s games at Stormont in 24 years.
The board looked to further mark this return by releasing its first-ever ‘Women & Girl’s Cricket Action Plan’ during the eve of the series. The Plan outlines a range of priority projects over the next three years with an objective of increasing participation, building sustainable structures to support the women’s game, along with growing the profile and awareness of the sport.
And the livestream results, says Deutrom, feed into fulfilling the latter of these three aims. He said: “As part of our work in raising the profile of women’s cricket, we have set out an ambitious livestream programme which will cover home internationals and the women’s domestic Super Series. The intention is based around the excellent catchphrase: “If you can’t see it, you can’t be it”. We wanted to make our games as accessible to as many people as we could, particularly for women and young girls who already play or have an interest in learning more about our sport. The fact that there have been restrictions on spectators at sporting events over the last year only added to the importance of this project.”
“While we believe in the quality and skill of our players, what we have been pleasantly surprised by is the response – over 700,000 views have been logged across our women’s international and Super Series matches so far this season. We have received messages of appreciation from the US, Australia, many Asian nations, as well as from many people across Ireland and the UK who are enjoying the opportunity to see Irish women’s cricket at its best.”
“We believe that the value of investing in providing this service will help build that momentum in growing participation at the grassroots levels of our game. The livestream alone won’t achieve this, but in conjunction with the national programmes we are rolling out under the Action Plan, and the great work already being done by our provincial unions and clubs, we are starting to put sustainable structures in place to grow the game.”
“We have been very fortunate to have a production partner in HBV Studios who have aligned interests. The full livestream programme we have been implementing – which includes men’s and women’s matches – has logged over 2.7 million views this season so far. It’s been a great start, but we recognise there is much more to do in growing the game across Ireland. However, with our new Cricket Ireland Strategic Plan, and the companion Women & Girls’ Cricket Action Plan, we know we have a direction of travel mapped out as we strive to make this a ‘Cricket Island’ once more.”
