Nick Tsagaris - Australia's women's cricketers are T20 World Cup favourites — and they deserve proper scrutiny
As we approach the T20 Women's World Cup, there seems to be a pattern emerging about the way we analyse and review the performance of the Australian women's team. There's no denying the host side is the team to beat. Number one in each format with an incredible win-loss record over the past two years, the Aussies the clear favourites to lift the trophy at the 'G on International Women's Day. And their head coach, Matthew Mott, along with a number of the players, have been very vocal about welcoming that expectation. Last week, he said: "I'll be telling the girls to embrace that expectation and enjoy the moment as well.
"I think there is a great quote from Billie Jean King about expectation being a privilege. It's not afforded to that many."
So why then, when experts and the media question whether we should be worried about some of their shaky warm-up performances, are the public so quick to throw out the lines "leave them alone, they still did us proud" and "whatever happened to playing for the love of the game?" There is of course, a difference between critical analysis and downright abuse. This article is in no way encouraging people to start trolling the player's social media accounts or degrading them as human beings. But it is questioning whether the same punters would be calling for such strong positive vibes in pieces that analyse the performance of our national men's team.
Over the past five years, the growth in support for women's sport of all codes has been unprecedented and extremely overdue. But how will it grow beyond the point it is at now, if we don't question the pattern around Alyssa Healy's failure to reach doubledigits in her past six innings in the same way we'd do of Mitchell Starc's questionable form in the Adelaide Test of 2018. These women are full-time professionals, paid to play the game and fully aware of the pressures that entails. So we owe it to them to critique the game in a professional manner.
And this goes beyond cricket. Women's sport has to be more than rainbows and fairy tales and "look how far we've come" moments if it hopes to establish real equality.
Look at the recent example surrounding another successful national women's team — the Diamonds. Netball Australia decided not to renew head coach Lisa Alexander's tenure after losing two gold-medal matches; the first to England in the 2018 Commonwealth Games and the second to New Zealand in the 2019 World Cup final in Liverpool‌ both by just a single goal. It's clear our country has an obsession with winning and, in the case of both our cricket and netball teams, they've almost created this false expectation that Australia will always finish on top because of the consistent success they've been able to maintain across a long history in sport. And that could be explored alongside the discussion around the Australian men's cricket team with the sandpaper incident and how some of those players felt like there was no option but to win. But just like Netball Australia, if we don't cast a critical eye over what went wrong in important tournaments and make decisions based around that, how does the netball team grow beyond the "they still did us proud" sentiment. If we all sit around the circle, holding hands and praising a side that should have won but fell short, then how does the conversation evolve beyond "we did really well" to "how can we improve". Part of the problem resides in the fact our female athletes are so likeable. What a great problem to have!
They are amazing role models for young girls and trailblazers as part of the wider push towards equality. But we also need to be able to separate how good a person may be off the field from their match performances and what they contribute to a team brimming with talent (with endless talent waiting for selection on the fringe). The players and coaching staff of the Australian women's team have embraced the expectation, and want the tournament covered across the Australian media landscape. So, let's continue to support and analyse the women's game in the same way we would the men's. Celebrating the highs and making sure we examine the lows. By: abc.net.au