The battle of the sexes....is there a place for women in men's cricket?

[HCSportsM]

The battle of the sexes....is there a place for women in men's cricket?

It was reported in Wednesday’s Guardian that women’s wicketkeeper-batsman Sarah Taylor has been in informal discussions with Sussex over the prospect of appearing for Sussex second XI next season.

By some commentators, the majority those who campaign that the female game should be viewed on its own merit rather than against the men’s game, it is seen as a watershed moment in the game.

To the England international’s credit while at Brighton College Taylor was preferred to her male rival behind the stumps but is the idea of a female batsman-wicketkeeper performing alongside male counterparts really feasible? Former New Zealand international Iain O’Brien’s feelings on the matter are clear; the answer is an unequivocal no.

Speaking on The Cricket Sadist show O’Brien, who made 22 test appearances for New Zealand, was not concerned by the 23-year-old’s abilities as a wicketkeeper but the adjustments that would be required with the bat.

“I can’t see it anytime soon that a woman will play first class cricket. I also can’t see that they will play second team cricket soon, either, the difference in pace of the bowling, the difference in how the ball is hit.

“For Sarah I think she could adjust with the gloves on but batting time, come when she does put pads on I think that’s where the real difference is.”

O’Brien not only speaks as an ex-professional, but as a player who has had experience netting with and coaching the New Zealand ladies cricket team along with Taylor herself.

“I say this from an educated point of view, not a sexist point of view; I’ve bowled to the New Zealand girls off two steps, when I was coming back from my hamstring surgery. I was still too quick for them off two paces.

“I’ve also bowled to Sarah Taylor she played for the Wellington Blaze last summer, and she was hugely successful and I’ve bowled to her in the nets and for me off two paces she was about okay. Had I got anymore into it and bowled any quicker that’s when it would have started to get difficult.”

Since calling an end to his cricket career in January of last year O’Brien has since gone on to win acclaim for his thoroughly candid writing for CricInfo, appearing as part of the BBC and Sky’s commentary teams. Alongside this journalism the former Kiwi bowler has set-up ‘010 Gear’, based in Britain, specialising in the production of active underwear.

The key factor regarding Taylor’s introduction into second XI country mainly surrounds her capabilities as a batman at that level but something that O’Brien believes needs considering is how opposition will approach playing against her.

“I would also love to see how teams approach playing against a female cricketer, teams like the Durham second team the season before last Steve Harmison and Liam Plunkett were playing.

“You’ve got guys who can bowl 90mph coming up against a 5ft 7inch seven stone dripping wet batsman, how is that going to work?”

It was Tanya Aldred of Guardian who broke the story, a firm believer that the game should be judged on its own merit rather than against the men’s form. A fair enough argument, but men’s cricket is a very different animal compared the female game, a viewpoint that is shared by O’Brien.

“It’s a completely different game, even when you watch women’s cricket, it’s a different variation. They play a much slower game.

“You’ve got girls like Katherine Brunt and Anya Shrubsole, these girls can bowl fast but you’re talking about a length delivery that’s going to hit the stickers and above stump height, that’s the difference if you go to men’s cricket.

“For Sarah Taylor it’s going to be coming through above stump height, how is she going to adapt and how is she not going to get hurt. She will adapt over time but not this summer and if it does happen for me it’s a publicity stunt that could go horribly wrong.”

Whether Taylor will in fact play second XI cricket the decision will not be made until her return from the World Cup, which starts this month, but for the county game and in the interest of Sussex and Taylor herself a great amount of caution should be exercised to prevent a PR or a career-ending disaster.

[grecian]

In the end, I don't think anyone is good enough to do it ATM, but I really don't see physically why it can't happen in the future. Yet I think the same with Darts, Snooker and golf, and yet somehow it never happens.

[fredfertang]

Originally Posted by grecian

In the end, I don't think anyone is good enough to do it ATM, but I really don't see physically why it can't happen in the future. Yet I think the same with Darts, Snooker and golf, and yet somehow it never happens.

Something to do with elbows

[Dan]

I think Taylor probably could adjust, but Sussex would have to be 100% certain that she can deal with the pace of the bowling. She may well be able to adjust easily - there's no way to know now - but it isn't something you'd want to be risking.

[Bahnz]

I tend to agree with O'Brien that female batters will always really struggle with the step up in pace. It may be more plausible for women spin bowlers to make a contribution in men's cricket (and bat at 11 - still couldn't be worse than Chris Martin) - are female spin bowlers significantly slower than their male counterparts?

[Agent Nationaux]

Wouldn't work.

[morgieb]

If they're good enough then yeah, but I don't think they are, regrettably.

[hendrix]

Originally Posted by HCSportsM

“For Sarah Taylor it’s going to be coming through above stump height, how is she going to adapt and how is she not going to get hurt. She will adapt over time but not this summer and if it does happen for me it’s a publicity stunt that could go horribly wrong.”

What's the worst that could happen?

[Cabinet96]

Originally Posted by Bahnz

I tend to agree with O'Brien that female batters will always really struggle with the step up in pace. It may be more plausible for women spin bowlers to make a contribution in men's cricket (and bat at 11 - still couldn't be worse than Chris Martin) - are female spin bowlers significantly slower than their male counterparts?

From what I've seen, they bowl about 40-45mph, so about 10mph slower.

[straw man]

If they're good enough, of course women should be able to play at that level.

This idea that women must be prevented from making decisions that put themselves at risk belongs in a bygone era. If Sarah Taylor wants to play, is good enough to be selected and is willing to take on that risk, that's nobodies' business but hers.

[Howe_zat]

It's in the same boat as the Tendulkar thing though, isn't it? It should be a selectorial decision through and through but for various reasons that probably won't be the case.

[Flem274*]

Treat them exactly the same as a male cricketer. If she's good enough, she plays. If not, she doesn't.

Will a woman ever be good enough? Dunno. For a batsman if she played in the mens grades all the way through then if she had the talent and technique then I don't see why not, but to swap over from womens cricket straight to high level mens cricket would be a big change up as everyone else has said.

Most women don't have the physique to be FC standard fast bowlers though, and since womens cricket is such a small sport, its likely any woman who could bang it in at reasonable pace will end up playing a bigger womens sport like netball or rugby where height and strength are also big advantages. Maybe football but I have nfi what you look for in a footballer. Isn't it the biggest female sport though?

A spinner might be the best bet.

[Chubb]

The Southland Women's team played some friendly games against the lower ranked senior reserve sides on bye weeks last year. It was really good fun. I know a lot of the guys on my team enjoyed playing them.

They had four Otago Sparks players including their captain who has played for NZ, and a girl called Kate who probably will play for NZ in the future. Most of the others were pretty indifferent though they were a very young side.

We mixed our batting order up a bit and the captain was pretty bloody annoyed he got a golden duck! I think we got 230-odd and they got 110.

We opened with our usual bowlers but they both felt very awkward about bowling full pace at the girls. I think though they liked the fact we respected them enough to do that.

The second game was more one-sided. They got 140 or so, we mixed the bowlers up a bit - I bowled for example, and we got them for 1 down.

Nobody I knew had any problem with it. I think we took the right attitude in playing seriously but mixing it up a bit. It was about helping them develop their cricket. And it was fun. One thing I liked was that in our league a lot of the teams are very aggressive towards umpires. I've been called a c***, told I'm full of s*** and had someone give me the finger after taking a wicket. Primadonnas who think they are better than they are. None of that happened against the girls.

This year, the best of the girls have been making up the numbers for a new side in the reserve competition.

[straw man]

OH **** **** ****, just realised we're 13 posts into a thread on womens' cricket and noone has made a Stuart Broad joke.

Someone shut down the forum plz.

[straw man]

PS: Good post Chubb