Cricket Australia (CA) says it will attempt to bring the national women’s side back into the peak of summer, after officials met with frustrated senior players.
Multiple players have raised concerns over the women’s schedule in recent weeks, which includes four straight years of no home internationals or WBBL during school holidays.
Ellyse Perry and Beth Mooney have also highlighted fears it will stunt the growth of junior cricket.
Australia plays Bangladesh and New Zealand in three one-day internationals (ODIs) and T20s respectively over the next fortnight.
A home ODI series against New Zealand is scheduled for March.
Among the concerns of players is a lack of consistency in their schedule to build up crowds, along with games on school nights that families largely will not attend.
The issue was raised at a function on Monday night in Brisbane to recognise the Australian team’s T20 World Cup win.
“We’re looking at that actively,” CA chief executive Todd Greenberg said.
“[Head of cricket] James Allsopp led the conversation with the Australian women’s team about this exact issue, so we’re talking, we’ve got dialogue with them.
“We would love to see more cricket played in this window. We have to understand the global components … but we’ve got to get more cricket into our summer.”
Greenberg’s comments come after Mooney was particularly critical of the current schedule.
“We’re in a bad time slot and it’s a bad time of year for parents,” Mooney said earlier this week.
“They’re not dragging their kid out to watch a 7pm T20 on a Tuesday night or whatever it is.
“We’re not getting crowds, it’s not marketed well. There is no big-ticket item where people go, ‘the Australian women’s team play here at this time every year’.
“We want to be relatable athletes. And if we’re not front and centre of the summer, it makes it pretty difficult when it’s meant to be a summer sport.”
AAP
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