‘We need a mini-CPL’

ONE of the West Indies' women's biggest stars, Britney Cooper, has called on the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) to do its part and help develop the female game in the region.

Cooper was speaking yesterday after returning home after losing in the ICC World T20 tournament semis to eventual champs Australia. Cooper pleaded with the CPL to get women out from behind the ropes, off the cheerleading podiums and onto the field of play. She cited a lack of professional fixtures as one of the reasons the Windies outfit are so inexperienced when compared to finalists Australia and England.

Asked if CPL can play a role in boosting the female regional side, Cooper, speaking at the VIP Lounge of the Piarco International Airport yesterday afternoon, said, "Yes, honestly I believe so! If you look at the crowd (support) in Guyana, St Lucia and even Antigua, I believe it was bigger than most of the crowds in the CPL matches."

She added, "So it just goes to show that women's cricket is going somewhere. We need people in the CPL or corporate sponsors to back us and give us that push. We can't do it all by ourselves. We go out there and put our hearts out on the field, putting our body on the line, but at the end of the day, we need more. We need a mini-CPL."

The big West Indies names such as Stafanie Taylor, Deandra Dottin and Hayley Matthews have gotten global T20 experience in the popular Australian Women's Big Bash and England's KIA Super League (KSL), which shows in their performances. Semifinalists India are also gearing to move towards an IPL approach for their female cricketers to get that exposure.

Cooper said apart from the main Windies stars, there is a huge discrepancy in the matches the rest of their team plays compared to their counterparts from other countries. Cooper has played less than 10 T20 internationals or professional matches since the Windies' maiden T20 title in 2016. Compare that to England's players, who 10 matches ago, were at the start of the KSL.

Taylor, Dottin and Matthews account for 66 per cent of the experience in the squad, playing over 40 matches, with Kycia Knight fourth with 13 caps. England's current squad has 569 games under its belt compared to the Windies' 252 since the 2016 tournament, which has helped them win the 50 over World Cup and finish second to the Aussies in the WT20. In the English team, all but one player boasts at least 19 caps, creating this staggering difference.

With the Windies' total international cap count at 133 since the 2016 World T20 and England's at 141, Cooper's concerns are valid. In terms of franchise cricket, the maroon's three top players have 129 semi-professional/professional matches between them in these two leagues, while England's squad has a whopping 428 (with over half playing in Australia's Big Bash).

"There's only so much the Trinidad and Tobago Women's Cricket Association and the (TT) Cricket Board can do. We need Cricket West Indies and corporate sponsors. I think a step was already taken with the Courts T20 Grand Slam (in its second year). It's a semi-professional tournament inviting regional cricketers, and it does offer a high quality of cricket...For us to reach that level we need to play a lot more games, whether it be professional or regional," she said.