Record SA crowds turn up for T20 World Cup: 'Exciting to see women's cricket celebrated'

Record crowds turned up for the group stages of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup in South Africa over the past fortnight.

The ongoing tournament has reached the business end of the competition, with the Proteas women reaching the semi-finals.

Over 40 000 fans passed through the turnstiles at Newlands, Boland Park and St George's Park - a record for women's international cricket in South Africa.

The opening match between South Africa and Sri Lanka at Newlands attracted the highest crowd ever of 7 736 for a women's international game.

The double-header featuring England, India, South Africa and Australia at St George's Park on Saturday came in second with 7 588 fans.

"It's been fantastic to see South Africans coming out in their numbers to support the Proteas and the ICC Women's T20 World Cup," local organising committee (LOC) chairperson Muditambi Ravele said.

"This is the first time that women's cricket has been presented to the South African public in this manner. Many will have watched their first live match ever, it's exciting to see women's cricket being celebrated on this global platform. We hope people will fill up Newlands for the semi-finals and the final."

Thousands of young girls and boys have been exposed to the world's best cricketers through the ICC Cricket 4 Good Coaching clinics.

"Our legacy for this Women's T20 World Cup is to play a part in changing the face of women's cricket in the country by increasing access and participation in the sport," said Ravele.

"We have exposed many young cricketers to the pinnacle of women's sport and we hope all of our efforts will lead to more fans, more players and administrators getting involved in the sport."

Newlands will have another opportunity to better its record attendance