Women's cricket will boost sport's future, says ICC CEO Geoff Allardice

Cricket is at its strongest position ever and the women’s game is going to be the driving force for future boost, feels International Cricket Council’s (ICC) chief executive Geoff Allardice. At the Economic Times-Global Business Summit here on Friday, Allardice spoke on a range of issues related to the sport. While speaking with cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle, Allardice was gung-ho about the women’s game and the possibilities it offers. “Right now, women’s cricket is the best possible opportunity to grow the game,” Allardice said. “The numbers that the Women’s Premier League has thrown up are simply mind-boggling. The transformation has been massive. The amount that the franchises have been bought at or the media and television rights or the players auction – all those numbers are huge and shows us that women’s cricket will be enormous in the future.”

“As it stands (after the WPL players auction), young girls will now be encouraged to take up cricket,” he added. Sticking to its pledge to globalise the sport in more countries, Allardice said the ICC is working towards inclusion of cricket at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. “For us, the 2028 LA Olympics will be huge. T20 is the format that we are avidly pushing for.” For the ICC, the US market is one with “a lot of scope”. “We now have upwards of 100 countries playing T20 cricket and there hasn’t ever been a better time in terms of globalisation of the sport. The US market holds immense potential, and, at present, we haven’t even scratched the surface. We hope the Major League Cricket competition and next year’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in America and West Indies are going to be game changers for cricket in the US.”Allardice is comfortable with all three formats of the