CHRISTCHURCH
\nWomen\u2019s Cricket World Cup begins in New Zealand on Friday, with organisers keen to capitalise on growing interest in the women\u2019s game after overcoming a string of pandemic-related hurdles.
\nThe eight-nation tournament was originally scheduled for early 2021 but had to be postponed until March this year after coronavirus-related travel restrictions made it impossible to get the teams into New Zealand.
\nEven now, overseas players have been required to undergo 10 days of isolation and must abide by strict \u201cbubble\u201d health protocols.
\nCrowds are also restricted as the host nation attempts to contain an outbreak of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, meaning spectators must congregate in \u201cpods\u201d of 100 dotted around venues.
\nWhile the spectre of positive tests among players hangs over the event, tournament chief executive Andrea Nelson said plans were in pace to cope with most contingencies.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve had to deal with challenges the whole way through on this event, and we\u2019ve overcome them all so far, so I have no doubt we\u2019ll continue to do so,\u201d she said.
\nThe 2017 tournament in England, won by the host nation, was viewed by 180 million worldwide but Nelson said the potential for women\u2019s cricket was even bigger, pointing to 2020 T20 Women\u2019s World Cup in Australia.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve got such a massive and growing audience for cricket — the T20 Women\u2019s World Cup final was viewed by 1.1 billion people around the world, which dwarfs the men\u2019s Rugby World Cup by comparison,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CHRISTCHURCH Women\u2019s Cricket World Cup begins in New Zealand on Friday, with organisers keen to capitalise on growing interest in the women\u2019s game after overcoming a string of pandemic-related hurdles. The eight-nation tournament was originally scheduled for early 2021 but had to be postponed until March this year after coronavirus-related travel restrictions made it impossible […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247420,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[3372,195,20],"class_list":{"0":"post-247410","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-clash","9":"tag-india","10":"tag-pakistan"},"yoast_head":"\n