Cricket Australia holds communication breakdown accountable for women's T20 tournament rebuff
Karina Keisler said that Cricket Australia have always been supportive towards Women’s IPL and they had every intention of participating in the league. She apologised for the absence of Australian players in the upcoming women’s tournament in India and said that it was due to communication breakdown
First edition Women’s T20 Challenge took place on 22 May 2018 in Mumbai. The exhibition match was also held by the BCCI as rehearsal for a Women’s IPL tournament, a target to be accomplished in the future. First edition had two teams, IPL Trailblazers and IPL Supernovas, with the latter winning the tournament. The second edition of this exhibition league is scheduled from 6th to 11th May in Jaipur and is planned to be conducted alongside IPL 2019 Playoffs. It is notable that BCCI had introduced another team Velocity for the second edition.
The teams feature players from Australia and England. Though the first season went successful with Australian players in place, second edition had seen a prob when the names of Meg Lanning, Alyssa Healy, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt and Beth Mooney, who took part in the Women's T20 Challenge last year, were not found in the squad selection list that was announced on April 26.
Karina Keisler, Cricket Australia's executive general manager of public affairs said that Cricket Australia has always been supportive to Women’s IPL and they had every intention to participate in the league, but a sudden communication breakdown between the two associations had an impact on the Australian women. She apologised for the issue and ensured that the relationship with India will remain open and collaborative to avoid such incidents in the future.
“We have always been supportive of the Women's IPL and had every intention of participating. We are also very keen to ensure a strong working relationship with the BCCI. While we are in regular contact with the BCCI, there has clearly been a communication breakdown on this occasion and the women have been impacted as a result. We're sorry this has happened and are determined to ensure our relationship with India remains open and collaborative to avoid future such incidents." Keisler said.
The CA was planning to reschedule the men’s ODI series that was planned to be played in the month of January 2020 to March in order to avoid a clash with the Big bash season.The two boards exchanged emails about this issue, but their efforts have gone in vain.This in turn affected the participation of Australian women in the upcoming T20 Tournament in India.
