CPL looking to include women - Russell

ST JOHN'S, Antigua (CMC):

Chief Operations Officer of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) Pete Russell says he expects that women will eventually be integrated into the 'Biggest Party in Sport'.

His comments have come following a recent plea by West Indies batswoman Britney Cooper at the conclusion of the Women's Twenty20 World Cup for the CPL to reject cricket as being just a 'gentleman's game' and incorporate women into the annual tournament.

The West Indies, who were defending champions, crashed out at the semi-final stage to eventual winners Australia.

The regional side was wildly inconsistent with the bat throughout the tournament and claimed they were at a disadvantage to their Australian, English and Indian counterparts, who play much more cricket year-round.

Russell stated that the CPL had taken notice of the successful staging of the Women's World T20 in the Caribbean, which attracted large crowds at Providence Stadium (Guyana), Darren Sammy Cricket Ground (St Lucia), and the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium (Antigua).

He said batswoman's cricket being part of CPL has been discussed before and will happen eventually.

"We have already discussed the feasibility of a women's tournament with Cricket West Indies (CWI) or a women's exhibition match after the 2017 tournament and have been discussing how we can make it work since then.

"Any cricket tournament is a huge logistical challenge to arrange, and there are a lot of questions that would need to be answered before we could commit to going ahead. But it is something that we are keen to have as part of the CPL programme. It is not question of 'if', it is a question of 'when'," Russell declared.

"Yes, we think this is a feasible option. We have seen with the Women's Big Bash in Australia, the Super League in England, and in the recently completed ICC Women's World T20 that the women's game is on the rise and needs to be taken very seriously. The quality of the women's game has risen massively over the last few years, and the Windies women's team has been at the forefront of this. Having won the

2016 tournament and made the semi-final in this year's event, the talent is clearly there for a fantastic women's tournament in the region, but all decisions in this regard have to be discussed and agreed with our partners, CWI."